Page 21 of The Wedding Dress Repair Shop
I thought there was bound to be someone about to relieve me of my burdens, even if Marco wasn’t currently backstage.
The doorkeeper, who had barely looked up from his newspaper, simply nodded, so I wafted past with a rustle of plastic.
I’d been backstage at the Cockleshell a few times, so knew my way aboutandwhere the star dressing rooms were. Sure enough, one of them had Mirrie’s name tacked to the door.
There was no one in sight, though I could hear distant voices in the direction of front of house, so I wondered if they were still doing publicity shots.
If so, they surely must finish soon, and if I took my time perhaps Marco would appear.
I tapped on the door, but opened it when there was no reply, to find the dressing room empty, though there were signs of occupancy: a smart silk jacket and skirt hung on a rail and a handbag had been tossed on to a small table.
The room smelled of a musky scent that seemed oddly familiar – perhaps Mirrie had been wearing it at the party when we met.
I put down the hatbox on a chair and then removed the costume from its cover – Beng & Briggs would expect to have it back – before hanging it on the rail, where it swung gently.
I left Mirrie’s crown in the hatbox, but took out Oberon’s, hoping I could find his dressing room too or, even better, someone to take charge of it.
I cast one last, appraising look at the costume and thought I’d done a good job. It was sturdier than the evening dress version, of course, but still gave the impression of airiness necessary for the Titania role.
I’d left the door slightly ajar and now a faint current of air stirred the floating layers of pearl-embellished gauzy white silkthat lay over the lilac under-dress, so that it seemed to take on a life of its own.
Footsteps sounded now, approaching along the passage and then voices coming from somewhere nearby.
I was sure I recognized Wilfric’s, so I picked up his crown and went to find him.
The door to the next room along was open and I could see Wilfric standing with his back to me, talking to someone out of view. I was about to tap on the door when my hand was arrested by what he was saying.
‘You certainly upstaged me in the publicity stakes by wearing that dress, Mirrie darling,’ Wilfric drawled, ‘but unless I’m very much mistaken, it’s the copy of the original evening gown from the Rosa-May Garland exhibition that Marco’s fiancée told us she’d made to wear for her wedding.’
‘It is that one. I thought it would besucha good twist to the publicity, if I was pictured wearing it in front of that photo of the original. After all, I couldn’t wear the actual costume, because it hasn’t been delivered yet.’
‘But we weren’t supposed to be in costume, anyway,’ Wilfric pointed out as my hand fell numbly to my side and I stood frozen in the doorway. ‘And I’d like to know how you persuaded Garland to lend you her wedding dress, because it didn’t sound to me as if she wanted anyone else to see it before the big day!’
‘I didn’t even try persuading her, because Marco said there was no way she’d lend it. I got him to take me over to her flat to see it on Monday, while she was at work, and it was just soperfect …So, we hatched a plan and Marco went to the flat with my dresser this morning to fetch it for the photo shoot, and now he’s sent Annie straight back with it in a taxi with his door key, and she’ll put it back exactly the way it was. Garlandwill never know. But it had to be returned before lunchtime, because apparently this is her half-day and she might go straight home.’
Wilfric seemed too stunned to speak for a moment – which made two of us, because my lips were as numb as the rest of me – but then he said incredulously, ‘You took Garland’s wedding dress without permission? And Marco helped you? I think that’sreallyunderhand, darling. And think how she’s going to feel when she finds out, because she’s bound to see the publicity photos eventually, isn’t she?’
Mirrie must have moved because I could see her now, dressed in a cotton wrapper, reflected in the big mirror over the shelf at the back of the room.
She shrugged impatiently. ‘I suppose she might see it eventually, but it won’t matter by then, because she won’t need a wedding dress. Marco is just keeping her sweet until the costumes are finished – he says she has quite a temper and we don’t want any mishaps. But then, once the play opens, he’s going to tell her aboutus.’
My legs had begun to tremble now and I was suddenly so cold my blood felt as if it had turned to ice in my veins. I couldn’t have moved if I’d wanted to.
‘I thought you and Marco were having a bit of a fling,’ Wilfric said. ‘Though I couldn’t understand why, when he has such a gorgeous fiancée.’
‘You and your redheads,’ she said. ‘And it’s more than a fling – it’s serious. He and Garland were never suited.’
‘They seemed to have been together a long time and were planning their wedding, so the relationship must have had something going for it.’
‘I expect he just drifted into it. I mean, she’s only a glorified dressmaker – there’s nothing special about her. I expect shegrabbed him when he was at a low emotional ebb after Leo died. He and Leo were old friends. We all used to hang out together in London before we moved to the States.’
‘Sleeping with the director seems to be your speciality, darling, doesn’t it?’ Wilfric said maliciously. ‘But poor Garland!’
‘You can console her, Wilfric! I’ll get her phone number from Marco for you, shall I? Just don’t make your move until Marco’s ended the engagement.’
‘You’re such a complete bitch,’ he said dispassionately.
‘Thanks a bunch,’ she replied coldly. ‘All is fair in love and war.’
