Chapter Thirty-One
Clem opened her eyes and smiled. Today, Mari was getting married and Clem had loads to do. She lay in bed for a second as she woke up and considered the best order to do stuff; the first thing was to get up.
Getting up now, she decided on a quick shower and started to put her make-up in a bag. She had an outfit for the wedding, which was hanging in a bag, but for now she slipped on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt and headed downstairs for a quick breakfast before she went over to Mari’s to present the train and veil. The dress was already at Mari’s, and Clem had said she would be over in the morning to help if there were any last-minute adjustments. Mari still didn’t know anything about the veil, but her sister and bridesmaids were all in on it and couldn’t wait for Clem to turn up.
As she fried the bacon, she cracked another egg into the pan and thought about tomorrow. She needed to focus on her collection for the VA, find ways to make money for the castle and hope to God that whatever Otto and Aster were planning didn’t land them all in jail. Aster had asked lots of questions about whether her show would feature strobe lighting and smoke machines, and when Clem said it didn’t, Aster asked if it could.
In the end, Clem had compromised with a smoke machine and dimmed lights during the final piece. After that Clem decided to compartmentalise; if she thought any more about the painting switch, she would stress out too much. Instead, she would focus on launching her career and hopefully save the castle.
‘You look deep in thought,’ said Otto, Katherina and Kaiser weaving around her feet, waiting to be fed.
Clem had rescued the two cats the previous week in an attempt to replace the aching space that Abdul had left. The fact was that without Abdul’s presence, the mice were having a field day, and whilst the mice didn’t bother Clem, the idea of rats, did. Plus, she couldn’t run the risk of any little rodent having a nibble on her precious fabrics.
Katherina was a long-haired Siberian Silver, Kaiser was a three legged, one eyed, ragged eared ginger tom. Clem had loved him on sight. And so, thankfully, did Otto.
Now she looked up at Otto in surprise. She was so worried about everything that was at stake, but she didn’t want to alarm Otto. She knew already how guilty Otto felt about the painting. As usual, Uncle David had a lot to answer for.
‘Worried about today?’
Clem smiled. ‘Not a bit, today is easy. I have made a beautiful dress, Mari looks incredible in it and later on I’m going to give her the veil that the entire community has made for her. Today is going to be wonderful. There will be love and laughter and drinking and dancing. Much, much dancing!’
She flipped the bacon over and smiled at Otto as she put some bread in the toaster. ‘I’m just trying to think of ways to raise some funds for the castle. I had pinned my hopes on the train.’
Earlier in the week, the auctioneer had called up Clem with the disappointing news that whilst the train was worth a pretty penny, it wasn’t that pretty, and he couldn’t find any buyers. He did, however, have more hopes for the cars if he had her permission to sell them as well. Dispirited, Clem stopped listening and told him to go ahead; at least it saved her from putting an ad in the paper for them.
‘You are a very talented designer,’ said Otto reassuringly. ‘In the future I believe you will be a great name and your family’s fortune will rise on your success.’
Clem stopped stirring her pan and looked at Otto suspiciously.
‘I am not joking. I do not joke about talent. You are a talent. You will succeed. Now, your bacon is burning.’
***
After stuffing herself silly with a bacon and fried egg sandwich, Clem was at pains to wash her face and hands and then loaded the car with the veil and her outfit and told Otto that she would see her tomorrow. Despite having been more than welcome, Otto said her dancing days were behind her. Clem had tried to persuade her but decades of hiding away in the castle had become an ingrained habit. One that Clem hoped Aster might be able to shake her out of. There was no denying the old woman was a tricky so and so, but Clem was warming to her and wanted to see her come back to life.
Although it was only nine o’clock when she arrived at the pub, she could see signs of life everywhere. The sun was shining and the July air was already warm on the skin. It was the perfect day for a wedding. Clearly, one of the bridesmaids had been looking out for her and, as she pulled up, Gale dashed out to greet her.
‘Come on, Clem, I don’t think I can keep this secret in any longer. Mari knows that something is up and keeps asking us what we are whispering about. If she gets any more agitated, that baby’s going to make an early appearance!’
Clem looked alarmed. ‘He’ll stay put if he’s smart. I’m not having that dress ruined.’ And then as Gale laughed, Clem did too and, grabbing the veil and train from the car, they both headed upstairs to where Mari was sitting in a dressing gown, having her hair and make-up done by her sister. The minute Louise saw Clem, she stopped working, a big grin on her face.
Mari turned and waved at Clem. ‘I’d get up but I am now officially the size of a whale.’
Clem hadn’t seen Mari in the past fortnight and she had to say she had never seen her look more beautiful – radiant didn’t even begin to describe how perfect Mari looked, surrounded by her friends, laughing and joking.
Mari glared at her friends and looked at Clem enquiringly. ‘Now, since they have all started nudging each other again, I assume you are involved in this “secret”. Are you going to spill the beans and put me out of my agony?’
All eyes were now on Clem. Every girls in the room had worked on the item but no one had seen it in its finished glory. After everyone had embroidered their designs around the edge of the train and veil, Clem had them embroidered on large, sweeping tracery designs, tying it all together in golden threads. She had also made a few running repairs where the needlework of some of the participants was a tiny bit botched. Clem was impressed by the male lacrosse team who turned out to be remarkably fine embroiderers; she was less impressed by Shelagh and Meg who ran the local library. All the books about finesse had clearly been removed from their shelves, and Clem had spent some time silently cursing them. Now it was time to show it to Mari.
‘You know how I’ve been working on your veil and train? Well I’ve finished it.’
Mari leant forward to open the tissue paper, but Clem pulled it back.
‘Patience! Now the thing is, I didn’t do this on my own. It’s been something of a group effort. In fact, I think nearly everyone who knows you helped out.’
‘I don’t understand?’ Mari leant backwards. ‘How does everyone sew a veil?’
‘They don’t sew, they embroider. Look.’
Now Clem sat down opposite Mari and lay the fabric across her lap and gently unwrapped it from its tissue covering, revealing the lace train and embroidered edges.
‘See these books, they were done by Sheila and Meg because you love reading. This set of skis was by,’ Clem paused looking up at Gale, ‘you did these, didn’t you?’
‘Aye, remember that time on the youth club ski trip when I got stuck in a bush and you laughed so hard you wet yourself and Mrs Farl was so cross she said we were dirty wee trolls.’
Mari looked at Gale in astonishment. ‘And you embroidered that onto my wedding train?’
There was a moment of panicked silence as the girls looked at Mari as she looked at the train. ‘And this?’
‘That’s a fiddle. Ollie did that one. There’s a book that Louise has been making,’ said Clem nervously. ‘We took photos of everyone and the piece of work that they did, and Louise is turning it into a book. Don’t you like it?’
Clem’s voice gabbled away into silence as they all looked at Mari’s astounded face. Clem was heartbroken; how could she have been so stupid? She had become completely carried away with the project. Everyone had told her that Mari would love it, but now looking at her, Clem thought she had made the most awful mistake, as Mari kept revealing more and more of the train in silence. Finally, she stopped and looked up at Clem, tears rolling down her face.
‘It’s okay,’ said Clem hurriedly, ‘I can nip back to the castle and sew up a plain one. It will only take me an hour. Don’t cry.’ What was she thinking, reminding a bride of the time she wet herself on a ski trip? Clem went to package up the veil as the others looked on mortified.
Wiping the tears off her face, Mari tried to speak but sobbed again; instead, she put her hand on the train, stopping Clem. With a deep breath she tried again.
‘Don’t. I love it.’ She started crying even harder. ‘This is the most amazing thing I have ever seen.’
In a flurry of relief, the girls crowded round Mari whilst Clem removed the train in case Mari got any more tears on it. Blubbing was all well and good, but she was not having her design spoilt before it had even been worn.
After the girls had finished laughing and Mari promised not to cry again, Clem brought the train back over and started to show Mari more of the details, outlining scenes and memories from her life. When she got to the veil, Clem explained how all the instruments and dancing figures had been done by Ollie alone, and Mari started howling again.
Clem quickly removed the garment and everyone started laughing at Clem’s look of outrage.
John came in to see what was going on and looked at the train with delight.
‘She’s showed it to you, then? Have you seen mine? I did the pub and the church.’ He pointed them out and then clearing his throat he continued, ‘And I did an angel there for your mother.’
Well, now everyone was crying and Clem went over to the window to look out until she had composed herself. It was times like this that Clem missed her parents the most and felt a deep twist of envy that Mari’s father was by her side and so loving. Taking a deep breath she got her emotions back under control, this was not about her and she would not let her sadness creep into Mari’s day.
‘Right, enough,’ said Louise. ‘Mari, Dad, get a grip. We have a wedding to get to and we can’t be doing the make-up when everyone has red puffy eyes.’
‘It’s a little early in the day, now, but what say I get everyone a glass of champagne?’
As John left to a chorus of cheers, the girls continued to look at the embroidered pictures on the train.
‘Who did the playing cards?’
Clem smiled. ‘That was me and Laird Invershee. Buttons did the buttons, but she also did the poppies and the ears of corn. Oh and the little mice there were done by Eddie.’
‘Edward Argyle?!’
The other girls leant forward with cries of delight.
Eddie was an ox of a man, six foot tall and looking at the wrong side of twenty stone. He was a bloody demon on the lacrosse field and was undefeated in the tyre lifts at the summer games.
‘But they’re so delicate!’
Finally, Clem put the train away and the morning was spent getting everyone’s faces painted and hair plaited. Clem wasn’t involved in this, as she wasn’t part of the wedding party; she was here solely to sort out the dress but watched in delight and wondered which of her sisters would be next to get married. Her money was on Paddy, the most romantic of the bunch. She couldn’t see Aster ever getting married, Nicky was simply terrifying but Ari deserved to be happy. Maybe she would find someone new?
Louise, who had been running the morning with clockwork precision, now checked her phone and declared it was time for the dress. Clem brought it over as Mari stood up for the first time, groaning as she did so.
‘This bairn won’t be long now.’
Clem looked at her in horror. ‘What’s wrong with your body!’
The girls looked from Clem to Mari in surprise. They couldn’t see anything wrong, but Clem was used to looking at a body and instantly working out its dimensions. And Mari’s had changed dramatically.
‘Ah you’ve noticed that. The baby’s dropped.’
‘Oh my God!’
‘What do you mean dropped?’ asked Gale.
Mari explained that it meant the baby had shifted position and was now lower in the pelvis ready for delivery. ‘It’s early but I’m not due for a few weeks yet, so it’s fine.’ She looked at Clem in concern. ‘Unless this alters the fitting of the dress?’
Ordinarily it would absolutely alter the fitting of the dress, as the bump was now a good few inches further south. However, Clem had been doing lots of research on maternity wedding gowns and had devised a smart system of laces and bindings, with a section running down the spine of the dress and two further panels running down either side, leaving the front of the dress cut on the bias for greatest curvature. It had required a hell of a lot more fabric than normal, but the effect as Clem adjusted the bindings was perfect. Having fitted the veil and the train, everyone threatened to cry again until Clem glared at them so fiercely that they decided to laugh instead.
And now it was Clem’s turn to change. She had been so tempted to re-model one of the old outfits she had found in the attic but rule number one of weddings was not to outshine the bride. Whipping into a pretty skirt and top that she had packed from London, she waved goodbye to the girls and dashed off to get to the church before the wedding party.