The Understanding (Bk 1 Otago Series)

Chapter 27- Welcome home Party

Wow. The dress had lived up to my excitement and then some!  I had been curious  about why Max felt he needed to get me a dress for his welcome home party.  But as soon as I saw it I understood.   Clearly they were going to be wearing their kilts again,  and Max didn't want me to feel left out.  

I was surprised I was feeling so emotional when I looked in the mirror. I barely recognised myself,  the dress looked amazing. I had the feeling that  a comment from Mum would have made the occasion perfect.  I fingered my long blonde hair that I had put a slight curl in.  A quick last minute change I held up a small piece of hair from each side of my head and grabbed some clips and held it in place, it looked better now, and the greenstone ear rings I was wearing were shown to better effect and matched so nicely with the tartan in the bodice.

The label on the dress  was the same as the beautiful bracelet that hadn't left my wrist since Max gave it to me,  Kahuwai. I hate to think what it cost Max, he had been so  generous to me. The top of the dress was made of a tartan fabric, that you couldn't see very clearly under the soft white over lay, but in places there were incisions that exposed the tartan.  The neckline was low and the back a little lower again. It was a lot more daring than anything I'd worn before. The waist was fitted and so was the long skirt, it was a little longer at the back and touched the floor as I walked. The white fabric of the skirt was soft and had give in it,  it felt very sexy to wear.  These boys and their kilts were not alone with little or no underwear tonight.  I giggled a little at the naughty thoughts that tried to distract me.

Down the back of the skirt there were the same flashes of tartan as the top. It reminded me a little of the black outfit that Jo-An had worn for mid-winter  Christmas, with tartan inserts.  I was glad mine was white as it complimented the slight colour of my skin.

I held my phone up a bit self consciously and took a snap, standing sideways and flicked it off to Lara. She had insisted on seeing this mystery dress before I went out to Maxs party.

I grabbed up a beautiful NZ merino wool wrap that had been Mums.  It looked perfect with the dress,  and it was still a little too cool  be showing quite so much skin outside.

Dad was very complimentary about the dress and we talked and had fun on the way over to Maxs place.

Jo-An welcomed me with a big hug, as did Andrew, with a smile,  and a checky good natured wink, "Don't you look great." I did notice that Jo-An decidedly glared at him at that point and made her excuses to slip off.

There were  people all around. Some that I recognised. Many had  kilts on and all were dressed in formal wear.  Wow, Jo-An really did know how to throw a party.  Apparently Max wasn't far away she said.

So leaving  Dad to talk with Maxs Dad I wandered through the people that were gathered until I found Alyssa.

"Wow," she gushed.  Trust her to comment on my dress. She greeted me so warmly, like a long lost friend.  If things continued with Max, having Alyssa in my life was going to be awesome.  She insisted on a twirl and close inspection of the fabric. Max had said that there was a special dress arriving,  was it ever. 

"You look amazing.  The length and fit of this dress.  I thought the one you wore for the last party was nice.  This is stunning."

"Thanks," I shrugged it off good naturedly.  "But look at you.  This really suits you too." It was a light gold colour fabric,  but I was a bit puzzled when I reached out to touch the material and find that it was so similiar to mine.  But shrugged it off,  thinking that dresses made for the scottish community in Dunedin must come from a small number of designers.  I couldn't see all of Alyssas dress,  because she still had on a black merino wool jersey.