Scarlett Rose's Arc

Chapter 24 of 57

The dress arrived in a long white box on Tuesday morning. Rose carried it in from the porch and set it on the kitchen table like it might break. Scarlett was already up, past the worst of the sickness, coffee in hand. Maya sat across from her with the checklist and a red pen. "Try it on now," Rose said. "If it needs work, we have time. If it doesn't, we know." Scarlett went to the bedroom and closed the door. The lace slid over her shoulders. The bodice held. The train fell clean behind her. She turned once in the mirror and pressed her hand flat to her stomach. Six weeks. Nothing showed yet under the fitted lace. The seamstress had cut it with room. Scarlett stepped out into the kitchen. Rose put a hand over her mouth. Maya set the pen down. "It fits," Rose said. "It fits perfect." Scarlett let out a breath she had been holding since the boutique. "No alterations." "None," Rose said. She circled her once, tugged the veil straight, stepped back. Then her face changed. "Scarlett. Who's walking you down the aisle?" Scarlett looked at her. She had not written it on any list. Their father had been gone six years. There were uncles, but none she wanted. There was Clayton's father, but he would already be seated. The room got quiet in a way the dress did not fix. "I hadn't decided," Scarlett said. Maya picked her pen back up but did not write. Rose stood in front of her in her turquoise blouse, jewelry catching the window light, city boots on the pine floor. She had come out from the city on a train and stayed through the sickness and the freeze and the venue call. She had cooked. She had painted the nursery trim. She had answered the pavilion in one hour flat. "I want you to do it," Scarlett said. Rose's eyes went wide. "Me." "You've been the one standing next to me the whole time. Dad would want somebody who showed up. You showed up." Rose's mouth opened, closed. She looked down at her boots, then back up. "I'm not a man in a suit." "I don't need a man in a suit. I need my sister." Rose crossed the kitchen and hugged her hard, careful of the lace. "Okay," she said into Scarlett's shoulder. "Okay. Yes." Maya wrote a line on the checklist and drew a box beside it and checked the box. Clayton came in from the barn with mud on his boots. He stopped at the door when he saw the dress. He did not step inside. "Rose is walking me down," Scarlett said. He nodded once. "Good choice." Then, dry, "I was worried you'd ask me." Scarlett laughed, and the last knot in her chest let go.