Page 173 of Loving Ladybug: Part One
I will
Thanks again, it’s so pretty.
“Oh. A sister I don’t like has the other.” This was much prettier. It was surprising no one had taken it.
“There’s a little damage to the fabric, mostly fraying at the seams, and there’s a big rip, but it’s fixable in the hands of the right person,” Kaiko told me. “Let’s go into Mercy’s room. You can try it on and we’ll see what we can do. Mercy, bring me straight pins.”
Mercy’s room was done in earth tones, and on the wall was a nature photo she’d taken, that had been blown up on a giant canvas and hand-tinted by Dean.
Stripping out of the sweats I’d put on after practice, I stepped into the delicate dress. Kaiko had already undone the back.
We pulled it up, the soft fabric cascading over me. It was tight in the shoulders.
“That’s pretty. Look.” Kaiko finished lacing the back.
I looked in the mirror, on her closet door and sucked in a breath. My hands smoothed the full skirt. “Wow.”
The girl who looked back at me was unfamiliar. Shit, she looked good.
“The sleeves are cutting off the circulation to my arms.” I tugged at them, the tightness taking away from the rest of the dress. A rip rang through the room and I looked at the fabric in my hand, horrified. “Oh, fuck.”
“Hey, it’s okay. We were going to have to alter that, anyway. Clearly your mom had chesticles, but she must have skippedarm day,” Kaiko soothed. “There’s enough boning to make it strapless. That’s beyond what I can do–if we’re allowed to alter it?”
“We’re going to have to if I’m going to wear that, and I want to.” I bit my lower lip. “My sisters alter my mom’s dresses, so it’s fine.”
I didn’t stalk my sister Isa’s socials, but I’d seen her on the red carpet in more than one of my mom’s old dresses and she’d absolutely have to alter them.
“Here, let’s try.” Kaiko undid the lacing, helped me take my arms out, then redid it, tucking them in. She frowned and pinned a few things. “It’ll take someone cleverer than me, though. I just know the basics from years of helping out with my sibling’s dance shit.”
“I do feel like a princess. Is it too short? I can see my toes.” I looked down and wiggled them.
“You’ll have to wear flats.” Kaiko got on the ground with the safety pins.
“Verity probably has a good tailor? Like the one who did all the beads on that dress she wore to the gala last year.” I swished the skirt.
“That person’s out of town. We’ll figure it out–youhaveto wear that dress,” Mercy told me.
“I’ll text my cousin, she lives here and fixes costumes for the opera and ballet. Can I send her pics?” Kaiko asked. “She’ll charge you a fair price and she does nice work–especially on old and fragile dresses. One of the museums had her fix the dress on one of their sculptures.”
“Sure. That sounds good.” I’m sure Verity paid premium prices, and while I appreciated quality and the time it took, my money only went so far.
Kaiko took a bunch of pictures, then took some tape and put it on all the frayed parts.
Mercy picked up the bag. “Hey there’s something in here.” She took out a little bag. “There’s a note,I can’t find the necklace mom wore. But this is close.Oooh, pretty.”
She held up a triple-strand pearl necklace and some earrings that I recognized. They’d belonged to some aunty or nonna or something.
“Here, let’s put on the necklace.” Mercy helped me with it. “Oh, yeah. We can do our hair and makeup together. I’m going with Verity and the guys. Valya’s going with Dimitri. We’ll make it a party.”
“I like that idea. Maybe we can get pedicures, too.” I couldn’t help but stare at myself in the mirror. I’d need shoes, possibly a haircut by then, but yeah…
Mercy took a bag out of her closet. “Gwen, do you want to try on some of the shit I outgrew and take what fits.”
“Sure. You have cute shit. Thanks.” I swished again, not ready to take the dress off. Never had I worn something so beautiful.
Kaiko looked up from her phone. “My cousin thinks she can do it. At least we have a couple of weeks. I’ll bring it to her tomorrow?”
“Perfect. Thank you.”
