Violetta Craft's Arc

Chapter 14 of 65

Saturday came clear and cold. Violetta stood in her sewing room with the finished dress on the form. The rose overlay lay flat over the buttercream skirt. The green panel at the waist ran clean, no puckers, no loose threads. Lymber had steamed it that morning. Paul had loaded the garment bag into the car before breakfast. Jordie carried the shoe box and the hanger. Missy held the door for her sister and did not let it swing back. They drove to the campus gym together. The parking lot was already full. Girls in garment bags hurried past with their mothers. Violetta walked slow, one hand under her belly, and Lymber walked beside her without touching her. Inside, the check-in table gave her a number card. She pinned it to her strap in the dressing area. Max sat with Paul in the third row. Missy waved from beside them. She changed behind a curtain. The bodice fit. The skirt hung the way she had drawn it eight weeks ago. She looked at herself in the mirror and did not cry. She had promised herself she would not cry before the walk. The lights came up. Violetta walked the runway with her hand loose at her side. She kept her chin level and her steps even. The baby shifted once at the turn and she used it to slow down and hold the pose. She heard clapping. She saw Jordie standing at the back, not sitting. She walked off the way her mother had taught her, one foot in front of the other, no rush. The judges took twenty minutes. Violetta sat on a folding chair in the wings and drank water. When they called the winners, they called first place first. It was not her name. A senior with a black tailored coat walked up and took the ribbon. Violetta clapped. Then they called second place, and it was her. She walked out again and took the red ribbon and the small envelope. She smiled for the photo. She did not look at the first-place girl. Backstage, Lymber found her and did not say anything about the ribbon. She said the dress was perfect and helped her out of it. Paul folded the garment bag. Jordie held her hand on the walk to the car. In the back seat, Missy asked why she didn't get the gold one. Violetta said the other dress was very good. Missy said her dress was better. Violetta said thank you and looked out the window. At home she hung the dress in the closet and set the red ribbon on the dresser. She had 14 weeks until Elowen's due date, and she had a second-place ribbon, and she had already started counting what she would do different next year. She sat down on the bed and put her hand on her belly and waited to feel the baby move.