The dress was finished now—no more pins or markings as to what would be taken in or adjusted. Poppy bustled around Aurelia, pulling and tugging at the fabric to confirm it fit as it should.
“How does it feel?” she asked.
“Just right,” Aurelia answered quietly, hardly taking her eyes from her reflection.
“Ready to show it off?”
Aurelia nodded to herself, then turned away from the mirror. “Ready.”
Poppy parted the fitting room curtains and Aurelia stepped out to a room that hushed at her entrance. She was barefoot—she’d forgotten to bring the shoes she’d picked for the wedding, in spite of reminding herself again and again—but she didn’t mind feeling the carpet underfoot, grounding her as she looked at the faces of the women surrounding her.
“Oh, Aurelia,” Kali breathed.
“Look at you! It’s perfect,” Johanna said.
“Not poofy at all.” Julia nodded. “And not yellow. I like it!”
Antonia walked over and took her hands.
“It’s so exactly you, Aurelia. There’s a little bit of Mum, but the rest is all you.”
“I know it’s not really traditional—” Aurelia began.
“But it’s perfect foryou,” Johanna said. “So it’s better than anything traditional.”
“I’m with her,” Kali agreed, smiling as she dabbed at her eyes and gave a laugh. “I’ve been to my share of wedding dress fittings and”—she pointed at her face—“tears at every single one.”
“As I told Aurelia, it happens all the time,” Poppy said. “Now, have a look and make sure the length and fit are just as you want them. We can still make a few adjustments if you’d like.”
She stepped into a back room, leaving Aurelia with her gathering of women.
“I wouldn’t change a thing,” Antonia said, turning Aurelia around. “You’ve forgotten the shoes?”
“I did. Of course.”
“What are you doing about old, new, borrowed, and blue?” Kali asked.
“What’s that?” Julia asked, her face crumpling in confusion.
“It’s an old tradition,” Johanna explained. “A bride wears something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.”
“Like a blue dress?”
“No, it can be a little something blue. It can even be hidden inside the dress, as long as the bride has it with her during the ceremony.”
“Have you picked your things, then?” Kali asked again.
“Well, the dress is new. I’ll wear Mum’s old pearl drop earrings, and I have a gold and lapis lazuli bangle of Aunt Marigold’s for my blue.”
She and Antonia shared a look and Antonia reached out a hand to pat her arm.
“What about the borrowed, then?” asked Julia.
“I was thinking maybe the dress pattern is borrowed?”
“No, the dress is the new thing,” Julia said, as though she hadn’t only just learned about the tradition but was instead an expert on it.
“I have something you could borrow—if you’d like,” Johanna said quietly. “I was going to ask if you wanted to wear it, but I didn’t want you to feel pressure if it wasn’t your taste.”
