The Black Rose (4 page)

Freedom from a spastic Milly came with a price though. Wilhelmina found herself trying on dress after dress, all of which were too extravagant for her tastes. Edolie had also picked pink, which was not one of Wilhelmina’s favorite colors. She looked like a girl trapped in a giant peach.

“What do you think?” Edolie kept asking her bridesmaids.

“It’s too dull,”
Delaney
spoke “It should be brighter, like a fuchsia color. It would make us stand out more and would go a lot better with my beautiful dark brown hair.”

“Well I like it,” Bianca, one of Edolie’s bridesmaids, retorted, “Some of us have blonde hair and a bright pink would just look horrid.”

“I like the color, but not the dress so much,”
Shirley
added
.

Wilhelmina felt that Shirley’s long red hair clashed with the color pink in general, but she didn’t want to say anything since pink was Edolie’s color of choice. Also, Shirley seemed to think she looked good in pink
and
Wilhelmina
did not w
ant
to hurt her feelings
, so she remained quiet.
She would wear whatever her sister wanted. It was Edolie’s wedding after all.

“What do you think?” Edolie asked
, but this time directed to
Wilhelmina.

“
Yeah, y
ou haven’t said a thing at all
,” Bianca chimed in.

“Well, I think it should be your choice,” Wilhelmina said directly to Edolie, “It’s your wedding after all
…
” Wilhelmina felt nervous with all eyes on her. Ball gowns in general weren’t her style and adding pink on top of that just made her even more uncomfortable.
None of the other girls spoke and it was clear they were waiting for her to say something, so Wilhelmina took a deep breath and nervously spoke her feelings,
“But um… what if we tried
more simple dresses?”

“What?” The other bridesmaids exclaimed.

“Well Edolie’s the bride; she should be the one that stands out….”
Wilhelmina added in defense
and bit her lip
, “But it
was just a suggestion
….
”

“I agree,” Jerome said as he entered
the room
. He had finished getting tuxes done
in the room down the hall
and came
to check on
Edolie, only to find that she was
not
done
picking out
bridesmaid
dresses
, which meant she hadn’t even started on her wedding dress
.

“You’re not supposed to be
in
here!” Edolie exclaimed.

“There is no rule saying I can’t see the bridesmaids before the wedding,” Jerome said as Edolie flailed her hands in his face.

“Oh,” Edolie said and she turned her attention back to her bridesmaid
s
, “I think we should give
Wilhelm
ina’s idea a try and put on some more simple dresses.”

The
dressmaker
then
disappeared
into the dress racks to
pull some simple pink dresses and Wilhelmina sighed in relief. However, Jerome’s presence soon put her in a state of panic. She wasn’t sure if she liked the idea of him looking at her in dresses. She had only talked to him once and still didn’t really know him. Her heart was racing as
the dress maker
pushed her
behind one of the screens
with a
light
pink dress.
The dressmaker helped pin the back of the dress together since it was a bit too big, before disappearing to help the other girls.

Wilhelmina took a deep breath as she looked at herself in the mirror. Though pink was not her color, she actually
didn’t mind the
dress. The dress went just past the knees and was strapless.
A
white sash
was tied around her waist and formed a bow in the back. T
here
were
also
little crystals scattered all
over
the
bottom half of the
dress. Wilhelmina did a twirl to see the dress from all angles before heading out for her sister to see.

The other bridesmaids were already out and showing off their dresses. Delaney, of course, was in a bright pink dress. Shirley was wearing a light pin
k dress that had puffy sleeves.
Bianca was also in a light pink dress, but hers featured a one shoulder. As soon as Wilhelmina stood on the podium, Edolie began
to jump up and down
.

“That’s it! That’s the one!”

“But….” Delaney began, but Bianca and Shirley covered her mouth.

“It’s her wedding day,” Bianca hissed in Delaney’s ear.

“Besides, you’re the only one who wants a blinding pink dress,” Shirley added before they all went back to looking normal.

Wilhelmina felt embarrassed. She never intended for her to be in the dress that her sister loved. Her face
reddened even more
when she noticed Jerome was smiling at her. His blue eyes were twinkling, giving her a weird feeling
and making
her even more nervous.

The
dress maker
quickly went to get the same dress Wilhelmina was wearing for the other girls so Edolie could see them all together in the pink, sparkly dresses. Wilhelmina couldn’t help but think they loo
ked like a bunch of upside down tulips
when they were all standing together, but Edolie was happy and that was all that mattered.

With the dress picked out, the dress maker began measuring Wilhelmina and the other bridesmaids
. Wilhelmina was nervous because she didn’t want to
get
pricked
by the pins
. After the dress maker had taken all the notes she needed, she removed the pins and allowed the girls to go change.

“You look lovely,” Jerome remarked as Wilhelmina was about to head back to the dressing room.

“I think I look like a tulip,” Wilhelmina said and then turned pink when she realized she just insulted her sister’s dress in front of her fiancé. To her relief, Jerome laughed and she hurried into the dressing room to get back into h
er normal, casual, green dress.

When Wilhelmina exited the room, she found herself in the middle of a fight. Shirley and Bianca were arguing with one another while Edolie and Delaney watched.

“You go with him!”

“No you go!”

“What’s going on?” Wilhelmina asked as she walked up to Jerome and her sister.

“Edolie has to pick out her wedding gown, but Jerome can’t see it, so they’re fighting over who has to spend time with Jerome,” Delaney informed her.

“It’s no big deal, I can go off on my own,” Jerome offered, “
Then
you all can be here to help her pick one.”

“But…” Edolie began but her sister interrupted her.

“I’ll entertain him,” Wilhelmina offered.
She really didn’t want to, but she also wanted Shirley and Bianca to stop bickering. Besides, she would have to get
to know Jerome at some point since he would be her brother in law, so she decided now was a good time.

“Thank you!” Edolie exclaimed hugging her sister.

“No problem,” Wilhelmina said. Jerome then offered her his arm. She smiled and allowed him to escort her out of the room.

“Make sure you take him to town, we don’t
want
to risk him seeing Edolie in her dress!” Delaney shouted
before they were out the door.

“So how long do you
think they’ll be?” Jerome asked.
Despite
Wilhelmina’s
plain dress, he thought s
he looked beautiful and could not
help but stare at her. Her lips were as red as
a rose and her eyes sparkled like emeralds. He was strangely attracted to her
even though he knew he shouldn’t be
.

“
Probably the rest
of the day,” Wilhelmina sighed.
The brid
esmaid dresses had taken all morning
.
“
Knowing her, she just wants to try on dresses and then get a custom one made.
”

Jerome smiled, “Well
then we
have
plenty of
time to get to know one another.”

“Right,” Wilhelmina said realizing she had no idea what they should do or talk about. She never had talked to anyone else but Milly before. She wished Milly was here right now, she would make this so much easier. Then again, Milly would probably just throw a fit
and claim
Edolie was being rude for having Wilhelmina spend time with Jerome.

They walked down th
e castle hall towards the exit.
Wilhelmina thought having to leave to be a bit extreme, but she
really didn’t get the chance to protest
. Plus, she wasn’t allowed out much, so it would be nice to see the city. Wilhelmina and Jerome
were silent until they reached the entrance to the city.

“Come to think of it, I never had a proper tour of the city,” Jerome said
as they walked down the cobblestone path.

“Um…. Well…” Wilhelmina bit her lip and began playing with her hands behin
d her back before continuing, “I’m actually not allowed out of the castle often..
.”

“What?” Jerome said in shock, “and why not?”

“I thought everyone knew,
”
Wilhelmina said startled by his reaction
, “I’m…
.
”

“Let’s sit down first,” Jerome said taking her hand and pulling her
down the
somewhat busy
street. He picked the first spot he saw that had seating, which was
a table outside of a bakery. A woman greeted them and asked if they would like anything
, but before Wilhelmina could speak
, Jerome quickly asked for two cups of tea and the woman was gone.

“Please continue,” Jerome said once they were alone.

“Uh, well, you see, my parents didn’t want me to marry before my sister, so I was never allowed out of the castle. They worried I might meet someone. I also wasn’t allowed to go to
the Spring B
alls until
the last one….” Wilhelmina stopped talking when the lady brought them their tea and disappeared. She took a break from talking to sip her tea.

“But why would they be so concerned if you marry before your sister? Everyone knows Edolie is next in line, the council decided that. It wouldn’t matter who you married,” Jerome said in amazement and Wilhelmina’s eyes bulged. This was all new news to her.

“What?” Wilhelmina stuttered as she stared at him wide eyed and Jerome realized he
might have said
something
that probably
shouldn’t have. If King Wilhelm and Queen Henrietta hadn’t told her this, there must have been another reason
…

“Well I guess if Edolie died for some reason….” Jerome stammered trying to make up a reason for the King and Queen’s actions.

“Yes, but why her?”
Wilhelmina calmed down and looked down at her empty tea cup. Yes, that was something she had been wondering all her life, why Edolie? What was so special about the younger sister that she was actually permitted to surpass her older sister in taking the throne.

“I didn’t mean to upset you, I’m sorry,” Jerome said placing his hand on hers. He didn’t like the way Wilhelmina looked. She seemed so sad and confused.

“It’s not that I’m jealous or anything,” Wilhelmina panicked, “I don’t want to be queen, but
I
….”

“Answers,” Jerome stated and was glad Wilhelmina calmed down, “Reasons, closure, it’s only reasonable to want to know why especially in your case.” Jerome sipped the rest of his tea as they
sat there in silence for quite awhile. They both had a lot on their minds and
neither was sure what to say after such a heavy topic
.
T
he sun was beginning to set and the lady that owned the bakery came out to deliver the bill.

Jerome
paid the lady and left her a tip on the table before standing.
“We should probably go and check on them,” He said breaking the silence. Wilhelmina nodded and they both headed off back tow
ards
the
palace
only to discover that Edolie was still busy with dresses.

“Edolie’s still in there getting a dress,”
Shirley informed
Wilhelmina as they walked up to her and Bianca
.
They had left the castle in order to get some fresh air and take a break from Edolie.