Two Loves

Chapter 44

ATTICUS

What I did not consider when it comes to weddings is that they are a horrific amount of work.

My mother was of course delighted to hear about our plan, and has sworn herself to secrecy. It's also not bad that she loves Cymbeline.
She once told me that Cym reminds her of herself - and now I am not anymore certain that my father's death was really an accident. She also allowed the whole wedding brigade to stay at our house. We could be as merry as the finches in a tree, if Ada were not so sad and melancholic and if we wouldn't have to sort out all the wedding circus. Luckily, Mama has taken up most of the organisation.

"What do you think of that?" she says and shows me a sketch from yet another illustrated magazine.

"It is quite pretty, but we must find one for Cymbeline that matches it -"

"Not my type, my apologies", Ada says and gives the sketch of the wedding dress a critical eye. "Do you see that décolleté? A more boyish girl could be a Greek goddess in it, but I will just look immodest. No, we need something with a higher neckline."

Ada and my mother seemingly know all the superstitions surrounding weddings. Number One is that the groom is under no circumstances allowed to see the wedding dress before the reception. Isaac then wisely remarked that we should also not split in pairs of the two ladies choosing the dresses - too much distraction -, which means that we are now working in pairs. Cym and Isaac are in the library, no doubt asking themselves the same questions as we do.

Why the hell did we agree on a double-wedding.

"What do you think of that?" Mother asks. Only after three seconds, I notice that he meant me. The thought of Isaac in a three-piece, or better yet, in his shirt and vest, with the sleeves rolled up, is too good.

"Uh" I say eloquently. "Uh. Frankly, that one reminds me of a cream dessert."

"A snowball, to be more precise", Ada agrees. "And those ruffles! I would look like the casket pillow of my great-grandmother!"

Fifty dresses later, we still haven't made any progress.

My mother declines in her chair and rubs in little circles over her forehead. She doesn't say it, but I can see that she is equally exhausted.

"Ada, my dear" she says and reaches for her hand. "What if we leave it for today and start planning the invitations? We won't decide on a dress today anyway."

"I don't think so, too. But there is something I've been meaning to ask you", Ada says while she orders all the paper clippings on the table. The stress seems to comfort her; I guess it distracts her from the fact that no news from her family have arrived yet.

"It might sound strange at first" she says and leans back to look at Mother and me. "But what if we invite Mr Wilde?"

Mother stops rubbing her forehead. "Why what purpose would that serve? Such a famous guest at your own wedding - my dear, no one would look at you anymore!"

"Precisely." Ada grins. "Let us be honest. People who know us intimately - our friends, for example, will see that this whole arrangement smells of lavender. But if we can persuade Wilde, for example, to come to our wedding, the attention will not lie on us. We can have a nice, deceitful wedding while he is taking up all of the spotlight."

"Don't you think that it would draw even more attention to us?" I ask. "I mean -"

"I'm not trying to distract the newspapers or anything like it. I mean the guests. No one will look to closely at us if the fabulous Mister Wilde and his charming wife are sitting just two benches away."