Call Me Pretty

Chapter Nine | Wedding Dresses, Sisters & Secrets

The next dress had a long train that looked like gently lapping waves; more shaking of heads.

There were dresses that had birds zipping between the folds, dresses with so many bows and ribbons Victoire could barely walk-there was champagne and ivory and snow white, sashes and trains, lace and tulle. Some had skirts so large Victoire could barely move, some resembled lingerie more than dresses.

And then they all knew, after they’d tried on at least a dozen dresses, that this was the one. It was light ivory, strapless with a wide satin sash and a full skirt. There were flowers on the corset like part, and sewn into the skirt here and there. When Victoire walked out, everyone in the room let out a collected sigh.

“Oh darling…” Fleur sniffed, bring her hand to her mouth as tears came to her eyes “You look stunning!”

Everyone took turns cooing and awing over the dress, but Dom could only look at her sister. Victoire looked like a real bride; with pink cheeks and glittery eyes-she was practically glowing with happiness. Looking at her sister so happy, so in love and just content with the way her life was going, Dom wanted to cry.

For once though, it wasn’t because she was jealous. No, she wanted to cry because she was so happy for her sister, for knowing that Victoire was at her very best, and simply knowing that she was okay.

“Nicky, what do you think?” Victoire asked-no one else ever called her Nicky.

Looking up, Dom smiled at her sister-the first genuine smile Victoire had seen in months “I think you look like a real bride.”

“Give us a spin, love.” Fleur said, clapping her hands together “Let’s see how it looks on the move.”

Victoire spun, dress billowing out like a cloud; she caught Dom’s eye, and the sisters smiled at each other.

            The floor of Victoire’s old room was scattered with magazines and clothes, and in the centre of it all the two sisters sat closely. Victoire was braiding Dom’s hair as she sewed a hole in a dress-whose dress it was neither knew, it just sort of floated between them.

“I love your hair, you know that, right?” Victoire said, running her fingers through Dominique’s thick curls “It’s so vibrant, mine is so straight and pale.”

“The grass is always greener.” Said Dom dryly “There, done.”

Looking over Dom’s shoulder, Victoire smiled “Thanks, you know I’d have messed it up-what am I going to do when Teddy gets a hole in his sock or something?”

“Magic?”

“Send it to you?” they laughed together, feeling like they hadn’t really laughed together in ages. “Dom, can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” Dom shrugged, closing her eyes briefly; she loved the feeling of Victoire braiding her hair, always had.

“Is something bothering you? I mean, you’re really quiet and very skinny…I’m just a little worried, that’s all.”

Finding herself frozen, Dom wondered what to tell Victoire-something that would get her off the track of her looking skinny. And Merlin did it feel good to hear Victoire say that-that she, Dom, looked skinny. Did Victoire look in the mirror? Dom was nothing in comparison, not in her mind anyway.

“I…well, yeah.” Shifting uncomfortably, Dom was thankful she was facing away from her sister “I sort of did something.”

“Did something? What sort of something?” Victoire continued to braid Dom’s hair into a long fishtail, swapping small locks of hair back and forth.