CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
It was the day after my shock confrontation with Jackie and I was still feeling shaken by it.
Mum phoning with the wonderfully happy news that she and Malcolm had sold the business and would be coming home for good had given me such a boost. But I hadn’t slept well. My head was still all over the place.
The last thing I felt like doing was driving over to Bogg House to collect Maisie so that I could help her with her dress-fitting for the show. But I’d promised I would and I wasn’t going to let her down.
I was still bearing the emotional bruises from unmasking Jackie as the intruder and feeling as small as could be after her thorough assault on my character.
I couldn’t afford to have someone else hating me as well!
When I arrived, Maisie greeted me at the door carrying a wicker basket, with the dress in a carrier bag. She stepped out and closed the front door behind her.
‘Mum’s having a lie-down while Isla is asleep so we have to be quiet,’ she explained as we got in my car.
‘I’ve got her mending basket here. It belonged to Granny Rose but Mum’s got it now.
’ Eagerly, she set the basket by her feet and took the dress out of the bag.
‘Do you think we can find some thread to match it?’
‘I’m sure we can. Oh, it really is lovely, Maisie.’
The dress was a size eight but clearly still too big for Maisie. My sewing skills weren’t great but hopefully with a few tweaks here and there, we could get it to fit.
‘I have an idea,’ I told her. ‘We could cut off the bottom of the dress so it’s a good length for you, and we could make a sash from the material to gather the dress in around your waist.’
‘What’s a sash?’
‘It’s like a belt?’
She nodded, hanging on my every word.
‘And actually, I’m thinking maybe a stiff petticoat underneath the dress would give it a nice bit of volume. That’s how they used to wear their dresses in days gone by.’
‘I’ve seen pictures of ladies wearing big, puffy dresses,’ she said excitedly. ‘Do you think we could do that?’
‘Well, I’ve got a long petticoat I wore under a ball gown once. I could shorten it and iron it with spray starch which would make it as good as new.’
‘Great! Mum says she’ll put my hair up in a grown-up style. I want to look so nice that Reuben wishes he hadn’t been so horrible.’
‘He was horrible?’
‘I’ve gone right off him, actually. I was chatting to Mum and she says he’s the lowest of the low.’
‘Mums are usually right,’ I said as I popped the dress back into the bag. It was heartening to hear that Ellie seemed a bit better after our emotional chat the other day. ‘What did Reuben do?’
So she told me all about offering him the cinema tickets and him taking them, intending to use them just for himself.
‘You know what he did next? I was walking home after school with my friend Amy and he ran after us, and right there in front of me he asked Amy if she wanted to go to see a film with him. With the tickets I’d bought!’
‘What? That’s despicable!’ I burst out, felling genuinely gutted for Maisie.
‘I know. It was horrible. All his mates were watching and laughing. I think they’d dared him to do it. But Amy was great. She said why are you inviting me? Those were Maisie’s tickets. You should be inviting her. And you know what he did?’
‘Go on.’ I frowned, not liking the way this was going at all.
‘He screwed up his nose and said, “I’m not going to the cinema with her . She’s weird ”.’
‘Ugh. What a nasty ratbag! Well, I have to say, Maisie, you’re definitely better off without this Reuben twit in your life.’
‘He is a ratbag, isn’t he?’
‘He most certainly is.’
‘The thing is, Reuben really thinks he’s peng, so he probably thinks Amy will say yes.’
‘Peng?’
She shrugged. ‘It means he really likes himself. He thinks he looks like Leo Woodhall, which he actually does a bit.’
‘Right.’ I nodded, not having a clue who this Leo Woodhall was. A movie actor, maybe?
‘So what did you do after Amy said what she did?’
‘The boys were all laughing at us. So she took my arm and marched me away.’
‘Well, good for her. She’s obviously a really great friend, which is far more important than any silly boy, no matter how “peng” he happens to be.’
‘He’s really popular. Loads of other girls would go on a date with him.’ She smiled mischievously. ‘But my friend Fergie came up with a plan.’
‘Ooh, sounds good. Are you going to let me in on the secret?’
She screwed up her pretty face thinking about this. Then she sighed and said, ‘If you don’t mind, Rosie, I’ll tell you after we’ve done it.’
‘It’s nothing risky, is it?’
‘No, no. But I think it’s going to be really funny. Don’t tell Mum, though, because she might not approve.’
‘Okay.’ I smiled across at her and started the engine. ‘Right. Let’s go and make you beautiful for the ball.’
*****
On the way back to Risley Common, I called in at a little craft and gift shop in the village of Henley Green, looking for spray starch.
Maisie came into the shop with me and wandered around looking at the gift section.
I was paying for the starch when she came up to me with a big smile on her face.
‘I’ve found the perfect thing for Isla. Look!
’ She held up a small plush teddy bear that made a soft rattle when she shook it.
‘She hasn’t got any toys like that. Maybe that’s why she’s always crying because she’s bored.
I could buy her it with my pocket money. ’
I smiled and took the teddy. ‘Very cute. New-born babies don’t need many toys, but yes, Isla might like that.’ I stroked the soft white fabric. ‘Oh, the stitching is coming away at the back. Look.’
The assistant, very apologetic, went to find another one.
‘I’m afraid it’s the last one. But we’ve just had a delivery in, although it needs to be unpacked. Can you call back later?’
We assured her we could and left. Then we drove to Risley Common and set to work on The Dress at my house.
*****
A couple of hours later, Maisie did a twirl in front of my full-length bedroom mirror, delighted with the results. The sash looked good and the stiffened petticoat had given the dress lots of volume and turned it into more of a traditional ball gown.
‘Pleased?’ I smiled behind her in the mirror.
‘It’s perfect, Rosie. Thank you so much.’
‘You’re very welcome. I enjoyed doing it, actually. Maybe I’ll apply to go on The Great British Sewing Bee ,’ I joked.
Maisie nodded. ‘You’d win!’ she said seriously. ‘Definitely. You’re very clever.’
I chuckled. ‘Thank you. Right, we’d better get you back home or your mum will think you’ve left the country!’
Maisie’s joy dipped a little. ‘She probably hasn’t noticed I’ve gone.’
‘Of course she will have.’
On the way out to the car, to try and lift the mood, I asked her if she was doing anything nice at the weekend.
‘I don’t know. Mum will be busy with Isla.’ She shrugged sadly. ‘She doesn’t talk to me like she used to. We used to have fun but now it’s all pretty boring. I don’t mind, really.’
I sighed, watching her buckle her seatbelt. ‘Your mum loves you to bits. You do know that, don’t you? It’s just a baby is such hard work and takes up so much of your time. But things will settle down, I promise.’
She thought about this for a moment, a frown creasing her brow as she gazed at me. Then she said in a cool and matter-of-fact way, ‘The thing is, Rosie. I know she loves me. But she’s never going to love me as much as she loves my sister. And it’s not even her fault.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, she adopted me so I’m not actually her real daughter.’
‘But of course you are!’
She shook her head. ‘It’s all right. I don’t mind. I’m her step -daughter, but Isla is her real daughter. I’ve asked her if she’ll come and see me in the show but the thing is, I know she won’t have time. You can come if you like,’ she added. ‘We get three tickets each.’
‘That would be great. Count me in. I’d love to see you wearing the dress.’
She nodded. ‘I’m not going to wish that Mum will come because then I won’t be disappointed when she doesn’t.’ She gave another little shrug and tried to smile, but I caught the tears glinting in her eyes before she turned away to stare moodily out of the window.
Would Ellie get to the show?
I really hoped so for Maisie’s sake . . .