Page 19 of The Wedding Dress Repair Shop
‘You know, Marco does seem to take you too much for granted,’ she commented. ‘It’s just as well you’re too independent to let him trample all over you!’
‘Definitely! Prickly, reserved and self-sufficient, that’s me … and, I’m afraid, a bit quick-tempered.’
‘I think most of those traits are assets,’ she said.
I sighed. ‘I’m starting to think Marco’s become so self-obsessed, I’m not really important to him any more.’
‘Perhaps he’s simply increasingly involved in directing his play and so everything else, including you, is taking a back seat? If so, once the play opens, I expect he’ll be entirely different.’
‘I suppose so,’ I said, with a sigh. ‘But only if it’s a success!’
‘We’ll hope it’s ahugesuccess and then he can finally turn his mind on to your wedding – and see sense about where you set up your first home together, too.’
Then Honey changed the subject to one that engrossed us both, the wedding dress museum. I asked her if she’d advertised yet for the job of curator/conservator, or if she’d like me to ask around for anyone interested.
‘No, I haven’t advertised yet, but there’s no rush,’ she said. ‘With you and George to advise me, I can leave it a little while longer. I haven’t decided yet when to open, either, but the renovations are coming along so quickly that might be as soon as late autumn.’
‘Wouldn’t that be too much of a rush, getting everything finished and the displays set up by then?’
‘A rush, but not impossible. It would be good to open then, because I’ve just had another donated dress and it was for a winter wedding. It has a great story behind it that would be interesting for publicity.’
‘I can see the attraction of opening early, Honey, but we’re on the brink of September now and there’s still some interior work to be finished, isn’t there?’
‘Oh, I’ll just cross the workmen’s hands with silver and they’ll move up a few gears. I’m hoping, too, that once that damned play of Marco’s opens, you’ll finally have time to comedown for a weekend, or even a few days, if you have any holiday due, to see how it’s going for yourself.’
I admitted that I wasdyingto see the museum in the flesh, as it were, rather than just all the pics and videos she’d sent me, helpful though those were.
‘And I’ll show you the winter wedding dress, too, and tell you its story,’ she said enticingly.
‘The way things are shaping up at the moment, I won’t behavinga wedding, winter or otherwise,’ I said gloomily.
‘I can see the course of true love has hit a bit of a bumpy patch,’ she said, and then we went back to discussing everything that still needed to be done before the museum could finally open, so it was quite some time before the call ended.
When I finally put the phone down, I suspected that during our conversation I’d given away a lot more of my feelings and my worries over Marco than I’d intended – and I expect George had gossiped, too – but then, Honey was very quick to read subplots and underlying worries and pick up on them.
I did love Honey’s acerbic edge and sardonic comments and I could see thatI’dlet Marco blunt my own edge.
Time, perhaps, to hone it sharp again …?
Rosa-May
In appearance I was an unremarkable child, other than my fair hair and blue eyes, being a small, skinny slip of a thing until I neared my sixteenth birthday. Although I did not grow any taller, as Kitty did, I took on a womanlier shape, and found myself invited, when it was decided by the younger members of one house party to put on scenes fromA Midsummer Night’s Dream, to take the role of Titania, Queen of the Fairies!
This was mainly at the urging of Kitty’s brothers, which surprised me, since they had previously taken no more notice of me than of Kitty, teasing us both impartially.
This invitation was not universally popular with some of the young ladies of the party, and Kitty was also a little inclined to be jealous, but I revelled in it.
I found I could recall all the words perfectly and pronounce them clearly and, I thought, dramatically, although of course, I had never in my life seen a real theatrical performance! Papa was very much against such things, and had he not been under an obligation to the Taggarts for his living I am sure he would have forbidden me from taking part, even in such a private affair.
Sara had continued to share descriptions of the London theatreworld, culled from her sister’s letters. She was now widowed and let out lodgings to actors, especially those from the company at the Cockleshell Theatre. She was also sometimes employed there as a needlewoman and to help the ladies of the company to dress. She saw and described many performances, and these, together with my own modest success as Titania, fired in me a secret ambition to go on the stage myself!
Given my situation, this seemed a most impossible dream.
*
I said little about the play at home for fear Papa would find some way of preventing me taking part in it, and the mere thought of him ever discovering my desire to become a real actress and pursue a life treading the boards made me shudder!
However, he and my sister Betsy were present at the Grange when I took the stage – or rather, one end of the drawing room – as Titania, for he could not refuse the invitation, although Mama had felt herself unequal to it.
