Page 20 of Once Upon a Christmas Carol

Carol tightened her hands on the steering wheel. “I doubt my mother would agree with you on that.”

“Rosa rarely agreed with me on anything.”

“That’s her misfortune.”

“Well, I’ll be keeping her in my prayers.”

“Yeah.” Carol nodded slowly. “Me too. At least, I’ll try.” She was relieved her aunt was so quick to forgive her sister, but she knew it was going to take her more time. Perhaps because she had more to forgive.

****

After Carol finished cleaning up after dinner, Maria asked her to help in the bedroom. “I want to unearth something from my closet, but it’s buried deep in the back, and I don’t think I can get it with just one working arm.”

“No problem.” She followed Maria to her room. “What is it you’re looking for?”

“An old dress...” Maria opened her closet door.

“Oh?”

“For the cotillion.”

Carol studied Maria’s bulky cast. Just helping her aunt into loose clothing was a bit of a challenge. Did she really expect to get into some fancy gown from days gone by?

“I thought you said people went for more casual apparel.” Carol flipped on the closet light.

“Well, yes. We older folks choose comfort over style.”

“That seems sensible.” Carol surveyed the overflowing closet, wondering where to begin.

“I know, I know. My wardrobe needs a good thinning, but life always seems to get in the way. Goodness, I must have forty years’ worth of clothes stuffed in here.

Antonia thinks I should sell some of these old things on some vintage website, but honestly, besides not being that clever with technology, I have just never found the time. ”

“So ... do you have any idea where this old dress might be?”

“Oh, yes. It’s down on that end.” She pointed to the right. “Behind a lot of decrepit coats that are probably vintage too. It’s a burgundy color. Probably near the wall. I always keep it alongside my wedding dress, and that’s in a black garment bag.”

“Okay.” Carol struggled to push the hangers of clothes to one side, making room to thumb through the remaining hangers. “Since you store it with your wedding dress, I’m guessing it’s pretty special. But do you really think you can get into it? I mean, with your arm and all.”

“Mercy no!” Maria laughed. “It’s not for me, Carol.”

She paused and looked at her aunt. “Oh?”

“I, uh, I thought you might want to borrow it.”

Carol cringed inwardly at the idea of wearing her aunt’s musty old cotillion dress. She could only imagine what it might look like. But, of course, she didn’t want to hurt Maria’s feelings.

“The fabric is a mix of lace and velvet and satin ribbon trim. It was a Gunne Sax dress. You probably never heard of that brand. They were quite the thing back in the seventies. I was in my twenties when I bought my first one. Back then it was pretty spendy for me, but I loved that dress dearly. I wore it on a few dates with Don and even years later, when he took me to our first cotillion.”

Carol spotted something burgundy and tugged it out.

She was surprised to see a fairly attractive dress in a Boho-chic style.

Like Maria had said, it was a combination of burgundy lace, velvet, and satin ribbon.

She held it out so they could both examine it.

The tea-length dress had a high waist and full skirt.

Maria eagerly reached for the hanger, taking it with her as she sat down in the nearby chair. “Oh, the good times I had in this dress.”

“It’s very pretty. And seems to have held up okay.” Carol slid her phone from her back pocket and began a quick search. A lot of Gunne Sax dresses immediately popped up on several websites. And they were not cheap.

“Might need a needle and thread here or there ... and could use a good airing out and steaming...” Maria mused. “But some people thought it was rather striking back in the day.”

Still online, Carol found a dress that resembled her aunt’s and blinked at the high price.

“It was such fun to wear it back when I was young ... with my long dark hair.” Maria looked wistfully up at Carol. “In fact, my hair was a lot like yours.” She smiled. “Anyway, I’ve heard some young women like these vintage dresses.”

“No doubt about that.” Carol held her phone out so Maria could see the online listing that priced dresses like this one just under a thousand dollars. “Look what you could get for it.”

“Oh, my. That’s crazy!” Maria firmly shook her head. “But I could never sell it.”

“No, no, of course not.”

“Do you think ... well, I wouldn’t want to push it on you ... but if you’d like to wear it for the cotillion, I’d be honored.” She held the dress out to Carol.

“Really?” She took the dress from her aunt. “Do you think it’d even fit? That bodice looks small.” She held it up to her, standing in front of the full-length mirror on the closet door. It really was pretty.

“One way to find out.”

“I think I should take a shower first,” Carol told her. “I feel kind of grubby after decorating all day.”

“Yes. You go do that. Then we’ll have a little fashion show.”

It didn’t take long to clean up, but by the time Carol came back down wearing a borrowed bathrobe, Maria already had a steamer out and was awkwardly attempting to steam the dress.

“Let me do that.” Carol reached for the small appliance.

“So many tasks I took for granted when I had two good arms.”

“Fortunately your condition is just temporary.” Carol steamed the skirt, fluffing it out as she did. “My boss’s husband had a stroke and permanently lost use of his right arm. That was hard.”

Maria started sharing about various times she’d worn the dress, including the night she got engaged.

Carol wiped a tear from her eye. “No wonder it’s special.” The dress was finished now and looking even better than before.

“Go try it on in there,” Maria pointed to the master bath. “I can’t wait to see if it fits.”

It didn’t take long to slip it on and pull the zipper up. She could only see the top half of the dress in the sink mirror, but the fitted bodice seemed about perfect and the sweetheart neckline was surprisingly becoming.

She stepped out to show Maria. “I’ve never worn anything like this. But it seems to fit, and it’s comfortable.”

Maria’s dark eyes grew wide as she led Carol back to the full-length mirror. “Oh, my goodness, Carol. You look beautiful.”

Carol stared at her image, then smiled. “It really does look good, doesn’t it?”

“It’s absolutely perfect.”

Carol did a little spin, watching the skirt flow out. “It would be good for dancing.” Her smile vanished. “But it’s so valuable. I don’t think I should wear—”

“Nonsense. How can a dress be valuable if it spends all its time in the back of a closet. No, this dress wants to go to the cotillion. It wants to dance again.”

Carol considered this, then frowned. “But don’t I need a date to go to the cotillion?”

“I don’t have a date and I’m going.” Maria sighed, reminding Carol this would be her aunt’s first year without her husband.

“You can be my date, and we’ll sit with Antonia and Larry.

Antonia will appreciate the company since Larry’s verbal skills are so limited and folks don’t visit with him as much anymore.

His mobility issues keep him off the dance floor too.

This might be his last year at the cotillion, so please don’t let lack of a date give you cold feet. ”

“I would like to see the event,” Carol confessed.

“Just to see how the decorations look at night.” She hated to admit she was equally curious as to how the guests would react.

What if they hated what she’d done? In that case, she might be better off at home.

“I don’t know though,” she said. “Being dateless ... maybe I’ll take a pass, after all. ”

“Well, I can’t drive myself there and I fully intend to go. If you won’t be my date, I suppose I’ll have to stay home too. But I would hate to miss it.”

Carol felt guilty now. How could she be so selfish? “Okay, I’ll be your date. But I’d be more comfortable dressed casually. I think this beautiful dress is too much for—”

“It is not too much!” Maria argued. “You heard Victoria bragging about her fancy gown. Good grief, she’ll be decked out like prom night. And like I said, young folks tend to dress up more than us oldies.”

Carol poked out a bare toe. “But I don’t know what shoes I’d wear. My sandals for the Bahamas sure won’t work in the snow.”

“I always wore my dress boots with it at the cotillion. A pair of knee-high black leather ones, but of course, I don’t have those anymore. All I have these days are cowgirl boots or snow boots.” She chuckled.

“Cowgirl boots?” Carol glanced at the closet.

“Sure. I’ve got several pairs. But would you really want those with that dress?”

“Cowgirl boots with dresses are still a thing. Mind if I poke around?”

Maria waved her forward with her good arm. “You know I don’t.”

Carol poked around until she found a handsome dark brown pair. She slipped them onto her bare feet, then came back to check the combo in the mirror. “Not bad.” She smiled. “Not bad at all.”

“I have to admit, I like it.” Maria smiled as well.

Carol hugged her aunt. “I feel like Cinderella going to the ball.”

“I don’t mind playing fairy godmother.” Maria laughed, then grew somber. “I actually offered to be your godmother when you were first born, but your mother wouldn’t have it.”

“Too bad.” Carol wondered how much different her life might’ve gone if Maria had been in the picture while she was growing up. Of course, this only reminded her of Mom and she preferred not to think about her right now.

“Well, I’m glad we got tomorrow night all settled.” Maria yawned.

“Yes, but it’s late. We should be getting you to bed.

” Carol carefully removed the dress and hung it up, then she helped her aunt prepare for bed, finally tucking her in and kissing her good night.

Then she quietly picked up the dress and boots and rather reverently carried them up to her room so she could hang the dress on a peg by the closet door.

For a long moment, she stood just staring at the vintage dress, imagining what it would feel like to be Victor’s date tomorrow night .

.. then reminding herself that would be Victoria’s pleasure.

And, really, if that’s the kind of woman Victor wanted, he could have her.

After all, didn’t their names say it all?

Victoria the victorious ... wanting to win Victor. Well, let her!

Shooing these troublesome thoughts away, she distracted herself by getting ready for bed, but before turning off the light, she silenced her phone. Just in case her mom decided to give her another late-night call.

Although she felt a smidgen of guilt, she just couldn’t deal with any more mama drama tonight, especially after discovering her mother had twisted the story, pretending she’d been a small child when Maria had left.

It was obviously just another pathetic attempt to turn Carol away from her aunt.

It was one thing to want a mother-daughter rendezvous in the Bahamas but throwing Maria under the bus like that felt unforgivable.

And yet she knew she needed to follow her aunt’s lead, like she’d said she would, and forgive her mom.

At the same time, she rationalized that the wounds she bore from her mother ran deeper than Maria’s.

For that reason alone, it should naturally take longer.

But since she had promised Maria she would pray for Mom, she did her best. And the best she could muster, like she’d done for other “enemies” in the past, was to ask God to bless her mom.

She’d once heard a sermon about how asking God to bless someone didn’t necessarily mean they’d win the lottery or become a celebrity .

.. because sometimes God’s best blessing came in the form of a good spanking.

In the case of her mom, she hoped for the latter!