Against All Odds
Page 11
“I told her the same thing,” Kate said unhappily. “But she doesn’t want to hear anything I have to say.”
“Where are you going to do the wedding?” Justin asked her.
“She was going to give me some ideas. She’s checking out locations with Zach. They want it very small. I’d rather be giving one for you,” Kate said in a wistful tone. She liked Richard a lot better than Zach, whom she barely knew, and she still couldn’t see Izzie with him.
“We don’t want to get married,” Justin said, as he had before. “When’s Grandma coming home, by the way?” He hadn’t heard from her since she left on her trip. They never did.
“Tomorrow. I haven’t told her about Izzie yet. I don’t think she’ll be happy about it either.”
“It’s hard to be optimistic about a mismatch like that.” Kate didn’t say she was worried about him too, and their upcoming child. It seemed like all of a sudden she had two children going offtrack and taking serious risks. She had encouraged her children to be independent, but she wanted them to play it safe as much as they could.
They talked for a few more minutes and then hung up. And the next day when her mother returned from Argentina, she told her the news that Izzie was planning to marry Zach.
“I had a feeling she’d do something like that. She had that look in her eye on Christmas Day that she used to get when she was a teenager and was planning to do something she knew she shouldn’t but was determined to do anyway. You can’t stop her when she gets like that.”
“I know. I tried. Maybe you can reason with her and get her to wait awhile.”
“I’m sure I can’t,” Grandma Lou said, sounding resigned. “She’ll just have to go through it, and learn the lesson the hard way. I don’t think there will be an easy way with him. He’s going to be a great disappointment to her before it’s all over. I just hope she doesn’t get badly hurt.” It was what Kate feared most, a marriage that would end badly and take Izzie years to recover from. But they couldn’t seem to stop her.
“How was your trip?” Kate asked her, to change the subject from the depressing prospect of Izzie’s marriage.
“Perfect.”
“Did you do the tango?” Kate asked with a smile.
“Of course. I took Frances to tango bars every night.”
“She must have loved that!” Kate said, laughing. Her friend Frances was a meek, demure woman who followed her more adventuresome friend faithfully without complaint.
“No, she didn’t. But she was a good sport and went anyway. She’s an excellent traveling companion.” Louise had learned the samba in Brazil the year before. She was tireless, and loved to dance. She sounded like she’d had fun, which was the whole point of the trip. Seeing new places, meeting new people, and broadening her world. She had tried to teach that to her grandchildren, but they were more interested in work and careers, understandably. Willie liked to have fun and loved traveling with her. The girls were more like their mother and all about work, although they enjoyed their grandmother too. “What’s new with you?” her mother asked her, and Kate told her about the business proposal she’d had from Bernard Michel in France.
“Why don’t you go to Paris to meet with him?”
“He’s coming here in two weeks,” Kate told her.
“A trip to Paris would do you good,” her mother suggested. After they hung up, Kate realized she was right. A trip to Paris would be fun. She wanted to go on a buying trip anyway. Maybe if the new project panned out, she’d go for a week or two. It sounded like a plan. Her mother always broadened her horizons too. Grandma Lou was good for all of them, and Kate was happy she was home and would talk to Izzie. She wondered if Izzie would listen to her grandmother, since she listened to no one else.
Chapter 9
Izzie called her mother at the store the week after Grandma Lou’s return, in late January, and told her she had located several possible venues for her wedding reception. Two were restaurants, one was a small boutique hotel in Tribeca, and the fourth was a townhouse the owners rented out on Washington Square Park. The last one sounded like the most interesting, although it was slightly more expensive, but not excessively so. Kate was planning to pay for the wedding, and could afford to, but Izzie said she was more than willing to help. Kate would have preferred no wedding, but Grandma Lou hadn’t been able to slow Izzie down either. She had tried. Izzie had made up her mind and nothing would stop her.
They made a date for that Friday afternoon to see all four locations. Kate normally loved having an excuse to spend time with her children, but she wasn’t feeling enthusiastic about their mission. She wished there was something she could do to bring Izzie to her senses. But she seemed to be in high spirits and excited about finding a location for her wedding, no matter how disastrous Kate thought the groom.
They started at the hotel in Tribeca and agreed that it was gloomy and dark, although the food was reputed to be excellent. Kate thought it would make everything seem somber, and she was relieved that her daughter thought so too. And the two restaurants seemed banal to both of them. They were pretty but commercial, and only one of them had a private room. For the second one, they’d have to take over the whole restaurant, and the room was too large for only thirty guests. There were seven members of the family, including Richard, Grandma Lou, Kate, and the four siblings. Liam and Maureen would be there, of course. Zach had only two friends he thought he might invite and still wasn’t sure. He considered it unlikely his father would come. And Izzie wanted to invite about fifteen or twenty people from work, and not everyone would attend. They might end up with only twenty wedding guests, so a private room seemed best. They didn’t like anything they’d seen as they took a cab to the house on Washington Square. It was a pretty brick townhouse from the outside, with white trim and a shiny black door. It was one of the historic homes on the square from the time of Henry James.
A property manager was waiting for them when they arrived. The owner was a movie producer in California who rarely came to New York but loved the house, and rented it out for parties and special events. It was small once they stepped inside, like many of the turn-of-the-century townhouses on the square. There were two parlors on either side of the house on the main floor, and a study at the rear that was lined with books. The living room was on the second floor, a beautifully appointed room with lovely art and a view of the park. It occupied a full floor of the house, could apparently accommodate fifty, and was comfortable for twenty-five. And on the top two floors were the bedrooms. The master suite was above the living room, and it was a lovely romantic room where the bride could dress. The kitchen and formal dining room were downstairs, and the table could comfortably seat twenty-five, or stretch to thirty with additional leaves. It was perfect for the purpose they had in mind. The walls were painted in pastel shades, the furniture was antique, the window coverings done in exquisite silks, and there was a fireplace and chandelier in every room. Izzie could instantly imagine her wedding in a place like that, although Kate thought Zach would look completely out of place in his leathers, tattoos, long hair, and biker style, but she didn’t say so to Izzie. She had fallen in love with the elegant little jewel box of a house, and Kate signed the contract for May first before they left. So they had a place for the wedding. The house came with a party chef and staff, so that was taken care of too, and they could provide a florist if they wished it. It left nothing more to arrange except the invitations and Izzie’s bridal gown.
And although Zach and his family were supposed to organize and host the rehearsal dinner the night before, since he had no family to do so, Kate had already agreed to have the rehearsal dinner at home. It was going to be a casual evening, and she was planning to have it catered by a Mexican restaurant nearby, which was what Izzie said they wanted. Everyone could hang out informally, and sit on the floor. It would be a nice contrast to the small, elegant location for the wedding, and since it was for such a limited group, the price was not excessive. But for an intimate we
dding, put together at short notice, with only a few months to plan, it was very elegant and just what they needed. Kate wanted to give Izzie a pretty wedding, even if she was unhappy about the marriage. If they couldn’t stop her, Kate felt she should have a special day to remember nonetheless, and Izzie was pleased.
They went back to Kate’s apartment, feeling victorious and satisfied with their successful mission. Izzie had found a gem with the location. The invitations weren’t going to be complicated. And Kate looked lovingly at her daughter as she poured them both a cup of tea in her small tidy kitchen that was as immaculate, as stylish, and as organized as the rest of her apartment. Kate was a meticulous person in all things. “Now you need the gown,” she said as they sat down at the table where they had all their holiday meals. “Any thoughts?” She was being a good sport about her daughter’s wedding, despite her qualms.
Izzie had already said that she didn’t want a wedding dress from her mother’s shop. She didn’t want anything vintage, she wanted something new and exciting that Zach would love. They looked at some dresses online on Kate’s laptop as they sipped their tea. Oscar de la Renta, Marchesa, Herrera, Vera Wang, and Monique Lhuillier. They were all more elaborate than what Izzie had in mind. She wanted something totally simple and pure, with flowers in her hair, no veil. She had very definite ideas on the subject, as Kate knew most brides did. She had heard it all before at her store, and in many cases, the bride ended up picking something completely different from what she said she wanted. But Izzie was as stubborn about it as she was about everything else related to the wedding. Kate suggested she go to Bergdorf Goodman, have a look around, and try some gowns.
Izzie followed her advice but saw nothing she wanted. She was stumped about where to go next so she called her mother to tell her she had found nothing at Bergdorf’s. Kate was doing an intake when Izzie called her, and told her she was busy but would give it some thought and call her later. Maybe a white dress from Armani or Calvin Klein would do the trick. Even if they weren’t made as bridal gowns, they would be clean, simple, and modern, and Izzie had the right figure for their designs. Kate went back to work on the collection she was checking in then. She liked to see the items herself and be sure they were up to her standards. The one she was looking at was from a family in San Francisco, who had sent her all of their mother’s couture gowns, some really beautiful Chanel pieces in perfect condition, and some other family pieces no one wanted, including their grandmother’s wedding gown. Kate was sure it would be too old and fragile to sell, since it was from the 1920s and almost a hundred years old, but she had promised to take a look at it, and had already suggested before she saw it they donate it to a museum. They said the dress had been carefully preserved, and it arrived in a white box, having been heavily wrapped in tissue paper since its first and only use. No one had ever worn it since, because it looked too dated and out of style.
Kate was curious to see what it would look like when she took it out of the box and unwrapped it. The box it came in was huge, and it took her and Jessica several minutes to strip away all the tissue paper, which had yellowed with age, but miraculously the gown had not. It was still a delicate ivory color, with lace arms, minute beaded embroidery covering the entire dress, and a seemingly mile-long train and veil in the same lace. The gown was exquisite when they laid it out on a clean white sheet on the floor.
“Oh my God,” Kate said, looking at it. It really did belong in a museum, and Jessica touched the delicate beading with reverence. The entire dress had been handmade by a designer of the time that Kate had never heard of, apparently a local woman in San Francisco. She wondered how many hundreds of hours had gone into making it for the society bride who wore it. There were even matching white satin shoes with the same beading on them. And she could see from the gown that the bride it had been made for must have been a tall girl. It had a dropped waist that was typical of the 1920s when it had been made.
Kate knew it was entirely wrong for Izzie and not what she wanted, but she couldn’t resist calling her as they stood looking at it, and she described it to her.
“It’s not for you, it’s really a piece of history and it belongs in a museum, but it’s one of the most beautiful wedding gowns I’ve ever seen. Do you want to come and look at it? It would be fun for you to see it, maybe it will give you some ideas.” Izzie sounded halfhearted about it, and didn’t want an antique dress, but she didn’t want to be rude to her mother, since she was being nice about the wedding and helping her with the plans. They still had to find a judge who would perform the ceremony, since Zach refused to be married in a church, and said that anything religious brought back bad memories of his parents, since they had taken him to church every Sunday and he had hated it. So there would be no hint of religion at their wedding, which upset Kate too. But it was their wedding, and she was trying to help make it memorable for her daughter.
Izzie agreed to come by on Saturday after the gym, and Kate left the gown laid out on the sheet on the floor of the storeroom and told everyone not to go in, so they wouldn’t step on it by mistake.
She was busy again the next day with one of her best clients, the editor from Harper’s Bazaar, when Izzie came by. Kate asked the woman to wait a few minutes, and had Jessica take over for her. She apologized and explained it was a very special mission for her daughter, even though she knew she wouldn’t wear the gown, but she wanted her to see it.
They went upstairs together. Kate unlocked the door and turned the lights on, and led Izzie to where they’d left the dress, carefully spread out on the floor. Izzie frowned when she saw it, and then knelt down to touch the lace and the beading. The gown itself was satin, except for the see-through lace arms, and the train and veil looked endless. There was a white satin cap under the veil with the same beading. Seeing it again, Kate knew she had never seen such a magnificent gown, and even Izzie looked impressed when she turned to look at her mother.
“Do you think it would fit me?” Kate was surprised by the question.
“I held it up to myself yesterday, and I think it would fit me. We’re the same size, so I think it probably would. The bride it was made for must have been pretty tall.”
“Could I try it?” Izzie asked with a shy look, and her mother smiled.
“Of course.” When her daughters were much younger, she used to bring bridal gowns home from secondhand shops so they could play dress up. This was a much fancier version of the same idea.
They lifted the gown carefully and Kate noticed again that it was in excellent condition—nothing had yellowed, nothing was stained. It had obviously been cleaned before it was put away, and the fabric wasn’t brittle. It had minute white satin buttons all the way down the back, which took forever to do up, but as soon as she did, she and Izzie both saw that the gown fit her to perfection. It looked as though it had been made for her, and once on a human form and not on the floor, the impressive artistry of the seamstress showed even more. It molded exactly to Izzie’s tall, lean body, but not too much so. And the beading was even lovelier and subtler when the dress was worn.
There was a full-length mirror at the end of the storeroom, and Izzie walked toward it on tiptoe, as Kate remembered the shoes and put them on the floor for her. They fit perfectly too. The bride had been a clone of Izzie’s body. And she and Kate both gasped as they saw her image in the mirror. It looked like a piece of history in its workmanship, and yet the style was modern too. The train was regal behind her, and when she settled the satin cap and veil on her head and spread the veil out, it brought tears to Kate’s eyes. No matter what she thought of the marriage, the dress was one of the most beautiful she had ever seen. And Izzie thought so too. It occurred to Kate immediately that it would look perfect in the late-nineteenth-century house where she was getting married. It was pure Henry James, right out of one of his novels.
“Oh my God, Mom,” Izzie said, looking at her mother in awe. “Can I have it? Will they sell it to us, or is it going to a museum?”
Izzie took the dress off carefully with her mother’s help and they folded it back into the box, with the shoes and veil and all the tissue paper, and then they went downstairs to Kate’s office. The editor from Harper’s Bazaar was gone by then. She had bought two Chanel suits and a Balenciaga dress Kate had put aside for her from a recent intake. And then Kate called the family in San Francisco. It was still early there, and the woman who had sent her the shipment was at home. Kate explained that her daughter had fallen in love with her grandmother’s wedding gown, and was getting married on May first.
“I really didn’t think anyone would want it,” the woman said honestly. “Girls wear much sexier dresses now, although the beading is beautiful, isn’t it?”
“It certainly is. And I have to admit, it looks spectacular on her. She must have the exact same figure as your grandmother, even her shoe size.”
“She was tall for the time,” the woman confirmed, and when Kate asked how much she wanted for it, the woman hesitated for a long time. Kate wondered if she was going to come up with a shocking price, since Kate had told her it belonged in a museum. And finally, the woman answered, “It’s been sitting here useless for nearly a hundred years. It would be nice to know that someone who really loves it has a chance to wear it. I’m sure my grandmother would be pleased. What about five hundred dollars, and my best wishes to the bride?” she said, and Kate’s eyes filled with tears again. It was the kind of luck she had always had with her shop, meeting lovely people who shared their stories with her, and blessings that fell into her lap.