Chapter 67
GOTHAM HALL, MIDTOWN
‘Gabriella, are you shaking, girl? I told you, I am not gonna stick a pin in you.’
‘I know, Errol.’
‘But if you keep shaking there might be a chance my professionalism will be overridden by whatever you’re tweaking about.’
She was nervous. More nervous about this walk down the runway for Pierre Bastion than any other event she had done before.
It wasn’t because this was her last event in New York before she and Phoebe headed back to the UK, it wasn’t even because she was ‘modelling’ which really was not her vibe, it was because now she didn’t feel like this was a promotional moment like all her other engagements.
Tonight she was going out there fully as Lulu Felix’s sister, dressed, yes, but feeling as raw and naked in public as she had ever been.
But, really, it wasn’t about her at all…
‘Hey,’ Luca said, working on the opposite side of her to Errol. ‘Listen, everything is going to be fine. More than fine.’
She looked at him, a safety pin between those lips she got to kiss, making these unauthorised adjustments to a designer’s new work.
‘Maybe this is too much,’ Gabriella breathed. ‘Luca, you said you admired him. You’re a Pierre Bastion fan boy. Maybe we shouldn’t do—’
‘Hush now!’ Errol ordered. ‘And I am not unpicking or unpinning any damn thing!’
‘But—’
‘Errol’s right,’ Luca said. He took the pin out of his mouth and held her hands. ‘Look at me. We all agreed to do this around a breakfast table of sausage and bacon, right?’
‘A pact made with patties,’ Errol said. ‘Is one that cannot be broken.’
‘But I don’t want to get you two in trouble. Especially you, Errol, when you’ve only just started with La Facon.’
‘Hey, girl, this dude can fight his own battles and—’
‘And, I kinda told Sybille and she is all about making a statement. You want to see what she did in the eighties,’ Luca said. ‘And it’s important to you.’
‘But it’s someone else’s fashion show. It’s about his clothes and—’
‘You’re wearing his clothes, Gabriella, just with a few adjustments for a couple of minutes,’ Luca said. ‘And, I told you, he likes an extraordinary collection. It’s going to make headlines.’
‘And if security come for you, Luca and I will—’
‘No one is gonna do that, Errol,’ Luca said. ‘And, come on, Gabriella, if anyone comes for you just pull the move you made on Benoit Torres and remind everyone how many fucks you give. You’re Gabriella Felix.’
Gabriella smiled. ‘You’re right, I kind of forgot there for a second.’
‘And Phoebe is front row,’ Luca said. ‘It’s gonna be special for her.’
‘Yes.’ She nodded. ‘It is.’
‘Hudson Williams is also front row and I’m a big fan,’ Errol stated.
‘OK,’ Gabriella said, taking a breath. ‘So, how long do I have?’
‘Five minutes before we need to move,’ Luca said.
* * *
It was a strange feeling waiting in the wings of the show, knowing there were hundreds of people either side of the large runway making all the exclamations about the new collection of clothes while photographers and Instagram influencers captured it all on camera too.
Gabriella was used to the press now, didn’t worry about an audience, but she was beginning to realise that a lot of the time before now she had been using the book as a prop to help herself deal with her grief, pushing it to the forefront while she backed away, hiding in plain sight.
She could see some of the front row from her position, a little more as she moved in the line, closer to her time to walk.
There was Phoebe, no phone out to capture any moments, just staring in wonderment at the models as they made their way past her.
Next to her, Sybille, talking, gesturing a little as if narrating the styles with her hands.
Cheyenne was also there, eyes down on her iPad as per.
Gabriella focussed back on Phoebe. It had been right to come to New York, right to bring Phoebe with her.
It might not have been the relaxing winter escape amid the promo she had hoped for, but the city had gifted them both many other things.
A new understanding of each other and the trauma they had lived through.
A different outlook for the future. Even a dog it seemed…
‘You OK?’ Luca asked, touching her arm.
‘What are you doing here?’ she gasped. ‘I’m on in like three people’s time.’
He took her hand. ‘I just wanted to tell you that I think what you’re doing is… perfect.’ He squeezed her hand. ‘You’re perfect.’
‘No one’s ever called me that before,’ she said with a half-smile as another model took their turn and she shuffled along, Luca moving with her.
‘How about “beautiful”?’
‘Once. In a thick South London accent. A scaffolder hanging from the roof of a building and he preceded it with “alright”.’
‘How about “mine”?’
She turned away from the line, looking directly into his green eyes. There was no witty remark escaping her lips, no quick comeback. Nothing. Only a sensation in her belly that this really was something that might be something. Something good. Something stronger than anything she’d had before.
‘Gabriella! You’re next.’ She was called forward.
But she reacted fast. To Luca. ‘I love that. I really love that.’
‘You’ve got this, Gabriella!’ she heard him call as she made her way to the start of the runway.
She took a deep breath and blocked out everything but her thoughts.
Dressed in an ankle-length denim blue dress that was cinched in at the waist, paired with high-heeled silver boots and a silver scarf covering her hair, it was giving ‘space’ and ‘cowboy’ in all the best ways.
And, on her wrist, the bracelet Luca had chosen, thick, mesh, silver and blue, pretty indestructible looking.
As the bassline of the music thumped a heavy introduction, Gabriella wasn’t tuned into it whatsoever, didn’t care if she was matching each step in time, because her mind was in another place; in fact, it was in many times and places, all the memories associated with one person.
She started to reach the end of the runway and it was then she began to unfasten the hidden zipper with trembling fingers. Let this work. Don’t let this be for nothing. Let me achieve this dream.
Where she was meant to stand, pose, turn around and then make her slow walk back, she stopped, pulled the zip fully and the front of her dress fell down to reveal an image on a pure white background, from a photograph made into artwork by Luca and Errol from thousands of sequins. Lulu. Her beautiful sister.
There were gasps from the audience, flashes from cameras and monumental applause, but all that was going through Gabriella’s mind was a rewind of time.
Lulu laughing as she played the piano. Lulu screaming as Gabriella chased her with a captured moth telling her it was a baby bat.
Lulu crying tears of joy when she first saw a newborn Phoebe.
Unforgotten moments. An unforgettable person.
And as Gabriella finally turned, revealing the front-on image to more of the auditorium, her eyes met with Phoebe’s and there was the biggest smile on her niece’s face.
Because she knew what this meant. Finally, although not in the way any one had hoped for, Lulu was getting her moment to shine on a New York stage.