Missing

Chapter Forty-Six

David and Maria spent a long time enjoying appetisers in bed on Tuesday morning before going down for a leisurely breakfast in the lobby dining room while they waited for their fitting appointments. "I'm so excited about my new gown. It's along the same theme Grandma was showing me in her La Mode magazines. The sleek new trend in Paris fashion."

"But Giselle said she had adapted the design from the new British trend. Perhaps modern women everywhere are moving from the cumbersome to the more practical, tired of hampering themselves under layer upon layer."

"The old styles... I guess they're still the current ones. They're very restricting." She laughed. "Wearing trousers and shirts in the mountains gave me such freedom. I can't imagine doing what we did in long, bulky skirts and a tight bodice. I'd have tangled and snagged on everything, and my breathing would have been much restricted. I can only imagine how restricting a corset would be."

David looked at his watch. "Ten twenty-five. We can check if the new room is ready for us yet." As they approached the desk, they saw a small crowd waiting for service. "Let's go walking instead, we can check later."

They strolled through the streets for half an hour looking at the displays in the windows and talking. Pierre greeted them as they entered the tailor's shop. "We've the trousers and waistcoat ready to try on. The jacket should be ten or fifteen minutes."

David changed into the trousers and waistcoat and stepped out of the dressing room. "The trousers are tight down the front."

"This slimmer trouser leg is the fashion, so they may seem a little tight." The tailor looked at the strained cloth along David's thigh and shook his head. "This is the standard dress left cut, but you're... Pardon my hands as I check." He knelt.and felt the bulge. "We'll have this panel cut again."

Pierre's face grew redder as he continued gently probing. Then he measured and jotted figures on a sheet of paper. "We must redo the entire leg, both front and back." He examined the fit of the seat. "This will ease with the new cut of the front." He stood. "The waistcoat looks to be a fine fit. How does it feel?"

David inhaled deeply and twisted his torso. "Very comfortable. Plenty of freedom." He turned to Maria. "What do you think?"

"I love the sheen of the wool and the subtle pale flecks through it. They give it life."

A seamstress brought the suit coat from the back and handed it to the tailor, who turned to David and held it out for him to slip into. "Mostly just basted together to give the shape. Let's see how it hangs from your shoulders; broad ones are always a challenge." Pierre adjusted it and stepped back, then walked around David, nodding as he went. "How is the fit?"

David again filled his lungs to capacity, then twisted and swung his arms around. "Easy to move in." He looked at Maria. "What do you think?"

"I'll need to hang big out-of-bounds signs on you, front and back."

Pierre slowly walked around David, making marks with his chalk as he went. Then he stepped back and showed him poses to adopt and made a few additional chalk marks. "We'll be ready for another fitting at two thirty."

"We've a meeting at the Embassy at three, could we do two fifteen, so we don't have to worry about keeping them waiting?"

Pierre nodded. "We can do that." He called the seamstress.

A few minutes later David and Maria stepped into Giselle's shop, and she greeted them with a smile as she crooked a finger to beckon Maria into the back.

David looked up from the drawings on Giselle's table as he heard Maria's voice approach. He turned to face her and watched as she struck a series of poses. "That's absolutely stunning. It's difficult to tell where the gown stops and you begin; the colour is such an excellent match. If you stood still, you'd be mistaken for a marble statue of a Greek goddess."

"So you like it?" She blushed and did a slow turn.

"I love it. It captures your free spirit and emphasises your beauty."

Giselle slowly walked around Maria, nodding as she examined. She paused to smooth a pucker in the small of Maria's back, then inserted a line of pins there. "I think that's the only adjustment." She circled Maria again. "Yes, that's it. This will not take long. We can look at accessories now while you're still in the gown."

She led them to a table across the room. "I thought a single string of pearls would continue the clean, elegant theme." She lifted the necklace to show them, then fastened it around Maria's neck and stepped back.

"Simple. Perfect." David said. "I'm amazed how understatement often speaks most eloquently. This is a superb example of that."

Giselle led Maria to a wall mirror and watched as her face beamed and her mouth opened in silence. "The next thing needed is a small clutch purse. I've selected these two, a silver mesh and one with iridescent beading."

Maria looked at them, then at David. "Which do you prefer?"

"The beaded one matches the pearls, and it has cleaner lines."

Giselle nodded. "I agree. The beads are made of the same paste as the pearls, and they pick up the tones of the gown. Now to complete your elegant ensemble, evening slippers." She opened a box and held up a pair. "These are from the shop across the street. You can find your fit there, and I'll cover them with remnants from your gown."

Maria changed clothes, then across the street, she found a pair of plain slippers to fit and brought them to Giselle. "David has another fitting at two fifteen. Will these be ready by then?"

Giselle looked at the clock and nodded. "The gown will be, but the slippers are quite intricate and may need a little more time. Have you a coat for the evening's chill?"

"Grandma loaned me her mohair shawl for the trip." She looked down at her dress. "It made this look elegant in the evening, so it should work magic with the gown."

Giselle looked at them and nodded. "You're a fine-looking couple. Where are you from?"

"Up in Schaffhausen. We've just come —"

"We have many things we must do and not much time." David squeezed Maria's hand and looked at his watch, then offering his arm, he continued, "We'll be back in a couple of hours."

Outside in the street, as they walked toward the hotel, Maria looked up at him with a frown. "That was rather rude of you, cutting me off."

"We need to be careful what information we share with others. Remember, I'm an escaped foreign soldier, and citizens here are bound to have me detained and held. It's part of their neutrality agreement. No free movement of foreign belligerents within the country."

Maria nodded and squeezed his arm tighter. "You see so much more than I do."

"Giselle may be completely benign, but it's vital we share nothing with anyone unless they've earned our trust. To do otherwise is to compromise not only me, but also the war effort."