Elite & Tawdry ✔ [COMPLETE]

Chapter 52

"Oh...what's this?"

Rebecca McCurdy was reading a book while lounging in the living room, when an off-duty Tawny approached her with a decorated card in her hand.

"It's an invitation," said Tawny. "You -- Professor McCurdy and yourself -- have been summoned to attend a dinner party."

"Is that so?" Rebecca gently took the card from Tawny's hands and read it. 

Sara had dropped Tawny off at the McCurdy residence. After an intense afternoon of brainstorming, it was decided that their first order of business would be to make invitation cards for the esteemed guests. 

"The invitation has to be perfect," explained Sarah. "Both in presentation and execution. I don't want you to just hand them the cards as they pick you up. So I'll drop you off and you can make the cordial announcement properly."

Tawny, Maddie, and Audrey were hard at work handcrafting the perfect cards, down to the most intricate lacing and beading trim. Though it was far from hard labour, it was still labour-intensive work, so much so that Tawny felt like her hands and eyes would fall off by the end of it.

But it looked to have paid off, for Rebecca was still marveling at the card. "Eugene? Did you hear? We've been invited to something wonderful."

As if out of nowhere, Professor McCurdy emerged in the living room. It looked like he had just finished working out; a towel was draped around his shoulder, he was wearing a white tank top and navy blue shorts, and both his clothes and his body were drenched in sweat.

"What's that, Rebecca dear?" McCurdy asked, approaching them both. "And Miss Matthews? I didn't expect you home so early."

Tawny went momentarily catatonic.

"That's what I'm trying to tell you, dear," explained Rebecca, handing the card over to her husband. "Looks like Bryce will be back in a few weeks to commemorate the untimely passing of his wife."

"I see..." said Professor McCurdy, examining the card with the same exacting scrutiny as his wife. "Then this is indeed a momentous occasion. But why are you still dressed as a maid?"

"Sarah....uh....Sarah's orders," Tawny said, when her brain finally decided to work again. "She wanted the invitation to be proper, so I had to present the invitation while in uniform. I'll go change now."

"Actually..." said Rebecca standing up from the loveseat, "Perhaps now would be an opportune time to try on some dresses for the event. I just ordered some outfits from Milan that came in today. Tawny, dear, would you care to join me?"

Tawny shook her head. "I'll be on-duty during the dinner, so I won't be able to dress up..."

"Just for fun, dear, just for fun!" coaxed Rebecca, tugging on Tawny's arm. "Sometimes it's good to try things on just for the simple pleasures of feeling satin on skin!"

"You'll have to forgive my wife," Professor McCurdy said. "One of her vices is luxury fabrics."

"Please indulge me, Tawny," begged Rebecca. "If only for a moment. The satin, the seersucker, the silk...it calls to me...!"

"Uh...okay," Tawny was thrown off by this seemingly sudden change in Rebecca. It had been like a switch had been thrown on and she went from a classy, elegant, mysterious woman, to a giddy effervescent teen.

The power of clothing compels her, I guess, mused Tawny wrily.

Tawny followed Rebecca to the McCurdy bedroom, where Rebecca made a beeline for her walk-in closet. Tawny hesitated at the doorway. To her, it felt like an invasion of the most intimate degree. After all, Professor McCurdy slept here...