Chapter 44 – The Wedding Dress

“I recall you saying I am similar to the old Tiana,” she said, “but I might be different. It’s also possible that my memories may never fully recover.”

“Don’t say that,” Alexandra said, “you will be okay. As your oldest friend, I can sense that you are really you. Maybe you aren’t aware now, but that will change. I have never been wrong in these instances; my senses are perfect.”

Perfect? thought Tiana. Alexandra came across as rather arrogant to her. No matter how good her senses were, nobody knew anything for sure. But Tiana held her tongue to not spoil the mood.

“People are talking about you,” said Alexandra, “I was just worried whether it was all true. In any case, Marquess Calvino was right.”

“Why?” asked Tiana, “What did he say?”

“He said that Duke Celeste’s daughter had recovered from the accident,” said Alexandra, “He also goes around saying that you are going to become a grand duchess.”

“Mm,” murmured Tiana. Tiana had told Marquess Calvino to let people know about her recovery. He had indeed acted fast. If Alexandra knew about it, perhaps the entire palace knew about it as well. But letting people know was one thing, bragging about his granddaughter-in-law becoming a grand duchess was… unexpected. His behaviour, so different from that of the image of the Marquess he tried hard to put up, felt a bit strange to Tiana.

“I heard you didn’t go down to the estate,” continued Alexandra, “you stayed in the capital. Is that true?”

“Yes,” said Tiana, “I knew rumours had spread about me, so I thought keeping a low profile was the best course of action.”

“Are you alright now?” asked Alexandra with worry.

“Yes, I’m fine,” said Tiana, smiling at Alexandra. “I have recovered enough to move around without worry.” It wasn’t really a serious injury at that; she only felt a little pain from lying down for so long.

Alexandra’s face flooded with relief. She smiled and nodded. “That’s great!” she exclaimed, practically jumping in joy. “Shall we move to the next point?”

“Next point?” asked Tiana, curiously.

She clapped her hands. “About the wedding dress!” she said, as the living room door burst open and the maids, who apparently had been waiting outside, rushed in. They brought in several fabrics, hangers, designs. While Tiana watched them thunderstruck, Alexandra reached for a paper, which had a design drawn on it, and a measuring tape, and approached her.

“I was uncertain after hearing the Marquess,” she said, “but I couldn’t stand it any longer and designed the dresses.”

“What?” asked Tiana, surprised.

“We have got more hands on deck this time,” said Alexandra excitedly. “Let’s check the dresses one by one.”

She looked at the design on her hand and handed it to the maid. She pulled at the measuring tape and closed the distance between her and Tiana. Her glittering eyes were that of a predator examining its prey. Tiana wanted to run away, but every direction was barred. She sat down on a chair in defeat and Alexandra rushed in.

“Stand up,” she instructed, “spread your arms. Hold still.”

“Alright,” Tiana conceded and stood up, spreading her arms wide.

“Hold still just like that,” Alexandra said and indicated to the maid to hand her a paper. While Tiana stood there with her arms wide open and taking care to hold very still, Alexandra began to measure every inch of her body. She scribbled something on the paper and repeated the process. The measuring tape whipped around, sometimes from her head to toe, sometimes from one side to another.

After the last measurement, she called out to a maid. “Move that chair and push that table over there,” she said, pointing towards a corner in the room. “Bring that dress over here,” she instructed another maid, “Careful! Don’t step on the hem.” Alexandra seemed to be in so many places at once. “Is the corset ready?” she asked yet another maid, “Bring the smallest size here.”

After the measurements were done, she led the maid to work on the dress. Tiana was dragged from one corner to another and measured. She obediently obliged. She was shoved in a corset and a dress, while three maids hovered around her shaping the dress to Tiana’s body on Alexandra’s strict instructions. She, herself, had lots of pins and was fixing a part of the dress on Tiana and frowning a little. “You have lost so much weight,” she said, after a while.

“Really?” asked Tiana, having no recollection of how she was before, “I didn’t realize.”

Alexandra nodded. “You are slimmer than before,” she said, “Even more so than the last time I saw you. You have returned close to your original body shape, I think.”

“Before…” Tiana wondered, “That’s why it felt a little strange. Had I gained some weight the last time you saw me?”

“Not very much,” said Alexandra, “But a little, for sure. Because… you locked yourself in your room and didn’t want to come out for anything at all, not even for walks with me. So, you ate in your room and remained there.”

“I see,” said Tiana.

“Can you come a little closer to the light?” asked Alexandra, apparently satisfied with having adjusted the dress. With Alexandra ushering her at the elbows, Tiana walked over to the mirror near the window. Although much work needed to be done, the silver dress with blue embroidery, held together by pins in many places, enveloping her body was breathtakingly beautiful!