Page 96 of The Wedding Dress Repair Shop
Someone else had also taken care of the dress, for it had been cleaned before it was packed away, though the rips and tears in the ivory parachute silk bore mute evidence to the tragedy.
The dressmaker had made the most of the silk and it was cleverly cut in panels, which must have been difficult, given its origin.
The skirt was longer at the back and didn’t flare out much, but instead was gathered in at the waist. The lightly boned wrap-style bodice had a high neckline, with no collar.
Self-covered buttons closed the back and the cuffs of the long sleeves, which were full at the top and then tapered to the wrist.
She must have looked lovely in it and I’m sure the groom thought so too. I hoped they’d had a moment of total happiness as he took her hand before the altar.
Like whoever packed the dress away, I was not going to make any attempt to repair the damage and it would be displayed as it was.
I made my notes and took my photos, then covered the table with a clean light cotton dustsheet. The rest would have to wait for tomorrow, because it was time for me to get ready to go out.
The prospect of ice cream and angels sounded an irresistible mix.
31
Veiled Illusions
We went to Jericho’s End in Thom’s car, since Simon’s was an old Mini and it would have been a bit of a crush with the four of us.
Not that Thom’s car, a Suzuki Swift, was that much bigger.
‘I don’t drive very far these days and I’ve never really been into cars, so this does me fine,’ he said, as we headed out of town past Arthur’s Cave and Terrapotter.
‘My Mini’s all I need most of the time too,’ agreed Simon. ‘Though sometimes I go a bit further afield. There’s a great fabric shop in an old mill about an hour’s drive away, Garland. If you like, you could go with me next time I’m over there.’
‘Love to,’ I said. ‘I meant to look online for the nearest fabric and sewing supplies places, but I haven’t got round to it yet.’
‘Have you found Sew and Sew?’ asked Pearl.
‘That tiny sewing shop up a backstreet?’ I said. ‘I had a look, though it’s mostly sewing machine repairs and embroidery kits.’
‘Handy if you run out of anything basic, though,’ Simon said.
‘That’s what I thought. Of course, I know all the big London suppliers and you can buy anything you need online now, but sometimes you just want to mooch around for inspiration and bargains.’
‘Or feathers, in my case,’ said Simon. ‘I never seem to have enough feathers for rush orders.’
We’d left the town behind now, and the farmland on either side was turning from arable to scrubbier sheep grazing as we climbed towards the distant moors.
But after a couple of miles, Thom took a turn off to the right, down a lane so narrow I wouldn’t have spotted it except for a cluster of signs at the entrance.
‘This is the only way in and out of the village, apart from a really hairy back road,’ he said.
‘You don’t callthishairy?’ I demanded, as he shot down the narrow strip of tarmac, which had ditches and steep banks on either side.
‘It’s never very busy, except in the school holidays and at weekends,’ Pearl assured me. ‘And there are hardly any buses – two a day, I think.’
‘Buses?’ I was amazed anyone would try and get a bus down there!
Presently we rounded a bend and could see the village and the bright silver ribbon of a river in the valley below.
Thom pulled into a car park next to some ancient ruins on the outskirts and switched off the engine.
‘Here we are,’ said Simon. ‘The village carries on up the hill, round that bend, but the physic garden, ice-cream parlour and Fairy Falls walk are over the humpback bridge to the right. I vote we have ice cream first, then do the waterfall walk.’
‘You would want ice cream first,’ said Pearl. ‘But that sounds OK to me. I think we’d better leave the monastic ruins and thephysic garden for another day, if we’re going up to St Gabriel’s church on the way home.’
