Glass Slippers [1st Draft]

9. The Dinner Party (Part One)

"You're still here!" Harriet shouted, running towards Mrs. Landon and giving her a tight hug. Amelia and James were quick in following her lead, and Clara had to smile sadly at the picture they presented. Harriet, Amelia, and James had never known their mother like Clara had, so for all intents and purposes they had been raised by the combined efforts of Clara and Mrs. Landon. So while Clara was losing a mother figure, they were actually losing the woman they saw as their mother.

"Please don't go," Clara could hear Amelia whisper, sounding as if she was crying.

"I'm not, not really. Like I just told your sister, I'll be just a mile's walk away. You can come visit me on Sundays if you wish, that's my day off."

"Only a mile?"

"Yes, and by the heavens, did you know the Ravenen Estate, where I'm going, has the most magnificent apple orchard? They have a pond too! Perhaps Lord Ravenen would allow you to come pick apples come autumn, I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"So we'll still be able to see you?" Harriet asked.

"As much as you wish to."

"Good. Do we have porridge for breakfast?" And that was the end of that conversation. Mrs. Landon helped Clara get everyone their breakfast, and soon, before they knew it all of four of the Corden siblings and Tom were waving from the front porch as Mr. and Mrs. Landon drove away in a horse-drawn wagon.

That was when the day started to really begin. As soon as they got inside, Linette noticed all of five of them and sent them off to bathe or get ready or, in the case of Clara and Tom, get to work. They spent most of the day cleaning the entire house and weeding the garden, only stopping once for a quick snack around lunchtime. It was quarter-to-six when they finally finished, and the guests were supposed to be arriving at seven.

"Clara, shouldn't you go get ready?" Tom asked as he helped her straighten the last of the cloth napkins. "It's nearly six." Clara looked at him distractedly before turning to look at the clock herself. It was indeed almost six.

"Get ready? With what? You know I don't have anything." Tom didn't even blush at her comment, having walked in on many conversations between Clara and his mother about her wardrobe, or rather lack thereof.

"I'm sure you'll find something. Didn't you say somethin' about a couple of gowns of your mother's?" Clara looked at Tom in shock, surprised he had even remembered.

"You remembered?"

"Well, yeah. Mum talked about what a pity it was you couldn't wear them all the time. I don't see why you can't try one on now, maybe they'll finally fit."

"Good idea! Are you okay with finishing up by yourself?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it," he answered, waving an dismissive hand at her. "Go do what you need to."

"Thank you, Tom," Clara called as she left the dining room, just barely hearing his response before she took the stairs two at a time. Tom was right, one of her mother's gowns could work. She couldn't believe that she hadn't thought of them!

She threw open the door to the attic and clambered up the stairs. As soon as she reached what she considered her room, she rushed over to her mother's chest, pausing as she sank down on her knees in front of it.

Gently, she lifted the lid, and as always she was assaulted by memories of her mother as just the smell of her still lingering perfume drifted into the dry attic air. Clara's heart ached, but only a little, as she looked through the chest.

Her mother had owned a number of beautiful gowns, but by far the most were four made of the finest silk that her father had gotten her mother from a neighboring country, Marenta. One was made of sky blue fabric, one of a fabric of the softest lavender, one looked like molten gold, while the last was a silver that matched the stars in the night sky. But looking at them, Clara knew she couldn't wear them. They were her mother's to the finest degree.

Instead, she moved past them to another gown, a rosy pink one, that while not made of silk, was still just as beautiful, at least in Clara's opinion. However she had to frown at it a little, she wasn't sure it would fit. She could remember actually trying on this dress when she was eight, her mother's careful eye watching her and her hands helping her do up the buttons.

Pushing her doubts from her mind, she slipped from her usual gown of light blue, making sure to fold it nicely on her bed, before stepping into the other gown. It took her a fair amount of time to do up the back buttons, as it required her to bend in the most uncomfortable of ways, but eventually, she got it.

She moved to stand in front of the cracked mirror she had taken from the odds and ends of furniture, and her heart gave a pause. It fit. It more than fit, really. Looking at her own reflection for the first time in her life she could see what everyone meant by saying she looked like her mother.

Clara didn't have her mother's red hair, or her brown eyes, or even the same nose, but looking at herself in a dress that she had so many memories of her mother in, she could see it. For a single beautiful moment, for the first time since her mother's death almost four years ago, she could almost see her mother's smile, the same smile she had on her face on the day when Clara was eight.

The dress, then, had been too big for her in so many ways, but rather than drawing attention to it, her mother had wrapped her arms around Clara and told her she looked beautiful. Clara had worn the dress for the rest of the day, the hem dragging behind her on the floor, but her mother hadn't minded.

As Clara stood looking at her own reflection, she realized this was quite possibly the best birthday she had gotten in the past four years. She got to be with her mother. Not in the physical sense, but it the way that mattered, and for once, she didn't feel like crying as she pictured her mother's smiling face over her shoulder in the mirror. For the first time since she had woken up the day before, she finally felt like the seventeen she now was.

A loud knocking startled her from her thoughts, and Clara quickly closed the chest, straightened her new dress and went down the stairs. However, instead of Linette asking for her to do another chore, the sight that greeted her was her three siblings, all standing there in various states of undress. Harriet looked like she was about to say something, but once she saw Clara her mouth broke out into a huge grin.

"Clara! You look beautiful! Where did you get the dress?"

"It was one of Mother's old gowns," Clara answered, and Harriet nodded, still smiling.

"It's pretty. Can you help us? I can't get my buttons, and neither can Amelia. Oh and James can't do anything." Instead of arguing James just nodded sadly, and Clara ushered them into the attic.

She quickly set to work on Harriet's and Amelia's buttons and then moved onto helping James get ready. By the time she had finished helping them, it was almost seven o'clock. Looking at her three siblings she felt a strange sense of pride. Sure, Harriet's gown, as always, had a dirty hem, and Amelia's skirts were slightly uneven due to a growth spurt, and James' jacket had a few missing buttons, but they all looked wonderful.

"You look perfect," she said to them, getting three smiles in return that each had more than one tooth missing. "Now, I have something very important to ask of you. You cannot cause any trouble tonight, alright? Linette was very clear that something terrible would be the consequences if any of us did." Harriet frowned, but that was the only argument she got. "Good. Let's go downstairs."

If they wanted to escape Linette's wrath, they'd have to hurry.

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6/24/17 Yep, I've split another chapter up. Anyway, how do you think the dinner party will go? What do you think of the dresses? Let me know in the comments below!