Would the young woman think the reference too childish? Rachel half held her breath, waiting for the next rebuttal.
Emma looked unsure of herself for a moment before tipping her chin. “I still speak my mind, you know.”
“Clearly,” she acknowledged. “And I think your brother will confirm my side of the story—that I broke up with him long before he proposed.” She huffed out a pent-up sigh from the stress of the evening so far. “I would have never publicly embarrassed him like that. And obviously, it was all for the best since now he’s marrying a woman who makes him ten times happier than I ever could have.”
Emma’s gaze flicked over to Kiersten. “Kiersten is pretty awesome.”
Perhaps seeing her chance to smooth things over, Kiersten reached for a handful of hangers on the coat rack behind her wedding dress.
“Emma, I was just explaining to Rachel our dilemma about the dresses.” The bride laid four bagged gowns on her queen-sized sleigh bed, the satin draping to the floor where a heavy wool rug protected the dark bamboo floor. “Can you shut the door a minute?”
Emma shuffled back to tip the door shut, her green furry costume sagging and rippling as she moved. Rachel stole a sip from her punch glass before joining the pair at the bedside to stare at the bridesmaid attire.
“There’s no dilemma,” Emma explained before Kiersten could continue. “I’m too fat for my dress. End of story.”
Kiersten looked horrified. “That’s not at all—”
Emma plucked the largest gown off the bed. “It’s okay. I’m not offended. I look good in some things, just not the same things as you skinny girls.”
While Kiersten tried to protest, and looked like she wanted to sink through her floorboards, Rachel saw an opportunity to help. Seeing the dress held up in front of Emma’s more generous frame gave her about a million ideas at once.
“This is actually my area of expertise. If I may?” She tucked some of her hair behind her ear before hitching up the plastic to get a better look at the gown. “Kiersten, how important is it to you to have all your bridesmaids match exactly?”
She tried to gauge Emma’s proportions through her costume, reimagining the dress in a more flattering cut.
“Umm. I don’t know?” Kiersten stood beside Rachel, watching her tuck a lace sleeve inside itself to shorten it.
Emma peered down her green belly to where Rachel pulled the red satin over her legs.
“I mean, what if you had all four girls in red satin, but the bodices were a little different on each?” Rachel glanced down at the other outfits on the bed and tried to calculate how much time was left before the wedding.
There was a sewing machine at her mother’s house, she happened to know. She’d learned to sew on the Singer in the attic before she was ten years old. She’d been hooked.
“I’ve seen that in magazines before.” Kiersten appeared excited, her eyes taking on a hopeful sparkle. “I like that idea.”
“Do you?” Rachel turned toward her. “Because we’d have to move fast if you wanted to try it, but I don’t want to rush you into a decision you’re not happy with. It’s your wedding.”
“What would mine look like?” Emma interrupted, her eyes bright with curiosity.
A positive sign.
“I’d get rid of the lace sleeves and use the ribbon from the back to create a halter top with a square neck. Show off your shoulders.” She turned Emma toward the full-length mirror decked with poinsettias to show her what she meant, using the sleeves to re-create the lines of a reimagined top. “I know it’s hard to picture—”
“I think it would be perfect,” Kiersten added, peering into the mirror beside them, their three faces tipped together for a moment.
Almost friendly.
“I can see it,” Emma added, nodding to herself. “But what about the others?”
“Are they all here?” Rachel asked, seeing a way to help Kiersten and also make inroads with her other friends before the wedding. If she could win over just a few others in town, it would go a long way toward making her feel like less of an outcast.
The bride nodded. “Heidi and Diana are downstairs. Should I get them?”
Rachel stepped away from the mirror, keeping hold of Emma’s dress. “That would be great. But before you go, do you have any pins up here? I could start pinning Emma’s dress to prepare for alteration.”
Kiersten was already hustling toward a tiny drawer in the center of a high bureau. “I do.” She withdrew a box and handed it to Rachel. “I’ll go get the other girls.” She stopped at the door, hesitating. “Are you sure it’s not too much for you to do all this?”
“Consider it your wedding gift.” She grinned at her friend. “As for your bridesmaids—” she glanced over her shoulder toward Emma, who was holding her hair up off her neck “—I’m hoping they’ll be kind enough spread the word among their friends that I’m not the worst villain since Scrooge and the Burgermeister.”
Emma snorted a laugh before smothering the sound. Kiersten winked at Rachel before adding, “Deal. I’ll be right back.”
Turning to the groom’s younger sister, Rachel crossed her fingers they were making headway. Hearing the hurt in Emma’s voice earlier—beneath the surly attitude—had reminded Rachel that she played a role in allowing her reputation to be shredded. She could have stayed through that awful summer and defended herself. Shared her side of the story.
But she’d been too hurt by her father’s defection to worry about that at the time.
“If you’re on board,” she said to Emma “you could try on the dress and I’ll start pinning.”
“You know, I wouldn’t even be speaking to you if I didn’t really want a cool dress.” Emma toyed with the heavy zipper on the front of her costume. “So this is kind of sartorial blackmail.”
“But you can thank a lifelong love of reading that I personally helped to nurture for that high-level vocabulary, can’t you?” Rachel tossed the plastic case of pins from one hand to the other, wondering how Gavin was doing downstairs.
Had he been serious about singing with her? She worried she was going to ruin his high standing in the community in the course of one evening.
“Mostly I’m going to agree because I want to look hot at this wedding.” Emma tugged down the zipper on the costume, where she wore a tee and shorts underneath. “Do you think you can make that happen?”
Most women didn’t know that beauty came from confidence, something Emma already possessed. But Rachel would take whatever credit she could to mend her friendship with this young woman.
“I guarantee it.” She popped open her box of pins, and gestured for Emma to get moving. “Pop on the dress and let’s get to work.”
She waited while Emma took the gown into Kiersten’s bathroom, wondering what Gavin would think of her next round of creations when he saw the bridesmaid dresses at the wedding.