The mood was a bit solemn in the house.
Isabelle did her best to serve the tea she had prepared without spilling it. The pot shook a bit; she was not afraid, though, she was annoyed. Just when things were going smoothly with Joseph, both making great improvements in their relationship, two nuisances appeared. It made her man run away to avoid dealing with them!
She was sure that if she voiced out her thought she would be flogged to death, but those were her true feelings regarding the two uninvited and unwelcomed guests.
The two sat at the table, looking as out of place and dismayed as their expressions allowed them to show their inner feelings, politely thanked her for her efforts but otherwise did not touch the cups. Isabelle thought it was a bit rude of them; wasting precious resources from the humble family. The two had been rude since the moment they arrived at their door actually.
As soon as they came into the yard, they looked around as if they were seeing something so strange and novel and dirty. They even hesitated in sitting on the stools. They even had the nerve to gawk at Isabelle as if she was an exotic animal!
The teen did comment something like: "I cannot believe someone like you lives in a place as decrepit as this!" Receiving a hard admonishing look from the man as a result, yet the teen seemed very unrepentant; as the spoiled child she was.
"To what do I owe the honor of your presence in my very humble home?" Isabelle amiably smiled despite the inappropriate comment.
In hindsight, it was a relief Joseph had run away from them; otherwise, she had no idea how he would have reacted to the distasteful remark. He was most likely informing the other brothers to not approach the house, though Isabelle was sure Lucas and Felix were aware of their out-of-place visitors. A carriage as big and unnecessarily luxurious as the one parked outside the house was certainly hard to ignore.
"It took us a while to find you, Mrs. Edris," the man started, "all your boss at that workshop knew was the name of this village." He waved around to refer at the place. The teen beside him lowly grumbled that the village looked more like a hole in the middle of nowhere.
This time, the man did not even try to silence the teen, somewhat agreeing with the comment.
Isabelle maintained her polite smile, hardly pinching herself below the table to avoid saying something she would regret and simply encouraged the man to continue. She knew what he was doing; guilt tripping her so she would acquiesce to whatever he asked for. If he needed anything at all. Though that was obvious, otherwise he would not have bothered to look for Isabelle in what they deemed a far-flung place where birds did not even shit.
"We had to ask around to find this house." He added, still not exposing the motive of his presence.
In the end, Isabelle was the most uncomfortable one between the three. She did not want them in the house, not after they disparaged it. So, she directly questioned them. "Is there something I can help you with, Commissioner?"
To think the highest person in Basin Town's law system would visit a humble home in some forgotten village. But there was a good reason for his visit. "We need your expertise, Madam Edris." Isabelle wondered if the man was a soldier or a politician. He surely knew how to word his requests.
"I am good in very few things, Commissioner. You have to tell me what you need, so I can know if I can help you or not." Isabelle was definitely not going to promise anything if the man kept being cryptic. She had yielded once already –when Mrs. Priddy placidly and naturally stole her handbag idea; she was not keen on doing it again.
Especially not with a person like the Commissioner.
She did not dislike him, nor she found him agreeable; he just had too much power. People with power always meant trouble.
"You can, you can, you definitely can help us out." His greasy smile made Isabelle look down to her own cup of tea, pick it up and take a sip.
The teen, the Commissioner's daughter, groaned, tired of the roundabout conversation. "My future mother-in-law made my wedding dress. My Mom accepted because she thought the woman was good at sewing - why else would she have volunteered?! It turned out she was atrocious at it. Not only bad, she was horrendous! I am not wearing that thing on my wedding!" The daughter immediately spilled the background story.
Mrs. Attile had, of course, shared the gossip as to who had taken up the task to make the bride's dress. Isabelle thought the woman was very thoughtful to shoulder such an errand; she just never thought the lady was going to be looked down by her own future daughter-in-law. Isabelle feared the relationship between the two was going to sour the first week of marriage.
"And you need another one…" Isabelle ventured. Because despite the criticism, the teenager did not voice out what she wanted. Really, is it so hard to ask for something? Isabelle inwardly rolled her eyes.
"Of course, I need a new one! Look! Look at this disgusting thing!" The teen snapped her fingers towards the attendant that accompanied the father-daughter pair. The young woman, who had actually been carrying a parcel on her extended forearms the whole time, put it on the table, unwrapped it and stepped back.
Isabelle leaned in and hummed at what she saw. Ruffles. No. It was actually a tiered sleeve. Two tiered sleeves. To carefully assess the situation, she unfolded the dress. What unfurled was some sort of robe, all straight down. The type of dress that did not flatter the teen's body. It was made in white and there were some nice decorations with pearls; the material was also very nice, high quality, but…
"Is there a way you can fix it?" The Commissioner hopefully asked. He seemed more reasonable, or at least more in control with his words, as he nicely and implicitly asked if the thing could be worn if tweaked a bit. Unlike his daughter, he did not want to offend the person who made the garment.
Isabelle put down the dress and directly looked at the indignant teen. "Allow me to be honest." The Commissioner's daughter nodded. "You are a very spoiled and extremely rude girl who needs to be taught some manners, but I also think this dress does not suit you. At all. You are right in wanting a new one."
Silence.
Both father and daughter – and even the attendant – gaped at Isabelle, who took that moment to walk into the house and fetch her notebook. She slapped it on the table, startling the three out of their dumbstruck stupor.
"Now, before we proceed to the next step, I have to tell you that I cannot make nor fix dresses soon. At most, I can begin sewing in two months' time. I am preparing the clothes for my own wedding. Then, I have to make two wedding dresses for a lady in Silver City. Tell me how urgent this order will be first, and I will tell you if I can help you."
She boldly laid her strong cards to the two; meaning, her time was valuable, and she had priorities. Of course, she also wanted to rest after the sewing marathon she was going to do right after her wedding. Furthermore, that she lived in a humble house did not mean she was an ignorant peasant. She also had her own contacts!
Of course, that last part was a bit exaggerated as she did not know Mrs. Attile's cousin, but she was going to be indirectly working for her. All Isabelle wanted was to let the father-dauhgter pair know that they could not go around demanding things to be done their way. At least, not with her.
"I… I'm getting married at the end of the year." The teen finally reacted and replied. It was the first time someone called her spoiled and rude so directly. She could not even get angry as the woman in front of her actually agreed the dress was horrible and even wanted to help her.
She could take anything as long as this woman fixed the atrocious dress!
Isabelle nodded, accepting the implication that she could take as long as she wanted, but it did not hurt to confirm that. "I can assume, then, that there is no urgency for the dress. I can still start sewing as soon as possible so you can have it on time." Then, she threw an olive branch; she was still the Commissioner's daughter after all.
Isabelle could plainly throw some harsh words because she still had their regard. If she wanted to keep a cordial relationship with them, though, then she needed to smooth any creases. Who knew what would happen in the future…?
"Alright. Thanks." The teen softly said.
"Now that we are clear with that, we can proceed with the design. Do you have any idea of what you would like in your dress?" Isabelle opened the notebook to a blank sheet, ignoring the Commissioner's telling stare at the object. It was yet another deliberate action to show her prowess, that she was a proud villager, one not to be looked down upon.
Glancing at the forgotten garment, Isabelle thought the robe-like dress could be tweaked: maybe flatten down the sleeves, cinch the waist and make the top tighter, then put more volume on the skirt. All to make the girl have the curves she still sorely missed.
Meanwhile, the teen immediately started vomiting all sorts of nonsensical ideas for her dress. "...it could ruffle at the top, then flow below, like flying! Or what about some strips falling from the skirt?! That would be lovely! With different colors!" Isabelle just hummed and nodded at appropriate times to pretend she was paying attention to her words while drawing. "… some ribbons, and embroidery, and jewels and maybe a long scarf!"
The teen continued with her delusions for a good while, talking nonstop of her unrealistic and atrocious ideas. Isabelle took back her thoughts. The daughter and mother-in-law duo would get along splendidly; what with their questionable taste.
Isabelle stopped the tirade when she stopped drawing and slid the notebook to the chattering teen. "What we need is something to distract people from your undeveloped body." She voiced out, in a no-nonsense tone.
It was a kind way to say the teen was plain, or flat as a board. Everybody understood the unsaid words. The teen blushed out of embarrassment and indignation, the father coughed and looked away, and the attendant did her best to not laugh.
"The first design has three points: the puffed sleeves, the bodice top and a slitted skirt. The puffed sleeves can stay, just not as long as they are right now. Also, as you can see, there is no neckline, completely showing the shoulders. This can leave people speechless either from being scandalized or from how good you will look in it."
"The bodice is to enhance your rather thin waist; of course, this part will be embroidered with pretty flowers, and we can even use the pearls. Finally, with the skirt, the slits will be discreet at first sight, but noticeable when you walk. It will be covered with a sheer fabric in plaits to give more volume to the lower part and give an accent to your hips."
Isabelle paused to moisten her throat with tea while the Commissioner's daughter marveled at the first design before staring at the other design, silently asking Isabelle to explain.
"The second one is simpler in design. We keep the V neckline from the dress, tighten the top and give more volume to the skirt with the same trick from the other design. The puff sleeves will be gone, becoming normal ones. The catching point of this dress is the cape that can be as long as you want, though I do recommend choosing a length you can manage so you do not trip with it. Again, we can use the pearls from the dress on this cape with some nice embroidery."
Both the Commissioner and his daughter leaned on the notebook to gawk at the designs, and looked from one to the other to decide which one was the best.
"Which one do you want?" Isabelle looked at the teen.
"This one!" "This one." Both father and daughter spoke at the same time, choosing different designs. The girl chose the first while the man chose the second.
"Listen to me, Marleene." The man started persuading. "You are marrying a soldier. The less exposed you are, the better reputation your future husband will have." Isabelle blinked.
"But I like the other one." The teen still persisted, giving him a pleading gaze. It always worked on the man to make him bend to her whims before.
Not on this.
The Commissioner straightened his back and looked down at his daughter with all the authority of a father. "I am the one paying for the dress. So, I will choose it. Madame Edris, you can start making this dress as soon as you're free. If you need anything, you can look for me at my office," he demanded with finality, not letting the teen put another word of protest.
"Of course." Isabelle blandly agreed.
"Use this for any materials you might need," he said, putting a rather hefty pouch on the table and stood. "Thanks a lot for your time." He nodded and gestured at the girl to also bid her farewells, which were a bit subdued.
Isabelle looked at their backs and hastily scribbled on a sheet of paper, tore off a piece and ran towards them. "I forgot to congratulate you for your wedding. I hope that, apart from the dress, all the preparations are going as expected." She smiled, taking the teen's hand and giving it a hard squeeze.
Marleene was a bit dumbfounded but nodded and whispered a soft "thank you" before leaving. The way back was made in silence, the novelty of being out of town completely gone. The Commissioner looked at his upset daughter and just inwardly sighed, not having the correct words to cheer her up. However, he still could not go back on his words, his future son-in-law was a promising soldier, they could not ruin that for a dress.
The teen, though, was more preoccupied on what she held in her hand.
Back home, when she finally found herself alone, she loosened her fist. On her palm, there was a piece of paper which had the following sentence written in loopy and nice calligraphy: 'I will make it backless'. For a moment, Marleene had no idea what it meant until her mind caught up, and she widely smiled.
She would definitely ask her Mom for more money to give to Mrs. Edris for the dress!