57
Once they were home, Oliver suggested that Aurelia visit with the characters, and she didn’t hesitate to agree. Sharing the wonder of the shop with Jack had her looking forward to seeing everyone again, especially now that she was back to the ‘original set’ she’d met before Julia’s arrival.
The following morning, she woke with Oliver and told him about her conversations over breakfast. She held back a little at first, not wanting to gush too much about hearing Lizzy describe her new life at Pemberley, or Jane describe how she’d felt during her first days as a young governess at Thornfield Hall.
But Oliver kept asking her questions, so she fully let her guard down.
It was good not to watch her words or emotions around him, to be back to their normal even as she was telling him about fictional characters.
They made a plan to have a quiet night in, and his kiss goodbye left her looking forward to it.
Once she was settled at her desk in the shop, Aurelia set to work on her book.
Within a few hours—with a few breaks to help customers—she’d finished.
Pulling her hands from her keyboard, she experienced the same sense of surprise she remembered feeling after finishing her first book with Vronsky.
She felt elated, relieved, happy, but also a bit sad to have wrapped up her time with the characters and world she’d invented.
It was only noon, not exactly the hour for a celebratory cocktail, so after sending Louisa her final chapters, Aurelia walked around the block to get a celebratory coffee and slice of cake instead.
Walking home again, she couldn’t help but reflect back on the past few weeks.
Her mind could barely process it all. Had she really come clean to Oliver?
To Antonia and Julia? Had she really just finished the book that had been consuming her for over a year?
And was her wedding really only days away?
There had been so many changes in such a short span of time, it reminded her of her first year running the shop—when she’d discovered the shop’s secret, met Oliver, written Vronsky’s story, and worked toward publishing it.
She felt relieved to know that Julia would at least have the secret under her belt by the time she took over the shop, which made her wonder—not for the first time—about her great-great aunt, Cristobel.
What had she discovered about the shop? Did she do something—work some magic—to make it dispense characters on a nightly basis?
Or had the shop always held a possibility that she’d merely unleashed by bringing books in and setting them on a certain table?
Had she ever gotten the chance to tell anyone, and had anyone believed her?
Aurelia hoped that, as she’d just done, Cristobel had been able to bring someone into her circle, to be honest and open with someone about what happened in the shop after midnight.
After such a reflective morning, Aurelia felt ready for her afternoon plans: meeting everyone at the dressmakers for her final fitting.
Fortunately, the weather was less aggressive than it’d been just weeks ago, so she managed to arrive flushed only with the effort of getting there on time rather than overheating.
Once again, Oliver’s mum Johanna was waiting for Aurelia and greeted her with a warm hug.
Kali arrived soon after Aurelia and was followed in short order by Antonia and Julia.
The shop set out champagne for the adults and sparkling juice for Julia, who looked pleased not to be left out.
Poppy led Aurelia back to the fitting room, leaving the others chatting on a set of sofas while they waited.
The dress was finished now—no more pins or markings as to what would be taken in or adjusted. Poppy bustled around Aurelia, pulling and tugging at the fabric to confirm it fit as it should.
“How does it feel?” she asked.
“Just right,” Aurelia answered quietly, hardly taking her eyes from her reflection.
“Ready to show it off?”
Aurelia nodded to herself, then turned away from the mirror. “Ready.”
Poppy parted the fitting room curtains and Aurelia stepped out to a room that hushed at her entrance.
She was barefoot—she’d forgotten to bring the shoes she’d picked for the wedding, in spite of reminding herself again and again—but she didn’t mind feeling the carpet underfoot, grounding her as she looked at the faces of the women surrounding her.
“Oh, Aurelia,” Kali breathed.
“Look at you! It’s perfect,” Johanna said.
“Not poofy at all.” Julia nodded. “And not yellow. I like it!”
Antonia walked over and took her hands.
“It’s so exactly you, Aurelia. There’s a little bit of Mum, but the rest is all you.”
“I know it’s not really traditional—” Aurelia began.
“But it’s perfect for you,” Johanna said. “So it’s better than anything traditional.”
“I’m with her,” Kali agreed, smiling as she dabbed at her eyes and gave a laugh. “I’ve been to my share of wedding dress fittings and”—she pointed at her face—“tears at every single one.”
“As I told Aurelia, it happens all the time,” Poppy said. “Now, have a look and make sure the length and fit are just as you want them. We can still make a few adjustments if you’d like.”
She stepped into a back room, leaving Aurelia with her gathering of women.
“I wouldn’t change a thing,” Antonia said, turning Aurelia around. “You’ve forgotten the shoes?”
“I did. Of course.”
“What are you doing about old, new, borrowed, and blue?” Kali asked.
“What’s that?” Julia asked, her face crumpling in confusion.
“It’s an old tradition,” Johanna explained. “A bride wears something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.”
“Like a blue dress?”
“No, it can be a little something blue. It can even be hidden inside the dress, as long as the bride has it with her during the ceremony.”
“Have you picked your things, then?” Kali asked again.
“Well, the dress is new. I’ll wear Mum’s old pearl drop earrings, and I have a gold and lapis lazuli bangle of Aunt Marigold’s for my blue.”
She and Antonia shared a look and Antonia reached out a hand to pat her arm.
“What about the borrowed, then?” asked Julia.
“I was thinking maybe the dress pattern is borrowed?”
“No, the dress is the new thing,” Julia said, as though she hadn’t only just learned about the tradition but was instead an expert on it.
“I have something you could borrow—if you’d like,” Johanna said quietly. “I was going to ask if you wanted to wear it, but I didn’t want you to feel pressure if it wasn’t your taste.”
She walked over to her purse and reached inside.
“I brought it with me to show you. I wore it at my wedding and saved it…”
She didn’t need to finish for Aurelia to know that she’d saved it for Lottie, her own daughter.
“Let’s have a look, then,” Kali said kindly, walking over to her.
Johanna drew a small cloth pouch from her bag and, from that, removed a rectangular hair clip set with three rows of tiny pearls.
“This was my grandmother’s. She wore it at her wedding, my mother wore it at hers, I wore it at mine…
” She paused and caught her breath, then finished, “And I would be honored if you wanted to wear it at yours. Only if you want to, mind. If you don’t like it or don’t think it would work with your dress—”
“I definitely want to wear it, Johanna,” Aurelia said, pulling her into a hug. “First off, it’s beautiful! Second, I need something borrowed. And third, I’d really love to have something of yours with me.”
Aurelia and Johanna both swept away a few tears after sharing another hug.
Just a year ago, Aurelia might have been embarrassed to be crying.
Now she knew it was perfectly normal to feel emotional over the fact that she was about to get married without her mum or Aunt Marigold to witness it.
Having Oliver’s mum there—Johanna, who had experienced a loss of her own—along with the other women in Aurelia’s life would ease the sadness, but it was still there.
“That will look perfect with Mum’s earrings,” Antonia joined in, gently taking the clip from Aurelia’s hand and placing it against her hair. “And you’re not wearing a veil, so it’ll be nice to have something in its place.”
“It looks really pretty,” Julia said with a determined nod. “That’s your borrowed, so now you’re sorted.”
Julia’s authoritative tone broke the slight tension in the room and brought out laughter and smiles from everyone.
“What?” she asked, smiling too as she looked around and tried to figure out what was funny.
“You’re right,” Aurelia said, drawing her niece to her for a hug. “Now I’m sorted.”