Page 43 of Must Love Lavender and Little Lies
“Don’t forget what I said, dear,” Zelda told her, then pulled her hairpin from her hair. With a quick flick of her wrist, she sent a puff of blue light toward the dress. The fabric rippled, the dress giving itself a shake, and when it was done, it had reformed to Kika’s size.
The others gasped.
“Well, I’ll be,” Gree-Gree said with an approving nod.
“Try it on, if you like,” Zelda told Kika. “Perfect fit. I promise.”
Kika squealed.
Her mother rolled her eyes good-naturedly, then waved her hand for her daughter to carry on.
“Oh!” Zelda said with a gasp. “Oh my gosh. I just realized something. Come with me,” she added, taking my arm and pulling me along.
Zelda led me through the shop to the very back, where she had on display a small section of wedding gowns. While I’d never really examined any of them up close, I had often admired her work from afar. She always had a special enchantment worked into the gowns. I had attended more than one wedding where the gowns had shimmered like rainbows or shot off sparks of light. But as she led me toward the dresses, I paused.
It was one thing to wear a ring, but a dress…
“Zelda, I?—”
“I’ve been working on a new gown for the last three days. I was so inspired by spring and the Greening. I didn’t think I had anyone in mind for the dress, but I should have known better by now. Oh, Juniper. Wait until you see. Stay right here a minute,” she told me, leaving me with all the dresses as she disappeared around the corner.
As I stood there looking at the gowns, I felt an odd sense of confusion. Of course, they were beautiful, and of course, I always imagined myself in one of her beautiful dresses. Everywhere Ilooked, I saw delicate beadwork, shimmering lace, gowns made with the softest blush tule and satin, gowns in red, ivory, ice blue, and shimmering white. I reached out and touched the lace hem of a veil, a wave of vertigo washing over me. In that moment, I so desperately wanted it to be real.
What if this were real?
What if…we made it real?
Zelda rolled dressmaker’s dummy around the corner, and on it was a dress beyond compare. It was the palest of lavender colors, nearly white but with just a subtle hue of purple tone. It was a flowy dress with a small train at the back. It was trimmed in lace with ethereal, sheer cap sleeves that shimmered in the sunlight. But what was so extraordinary about the dress was the detailed work along the neckline and at the edges of the train. It looked like living leaves and flowers. They were delicate things, like trailing ivy, and the smallest button violets in every shade of purple. The gown was extraordinary.
“Oh, how beautiful,” Annya said from behind me.
“I was just telling Juniper that I’ve been working on this for days. It’s been keeping me up at night. I thought it was the Greening inspiring me, but I think maybe I had something, or someone, else in mind.”
“You should try it on,” said Gree-Gree, who had joined Annya.
“Oh no, I couldn’t.”
Zelda smiled at me. “You don’t have to buy it if you don’t like it. But maybe just a look?”
“Really, I—” I said, feeling my resistance thinning.
“Try it on, Juniper,” Gree-Gree said again, her tone encouraging.
I turned and looked back at her.
She stood to the side, assessing the situation with a serious expression on her face. She then turned to me and gave me agentle smile. “Sometimes we don’t really know what we want until we give it a try.”
I turned back to Zelda. “Okay.”
She wheeled the dress into one of the dressing rooms.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“Please,” I said, my voice barely more than a whisper. My heart was pounding in my chest. This was…madness. I had no business in such a gown. And yet, as I slipped off my work dress and allowed Zelda to help me with the gown, that panic that sat in my chest began to bloom into something else.
“Oh, can you imagine this with a ring of flowers on your head? Nothing too fancy, just simple wildflowers. And a wildflower bouquet? Wildflowers and lavender. Oh, Juniper. Just look,” she said, giving the dress a fluff, then stepping away so I could see myself in the mirror.
As I stared into the mirror, I realized the dress was everything I’d ever dreamed of. It was perfect. Elegant without being overstated. Feminine and floral. Its magic shimmered in an unstated way. It was…
