30. Isla
Isla
What would have been a ninety-minute walk took them half an hour on horseback.
When they arrived, Celie met them at the front door.
After pulling Isla into an enormous embrace, she dragged her and Lily down a hallway where they could change into dry clothing belonging to Lady Pierpont’s granddaughter, who was about Isla’s size and routinely kept dresses in her grandmother’s mansion.
Celie, who’d already laid out a white Robe à la Fran?aise, pulled Isla into the room.
As her churning emotions overpowered what little control she’d managed thus far, Isla saw the dress and burst into tears. “Celie. What are you doing here, and where did you find such an elegant gown?” She walked over and ran a hand down the elaborately embroidered skirt.
“James and Nico stopped by to collect me on the way here. You don’t think he’d allow you to wed without me here, do you?
” Celie handed Isla a handkerchief before wiping her own tears with another.
She and Lily began divesting Isla of her sodden clothing.
“And the dress is one of Rosetta’s less ostentatious evening gowns.
It took plenty of searching through closets full of frocks and ball gowns and skirts, each gaudier than the last, before I found one that didn’t have those horrid puff sleeves and didn’t need a pannier since I know you hate those things. ”
She pointed to a second dress on a nearby chair. “Lily, that one’s for you. We realized your breasts would never fit into one of Rosetta’s gowns, and Lady Pierpont found one she’d worn as a younger woman.” Her brows bounced up and down suggestively. “She cut quite the figure in her day.”
Lily unbuttoned her blouse. “That gown you’re wearing is stunning, Celie. Is that one of yours?”
“It is. I’ve been saving it for many years, now.” Her eyes welled with tears again, as she looked at Isla with a mother’s love and ran her hand up and down Isla’s arm. “I wanted to wear it to your wedding and finally have the chance. I’m so happy for you. He’s a good man.”
Knowing she’d never divulge their secret to anyone, including to this woman who’d looked after Isla her entire life, she smiled and said, “He is, isn’t he?”