Eventually Yours

33 Cat and Mouse

"Your first ball in the city!" Madison exclaimed as I rushed forward to take the garment bag from Victor's servant, silently grateful that Madame Francis had a secret cache of exquisite dresses that just so happened to be precisely my size and that she was so quick in shipping them all the way to Northumberland. "What are you going to wear?"

I checked the tag attached to the bag.

For my favorite customer. Good luck. XO

I grinned as I unzipped the bag and let the dress fall out in cascading waves of deep purple satin. Madison gasped, eyes bulging out of her head at the sight of it. I couldn't help my smile. She had taken my suggestion to do more purple dresses. This one, I was sure, she'd made just for me. I could hardly wait to try it on.

"Hurry!" I exclaimed excitedly to Madison. "Help me get it out."

She did, rushing forward to assist me in extricating the garment from it's bag. Once we had it out, I held it up to myself in the mirror. There was something different about it but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

"Are you going to stare at it all day or put it on? We've got to leave in an hour or so anyway," Madison reminded me.

Of course, the dress had arrived just in the nick of time. I'd waited, perhaps too long, in writing Madame Francis to request such a gown but my mind had been preoccupied as of late.

I shot a grin at Madison and then turned around so she could help me out of the dress I was currently wearing.

Some time and many layers later, I was standing in front of the mirror in that purple dress, realizing why it had seemed so different when I'd held it up before. It was tight, like almost scandalously so. It hugged my curves in a way that made my form look incredible, feminine, beautiful. It accentuated my waist, created a sort of hourglass shape, and drew the eye to my cleavage. I took one look and imagined my mother having a heart attack at the sight of it.

"It's very..." Madison started uncertainly, "French."

I sighed and turned to face her.

"What am I going to do?" I whined. "I can't wear this."

"Why not?" She asked, blinking back at me as if she truly didn't see what I was seeing.

"Madison," I gasped. "It's- it's-"

"Gorgeous," she finished, approaching me and whirling me around to face my own reflection again. She held me by the shoulders and looked into my eyes in the mirror. "You're beautiful, Ella. You always have been. A woman as pretty as you deserves a dress that shows it off. Besides, you were on the cutting edge of fashion in our town. Women here in the city, they're much more up with the times. This won't be as bad as you think it will."

"It's so... tight."

"I've seen women here wear tighter. I've also seen them show more cleavage. Though the combined effect... no matter. It's beautiful, Ella, and quite elegant. You simply have to wear it. This is your first ball in Northumberland and you'll be on the arm of the Duke. You must make quite the impression. After all, this could be your home very soon."

Madison was grinning ear to ear. I smiled back at her though I still felt my heart do an unexpected flip at her words.

"Besides," Madison continued as if reading my thoughts from before. "The heart attack your mother is going to have is nothing compared to what you're about to do to Victor."

I couldn't help smiling at that. The thought of the look on his face when I emerged like this kept me smiling throughout the rest of getting ready with Madison. Helping her into her dress, doing our hair and makeup, throughout all of it, I couldn't stop smiling. And I carried that with me through emerging with my best friend from my room, laughing and arm in arm. We made it to the top of the stairs and peered down to find a majority of the group awaiting us. Benthem, Elijah, and Victor stood huddled below, murmuring in conversation. They stopped when we emerged, Benthem smiling up at his wife, Victor's jaw utterly dropping at the sight of me. It was a satisfying feeling and I had to bite my lip to keep from grinning like a fool as we descended to join them.