Deafening Silence | ✔️

03. Love is in the Air

 All of the money for the ball was supplied from Mr. Ambrose, which was VERY surprising. I had told my aunt that I was invited to go to the Ball of Love, and she nearly fainted! She sent me off to the best dress-maker in all of London, seeing as I had quite enough money for my dress. I knew that most people would be wearing reds, pinks, or whites, so I decided that I wanted my gorgeous dress to look different than everyone else's. I went to Madam Roussi's and told her how I wanted my dress to be designed. She had drawn it, and when she had put every last detail that I wanted on there, she had to agree that it was one of the, if not the best, most beautiful dresses she had made.

 Then came Mr. Ambrose's suit. Madam Roussi's husband, Mister Henry Roussi, was the best tailor in London, so naturally, I went to him for Mr. Ambrose's suit.

 The last thing to arrange was a carriage to take us to the Ball. The money for the carriage was much more than Mr. Ambrose would usually allow for us to take, so while shopping around, I made sure to look for a very nice one. I was walking around when the glint of a coin caught my eye. I bent down to pick it up, but it slipped through my fingers and down the road. I ran after it, trying to grasp it with my fingers when it lead to the door of a shop that I hadn't noticed before. Not seeing a sign, I went inside to find out what kind of a shop it was. The whole shop was quite quaint, with it's beautiful magical theme. The shop was covered in lit candles and dimmed lights, and the walls were covered with lacy drapes. Then a loud crash resonated through the one room store, and out popped a frail elderly lady.

'Ooh. Ow! Sorry to keep you waiting dearie, Jack needed my help. You know how he is Madel... Why you aren't Madeline! I'm sorry, dear, but I don't believe we've met. My name is Rose, and welcome to our family's store, The Golden Pumpkin. We design almost everything you could imagine out of wood.' She gestured around the room to the walls, showing off impressive woodwork. The amount of detail in each and every piece was incredible. Suddenly, I knew what my carriage was going to look like.

***

 The evening of  of the Ball was quickly approaching and there were only a few more things that needed to be done for our entire evening to be perfect. All I had to do was be fitted in my gorgeous dress, and check in on our carriage. Although I had given Mr. Roussi a general idea of what I wanted for Mr. Ambrose, only the both of them had seen what his actual suit looked like. I had told all my sisters that I was invited to the Ball of Love, but no one except for Ella believed me. Maria and Anne just laughed a spluttered on about how me being invited to the Ball of Love was the most outrageous thing. Gertrude and Lisbeth didn't really say much, but they simply looked at me like I was the worst liar on all of Earth. 

 Two days passed and it was finally the night of the Ball. First, I went to The Golden Pumpkin to see our beautiful carriage. When I got there, the shop was deserted just like last time, but as I crept through the cottage-like store, something felt different. While last time I came here, the shop looked magical, this time I could feel the magic in the air. The chimes tinkled as I passed through the back door out into the wood-shop. In the middle of the room stood a seven foot carriage, dressed in a shimmering velvety white upholstery. There were hand painted gold vines crawling up the side of the carriage with golden leaves branching out from them. The top was a purely gold painted dome with intricate patterns. Even the wheels were golden as well.

 'Hello Lillian my dear! Do you like it? It looks majestic, it just feels as though there's something missing. Do you feel like it's missing something?' She looked expectedly at me and glancing at the carriage I could sense something was missing. Darting my eyes around the room, I tried to find something, and suddenly I did. I grabbed the dried golden paint sitting on the table, and scraped a bit off with a knife. It dropped into my hand, and I blew the flakes all over the carriage. Now it sparkled no matter which direction you looked at it from. It was beautiful. But, alas, I had to go, because otherwise I wouldn't be ready in time. The carriage was to pull up in front of my aunt and uncle's house right around 7.  The Marchioness Hall was about three quarters of an hour's drive away.

 I rushed home where Madam Roussi was and found her doing last minute tailoring to my dress. It was a gorgeous midnight blue dress, floor length with straps that came off the shoulders. The entire bodice was covered in an intricate golden vine pattern that weaved and faded as it went lower. The back of the dress was midnight material that faded into gold at the bottom and the front of the dress poufed out like a regular ball gown, but there just wasn't as much as a usual dress. The hem was gold with the vines trailing upwards and fading out in the middle, where the top of the dress faded out. I had on golden shoes and golden jewelry as well, that matched the dress perfectly. My hair was curled and side-swept rather than pinned like most all the other ladies would've done their hair.

 Just as I had finished getting ready, there were two sharp raps at the door, where my aunt rushed to open it. Karim stood there, wearing a cream and red version of what he normally wore, which I assumed he had saved for special occasions, and he took in my attire, nodding to say he approved for once. He closed the front door and lead me to the carriage, where inside I knew Mr. Ambrose was waiting. I opened the door.