Page 9 of The Wedding Dress Repair Shop
‘I suppose I ought to discuss it all with the Cockleshell Theatre management first, anyway,’ he said. ‘They’re delighted I’ve got a Big Name to play Titania and we’re casting for Oberon tomorrow.’
‘Oh, yes – howdidthe auditions go today? Who have you got for Titania?’
‘Miranda Malkin!’ he announced triumphantly.
‘Mirrie Malkin?’ I repeated. ‘But I thought she was firmly fixed in the States, making films?’
‘She was, but the last two didn’t do that well at the box office and then she got divorced from that film director she dumped Leo Lampeter for, so she’s moved back to London and wants to return to her stage-acting roots.’
‘I didn’t realize she had any! I know she and Leo went straight from stage school into starring roles in the Silvermann Chronicles films, before they were even teenagers, along with Ivo. In fact, I first met them at Ivo’s house in Hampstead – and you, too, Marco, though you didn’t remember me when we met again later.’
‘I don’t think we were every really introduced – you werejust Ivo’s old friend, hanging out with him,’ Marco said, before adding resentfully: ‘Ivoneverliked me.’
‘He didn’t like any of Leo’s London friends. He thought they were all afloat on cocaine and alcohol and a bad influence on him,’ I said, although it was true that Ivo had always seemed to have a particular animosity towards Marco, even if he would never tell me exactly why.
‘That’s all in the past. You know I’m a changed man now, darling, sober and industrious,’ Marco said with one of his more winning smiles.
‘Yes, I do know,’ I said, though six years ago it had taken him some time to convince me of that and persuade me to go out with him.
‘We all sow our wild oats in our youth, and it wasn’tmyfault that when Leo went to the States, he took to the drink-and-drugs lifestyle there like a duck to water.’
‘No, of course not, Marco,’ I agreed, and I remembered how distraught he had been about his old friend’s death following an overdose. We had comforted each other, for I was both shocked about Leo and devastated that afterwards Ivo had vanished from my life without a word.
I’d started going out with Marco only a few weeks before Leo’s death. Ivo had warned me against him, so that we argued. But I was sure that he’d come round eventually, when he realized Marco really had changed and settled down.
With hindsight, that might have been optimistic, given that Ivo thought Marco and his friends had introduced Leo to drugs in the first place. Ivo was always bound to put some of the blame for Leo’s death on to Marco.Andon to Mirrie, for betraying the close ties the three of them had built up on the Silvermann film sets, when she had dumped Leo.
Marco must have been thinking about the past too, for hesaid now: ‘What happened to Leo was all very tragic, especially for Ivo – I mean, his coming home and finding Leo dead – but that was six years ago and people move on with their lives. Mirrie certainly has, and she really wants to make a success of a stage career now. She’s going to beperfectin the Titania role, which is the main thing.’
And to him, I suppose itwas.
‘Oddly enough,’ he continued, ‘I was thinking earlier that it is a pity Ivo left the stage, because he’d have made a great Oberon. It was amazing, the way he could slip under the skin of any character.’
That was true, at least – it was beinghimselfhe’d had the problem with.
‘Even if he was still acting, I don’t think he’d want to work with you or Mirrie,’ I told him.
‘No, perhaps not. He cut Mirrie dead at Leo’s funeral, just before he vanished,’ he agreed. An unfortunate choice of words in the circumstances … ‘Still, I have someone else in mind for Oberon, and we’re lucky to have Mirrie as Titania. She’ll pull in the punters.’
‘I expect she will,’ I said. I’d probably have a chance to see how good she was at the dress rehearsal, if I could get time off work then, but that was some way ahead yet.
Then it suddenly occurred to me that it would be Miranda Malkin I’d be making the copy of Rosa-May’s Titania costume for. She was, I remembered, small and petite – and also golden-haired and blue-eyed, like the Regency actress herself.
I’d been looking forward to copying that costume, but this rather took the gilt off the gingerbread. But still, it was my work, my profession, and I’d make it as perfect as possible.
‘Are you staying for dinner, now you’re here?’ I asked Marco hopefully. ‘I could make something, or we could—’
‘I can’t,’ he interrupted, picking up his jacket and shrugging into it. ‘I’ve got a dinner engagement and I’m going to be running late by the time I get back as it is. Business – networking, you know?’ he said quickly, seeing my disappointed face.
I nodded, but I wondered who he was networking with and had a probably unfair suspicion it might be Mirrie Malkin.
*
Once Marco had gone, the energy seemed to drain out of the room – and out ofme, too, for the heady bubbles inside me had all popped.
After a couple of strong mugs of coffee, though, I revived enough to make an omelette and salad, before removing the dustsheet from a dressmaker’s dummy in the corner, revealing my beautiful, soon-to-be wedding gown. Of course, Marco had seen it, but since that was before it was completely finished, I hoped that didn’t mean bad luck!
I sat in one of the shabby little armchairs that had come from my parents’ flat and ran a critical, professional eye over the dress. However immodest it might sound, I saw it was perfection and looked identical to Rosa-May’s evening dress in every respect, even though there had been a little adaptation with the fastenings and materials.
