Changing Kitty

Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Her hair was pinned and curled into an intricate up – do. Simple white daisies, the kind she also would hold in her bouquet, were interwoven into her braids that made her truly look like a summer bride. Instead of wearing a bonnet, she opted for lace the matched the lace on her gown to be placed over her head as a veil.

Her face had been lightly powdered and so her skin was flawless. Her cheeks didn’t require pinching as her nervous blush was showing through subtly.

At last but not least, her dress. There had not been time for a dressmaker to be summoned so Kitty had received her childhood wish. She’d always admired her mother’s dress. It was outdated by about ten years but that did not both Kitty. The silk was so soft and the lace was so fine. The subtle pink ribbon that was sewn under the bust was Kitty’s favourite part of the gown. While brides traditionally wore white it was just a hint of impropriety. It may not have been what her mother thought it was when she’d worn it but it was just a hint of Kitty’s character that she loved.

Standing up from her dresser Kitty felt the layers of soft silk pass over her legs as it fell to the floor. She felt as though she was walking on a cloud. Kitty smoothed the gown over her hips as her family watched on.

Emilia’s eyes were filling with tears as she watched her daughter wear her gown. “One cannot prepare themselves for the wedding of a child, it is simply too hard,” she said, sounding like she was holding back violent sobs. “First Annie and now you, Little J you’d better not desert me!”

Little J laughed lightly as she put an arm around her mother. “I shall become a spinster, mama, do not fret.”

Annie, who’d come from the church to the manor to help her sister dress, held onto Kitty’s bedpost. She was dressed in her Sunday best, as was everyone, as there hadn’t been any time to commission bridesmaid’s gowns either. “You are truly the fairest of us all, Kitty. You will be the envy of every lady that attends,” Annie said proudly.

Both Evangeline and Sabine nodded in agreement.

“I doubt it,” Kitty replied. “Surely there will be gossiping women that whisper about my dress or my hair or the fact that the wedding happened so soon,” she worried.

“And if they do then they shall have mama to answer to,” Emilia assured her. “I will not tolerate any of my daughter’s names being soiled. Anyone who besmirches you is lucky that grandmamma and Aunt Jane are absent as there would surely be a brawl in the middle of the pews.”

Sabine giggled. “That definitely sounds like mama,” she concurred.

“Alright,” Emilia said, clapping her hands once. “Let us descend the stairs and put your father out of his misery. He is enduring two things he fears and hates most – waiting hours for the women in his life to get ready, and giving one of his daughters away at her wedding.”

Sabine, Little J, Annie and Evangeline all filed out of the room in their fine gowns. Emilia helped Kitty with her lace veil as she made it cover her face. Kitty could still see perfectly as the lace was so fine. Her mother’s brown eyes were kind as she smiled. “Are you nervous?” she asked she took Kitty’s hand in hers.