33
There had been a lot of phone calls between Marlene’s and Kristy’s families, including Sally and my mother.
Not me; I was way too occupied with trying to keep the fuck out of everyone’s way right now to worry about a few phone calls.
I made the invite; my part was done. And the long and the short of it, it was five who drove down from the Conneaut Lake area to Slippery Rock on Sunday morning.
Kayley was Kristy’s mother, and Amanda was Marlene’s.
Sally joined those four. And they arrived at 10 a.m., and I was, of course, I arrived on a horse for good reason, on Lightning and in more or less western costume. And that was a bit deliberate.
Evonne had actually come in the night before to keep me out of trouble, and she can ride, a bit anyway, refuses to try barrel racing, says something about if she wanted to die, she could have just remained male.
And I knew she was serious about not racing, but that does not mean that I stop harassing her.
Anyway, Amy and Kim, along with Sarah, had joined us. Carmine was still in bed. “I am not now nor will I ever get up before a sensible hour to ride one of your horses.”
She can ride. Mom is teaching her, and I think it is an embarrassment thing.
Mom has hinted that Carmine wants to skip the ride with us before she joins us.
And she rides with Amy and Kim when she is at the farm, and I am not.
More common than not, honestly, as she works at the Mercer Studio and I travel.
Dad says, “Depreciation girl, you simply have to take some economics classes so that you can understand how depreciation is saving you money in taxes.”
Whatever. He likes having the studio and playing producer or whatever he named himself over there. Cleo enjoys working for him, says, “He is easy, hasn’t a clue what in the hell we do, so he just sits there and does what I want.”
Men are so easy to manipulate.
So, the Ohio girls, as I have named them, arrived just as we were returning to the yard.
I timed it this way. We actually were resting along the bank until the girls called Mom to have the gates opened, and then were less than fifteen minutes out.
Easy stunt to me, looks authentic to the mothers.
I was afraid that they would see me as a top model, and not a farm girl who rides on a Sunday morning, wears the same clothes that they do, and can be trusted with their daughter.
And well, Amy and Kim need friends, and the locals are, well, rural locals and not all that friendly, I am afraid.
These four can do the weekend stuff, and I do like them.
And I will fly all four into New York and, when the mothers trust me, to Paris or London for a few shows.
Anyway, Mom was introducing herself when we approached on horseback, and then, before I got off, Marlene asked, “Shannon, can we see you ride the barrels on Lightning?”
Sure, why not? Let the moms see that I really was raised on a horse, and that will make them more comfortable.
I acknowledged the request, and without dismounting, I rode over to the ring, and we do have some tiered stadium-like seating.
Not much, about what a high school baseball field would have.
Mom got the seating used decades ago when she competed.
And once everyone was seated, Mom talked to me.
“Shannon, push this for proof of who you are 4-H wise, but do not hurt yourself or Lightning, but jazz it up a bit. One of the two mothers rides, but I forgot which one. And she does not want her daughter to follow in that path. But show her that you are real.”
So I did. I rode three rounds, with a cool-down for myself and Lightning in between.
The first two were warm-up, stretch out for Lightning, and I held her back.
On the third ride, I gave her her head. I did not push her, but allowed Lightning to determine the speed and pace of the ride, and I know from experience that she will give a really good showing.
Of course, Lightning did what I wanted.
OK, I have officially established myself as the horsewoman who models over the model who thinks she is a horsewoman.
And we went back to the stable and dressed down the horses while we all talked about the horses.
Carmine joined us and actually helped with Lightning, and I was surprised how good Lightning was with her.
Normally, it is myself and either Amy or Kim around this filly.
She is finicky about everyone else. Marlene joined us, and Lightning allowed her to brush her out also.
In short order, the horses were taken care of.
Those of us who had ridden had a change of clothes and strong deodorant in the tack room, and did the spray and change routine, and the group went up to the house.
Now, with three models and Lowri, who is treated as a model clothes-wise, seriously, women in her position actually do get paid to wear designer clothes when they are with me.
And of course, she has far more clothes than she can ever wear.
Well, we have far too much clothing. One of the garages, an automobile garage, where I store the Porsches over winter and stuff like that, is a twelve-car garage.
And for the record, Dad does like his cars also.
Well, it has a space upstairs that was designed to be converted into staff apartments and never was.
Dad had it finished out as a clothing storage facility and studio.
A place where we could sort what comes in, and we have a few girls from the Rho Sorority in Slippery Rock who do this several times a week and are paid.
The clothes are unpacked, cleaned if required, sorted into what we may want and what we would never wear, and then stored until one of us, the models, is bored and wants to go clothes shopping and the appropriate racks are pulled out.
Once we say no, then the clothing goes into storage.
And that is what Heather and Crystal, the Rho sisters from the Rock, were accessing.
The deal is to outfit the three, Sally, Marlene, and Kristy, for the wedding and dinner.
Most women will change between the two events.
There is a four-hour layover, as it will take three hours for the photos.
And why not allow folks the opportunity to change, walk the Creek trails, or see the horses, then change into evening formal for the dinner and reception?
So, all three needed a wedding formal and a dinner formal, and Amy and Kim were also selecting. They could have done this before, but they wanted myself and Carmine there to help them. No problems, more fun with kids, and I like that.
And once we had chosen gowns. Between the Ohio girls, the retail on the gowns were well into the low six figures for all six, but we did not share that with the moms. OK, I lied. My mother shared that with the girls’ mothers. But no one shared with Sally.
And then we went into the room with the western wear.
The Rho girls were out of their league here, but Sally was told, “Take what you want; I have more coming next week,” and she helped form a casual outfit for the farm for the layover for all three.
And then we went into the KK Branded room and filled up every corner of their car.
I will never, ever run out of KK Branded casual, nor would I want to. I really do adore this clothing. And after the mothers said “no more,” I said, “More, they can take it home on Saturday when there are just three of them in the car.”
And the mothers started in, “OK, how exactly expensive are those blouses?”
Lowri, being the proud family of KK Brands, replied, “In England, in the gentry set, I would expect each blouse to be over fifteen hundred pounds.”
And Kayley said, “Honey, put some of those back. They are too expensive for you and school.”
And I replied, “Kristy, take ten more. A couple of things, ladies. These are not commercial products. These are one-offs designed for being photographed and mostly are, but at times, we run out of time, or an art director has enough for the campaign, and the rest are never worn. Moms,
the clothing in this room can not be sold, nor can it be given to charity. It can only be given to the model it was made for, no one else. And I can wear it, destroy it, or give it away. And that is because it is non-production clothing and the designer wants it worn and seen,
but not available for sale ever. It has technically not been introduced or offered for sale. Now, the pieces you would buy in the store are variations of these pieces, but not one-offs.”
“Shannon, you are implying that you would give my daughter thirty thousand worth of just blouses?”
“No, British pounds. These clothes are never offered for sale in the US. KK Brands does not sell in the States.”
“And once this room overfills, the Rho girls from Slippery Rock and Mercer have a charity auction over what is not used or given away, and the money is donated to Rho-sponsored charities. The girls also work with a few other smaller schools when we do this, and we are doing one, what,
at the end of September? I am somewhere on a runway that week is all that I know.”
Amanda then spoke, “You did one at the end of the school year, didn’t you? And it has an online component? My older daughter is at Allegheny, and she tried to buy, but the prices went over her head.”
And that is the way the day went. We feted them all to a lunch and sat and just talked for a long time.
It was the first time in months that we were all together and relaxed.
The Ohio girls were thrilled to meet Evonne, and then Angel and Shanna showed up a day early.
The shooting had difficulties, and they had to fly back the day after the wedding to reshoot an assignment.
And again, the idea that the Ohio kids were being introduced and allowed to be part of a woman’s circle was about fashion and horses.
I assure you that this was a day that they would never forget in their lives.
But I also got what I wanted from this, and that was two things.
I was seen as a normal farm-type housewife publicly for the first time in a private setting.
And I also found two friends for Amy and Kim, who were seriously out of their element.
Amy and Kim will be riding with the Ohio folks over Labor Day, and that is good. That is what those two need.
On the way out, Amanda took me aside. She said, “Shannon, I knew what to expect after talking at length to your mother, but I was shocked nonetheless to meet you, and I want you to know that both Kayley and I see you and your friends and siblings as the perfect role models for our daughters,
and yes, we know and acknowledge your path to being whom you are, and I want to say, I am proud that you took an interest in my daughter.”
And before I could reply, Amanda simply walked away and got into the overloaded car.