Chapter 11
While juggling half a dozen crises in the office, including fabric that hadn’t come in from Italy, two June brides changing their wedding gowns radically and the sewers playing beat the clock to finish them, delivery problems, a crucial pattern that went missing, and a foreign head of state who wanted Dominique to design his daughter’s wedding gown, a great honor, but for free and only publicity and a million hours of labor on the dress, she felt like an octopus with ten hands, and while solving every problem and calming every crisis, she managed to take two days off and create a long weekend for Felicity’s second fitting in Paris.
The countdown had started, and the wedding was only weeks away.
The designer of her dress, Liliane Leroy, said it was crucial that Felicity come to Paris to make sure that everything was perfect.
Felicity had been quiet in the airport, and looked serious when they boarded the flight.
Her mother thought she looked very pale, undoubtedly due to wedding nerves.
Dominique hadn’t seen her in several weeks.
She had tried repeatedly for a late or early dinner, but Felicity said she was working on her show and didn’t have time.
Dominique hadn’t seen Violet either. She was on a constant merry-go-round of social activity and sports events with Jamie to celebrate their non-engagement, as she called it.
She was gleeful about it and sounded ecstatic.
Her mother was happy for her, and at least there was no wedding to plan.
For now anyway. Dominique wondered if Violet would change her mind about marrying Jamie.
Violet was hard to predict and had her own ideas, none of them conventional, which Dominique respected.
She’d always been that way, even as a child. Felicity had been serious and shy.
Dominique hadn’t seen Bill in two weeks.
Eileen was home, with every kind of hospital equipment set up in the house, and Bill had his hands full, organizing the nurses and taking shifts himself.
He hardly had time to talk to Dominique.
He called at odd hours, usually whispering, with Eileen close by.
He had no privacy in his own house anymore and no time to himself, and nothing to say other than reports on Eileen’s health, her minor leaps forward, and occasional big steps backward.
She was still at high risk of becoming paraplegic if something went wrong.
They weren’t out of the woods yet, and Bill sounded exhausted whenever they spoke.
He tried not to be short-tempered with Dominique on the phone, but at times everything he was dealing with got the best of him.
He hadn’t had a moment to himself, or of rest, in weeks, and there was no light at the end of the tunnel so far.
It just seemed to get longer and longer.
Dominique had brought magazines to read on the plane, and shared them with Felicity. They both watched a movie, but Dominique couldn’t concentrate and gave up after a few minutes. All she could think of was Bill.
“I can’t wait to see the dress,” she said to Felicity while they ate lunch.
They were traveling first class, as she always did.
She had a lace-maker she had to call in Paris for her own line.
They had tripled their prices and Dominique wanted a better discount.
They claimed that the cost of labor and import taxes had impacted them severely, which Dominique knew was true, but she still wanted a better price.
“I hope it fits,” Felicity said, looking worried.
“Of course it will. All brides lose weight before the wedding. It’s inevitable. They get nervous and don’t eat.”
“I think I might have gained some weight.”
“I doubt it, but you’ll lose it before the wedding. All brides do.” Felicity didn’t belabor the point, and they both took a nap before they landed. It was a gray day in Paris, but at least it wasn’t cold.
They checked into the Ritz, and as soon as they dropped off their bags they went to see Marie-Aurélie.
Dominique didn’t want to stay at her mother’s apartment now that Clément was living there.
It would be too awkward for them, and they needed their space.
She didn’t want to make her mother or her future husband uncomfortable. He was very proper and discreet.
Marie-Aurélie was in great spirits and the ankle wasn’t hurting her anymore when they saw her.
She still had to have the cast for several more weeks and Clément was taking good care of her.
He and Felicity discussed several major museum shows that they both wanted to see.
Clément was very polite and got along with everyone.
Marie-Aurélie was worried about both her daughter and granddaughter as she watched them.
She thought they both looked tired, and Dominique seemed unhappy, which didn’t surprise her.
She knew about Bill’s wife’s accident and that Dominique hadn’t seen him in weeks. It was taking a heavy toll on her too.
Dominique and Felicity went back to the hotel after a two-hour visit.
They were going to order dinner from room service and go to bed early.
The dress fitting was the next morning, and Felicity looked stressed when they left the hotel with a car and driver the concierge hired for them.
Dominique was sending emails from her phone.
They arrived at the studio on time, and Liliane was waiting for them.
She looked as young and earnest as before, and Dominique was touched by the personal attention she was giving them.
It was a great honor for her to create a dress for a famous designer’s daughter.
The dress was brought out by two women from the atelier, and white sheets spread out on the floor before Felicity tried it.
Liliane carefully adjusted the shoulders and smoothed down the drape of the dress, and one of the seamstresses made a clucking sound as she closed it, and glanced at Liliane in panic.
“There was a mistake in the measurements,” she said, and Liliane went to check for herself.
“We need two centimeters in the bust and the waist.” The dress wouldn’t close in either place, although it wasn’t a form-fitting style.
But Dominique’s practiced eye noticed a difference too, and the two designers conferred, standing behind Felicity.
There was just enough lace in the seams to correct it, but it would be a delicate fix.
The rest of the dress fit her perfectly.
Liliane measured Felicity again, and there was a discrepancy in the measurements, which upset her, and when Dominique glanced at Felicity, she saw that there were tears filling her daughter’s eyes.
“It’s okay, they can fix it,” she said gently, and Felicity shook her head and whispered to her mother. They could fix the dress but not what mattered.
“No, they can’t. I’m pregnant.” Dominique looked stunned for a moment.
It hadn’t even occurred to her, although it happened with the brides she designed for too, and wasn’t that unusual.
Often they didn’t tell her and their measurements changed radically from one fitting to the next, which no one understood until they confessed.
Felicity carefully took off the dress with the seamstress’s help, and Liliane asked them to come back the next day so she and the seamstress could work on it overnight.
Felicity and Dominique left the studio a few minutes later.
Felicity burst into tears as soon as they left and Dominique hugged her.
“Why didn’t you tell me? Are you happy about it?
” She handed her a handkerchief and they stood on the street, as Felicity shook her head and cried harder.
There was a café across the street, and Dominique suggested they have a cup of coffee and talk.
They sat at a small round table on the sidewalk, Dominique ordered café filtre for them, and Felicity blew her nose.
“I told Taylor when we got engaged that I didn’t want kids for five years.
I’m not ready to have a baby, and it’s going to delay my career.
I’m just not ready for children, but I must have missed a pill or two.
I was stupid, I should have paid more attention.
I wanted to get an abortion and Taylor wouldn’t let me, and now it’s too late.
His mother suggested that it’s probably not Taylor’s anyway, and he threatened to kill me if I ‘killed his baby.’ Then I saw it on a sonogram and I felt too guilty, so I said I’d keep it, but, Mom, I don’t know what to do. I wish I were dead.”
“That’s not an option,” Dominique said firmly. “And what do you mean his mother said it’s not Taylor’s? Did you sleep with someone else? Did I miss something?”
“No, she thinks that anyone who gets pregnant before they marry is a whore, she came right out and said it to me.” She didn’t tell her mother that Taylor had slapped her and caused her nose to bleed. “She demanded a DNA test to prove the baby is his.”
Dominique looked outraged. “And did you get the test?” She was nearly shaking with rage.
“No, but I will if they really want it. Taylor knows it’s his. There’s no one else. But now I’m stuck with a baby I don’t want, that is going to change my whole life. I wish I’d had the abortion.”
“I wish you had told me when all this was happening.”
“It’s just been the last couple of weeks,” she said, and Dominique registered that it was during the time she hadn’t seen Bill and was upset and distracted herself.
“They have no right to treat you that way. Did Taylor defend you?”
“It was very emotional for him. He agrees with his mother about the abortion. I’m not sure his father cares. He never says anything. His mom runs everything. They accused me of murder if I got an abortion.”