Miranda Lee - Australian Affairs - Taken

‘The teachers at school called us “the unholy trinity”,’ Catherine said, smiling.

‘We were a bit naughty,’ Leanne trilled.

‘I can’t believe that,’ Ben said, annoying Jess with his flirtatious tone. If he was trying to make her jealous, then he was being successful!

After a little more idle chit-chat, Jess and Ben were led inside the house, where they refused offers of another afternoon tea from Catherine’s harried-looking mother. Her name was Joan, a handsome woman, but way too thin, with anxious eyes.

‘We just had afternoon tea at Andy’s place,’ Ben explained.

‘I see,’ she muttered, then gave Jess a frowning once-over. ‘You’re a lovely looking girl, dear, but I don’t think you’re going to fit into Krissie’s dress.’

‘I don’t think so either,’ Catherine agreed. ‘Luckily, she’s about the same height as Krissie, but I’d say she’s a good size smaller. Krissie’s put on some weight since getting pregnant. But no worries, Mum. At least she’s not too big. There’s nothing Doris could do to make the dress bigger, but making it smaller is not so much of a problem.

‘Doris is a lady in Mudgee who does alterations for Mum and me,’ she explained to Ben and Jess. ‘I’ll give her a call once I know what needs to be done. Meanwhile, we should go upstairs and try the dress on post haste. Then I’ll ring her. No, no, you stay down here, Ben,’ Catherine added when he went to follow them. ‘You’re not allowed to see the dresses either. You might tell Andy about them and that’s bad luck. Mum, take Ben into the living room and put the TV on.’

It rather amused Jess to see the look on Ben’s face. Clearly, he wasn’t used to being told what to do, especially by women. Most of them probably said yes to him all the time. Jess realised it would do Ben good if she rejected him tomorrow night. But she couldn’t see that happening. She would kick herself if she let him go back to America without spending at least one night with him.

Not knowing what it would have been like would haunt her for ever!

‘Don’t worry,’ Catherine said in a conspiratorial whisper as she led Jess up a large, curving staircase, a reluctant Leanne in their wake. ‘He won’t go anywhere whilst we’re gone.’

Jess laughed. ‘Well, he can’t, can he? He can’t drive.’

‘Gosh, that must be hard for him. I know Andy would die if he couldn’t drive. Is Ben badly hurt?’

‘Only his ego,’ Jess replied.

‘He’s very sweet,’ Leanne defended from behind them. ‘And very rich.’

‘Is he?’ Jess said casually.

‘You said his dad was a billionaire, didn’t you, Catherine?’

‘That’s what Andy told me,’ Catherine confirmed.

Jess shrugged. ‘Well, that’s his dad, not him.’

‘But he’s an only child,’ Leanne persisted as Catherine led Jess into her bedroom, which was huge.

‘I’m not interested in Ben for his money,’ she said a bit sharply.

‘Are you serious about each other?’ Catherine asked.

‘We’ve only just met, but we like each other a lot I think…’ Jess replied. She didn’t want anyone thinking she was that easy. She didn’t like thinking she was going to be that easy.

Catherine smiled over her shoulder. ‘Well, let’s get this dress on and see what has to be done.’

The dress was pale-pink chiffon lined with satin, strapless in style with a seam straight under the bust from which the skirt fell in feminine folds to the floor. It was a sweet dress—not Jess’s usual style, but surprisingly it looked good on her, the pale pink suiting her strong colouring. It was not a colour she ever chose for herself, thinking she needed bolder colours.

The dress was too large in the bust line, however. The bodice was just too wide. It needed to be taken in at the side seams which would be a time-consuming job; both the chiffon and the lining would have to be carefully unpicked before being resewn. Thankfully, it was the right length, Krissie obviously being of a similar height to Jess. And, whilst the matching shoes were half a size too large, it was better than them being too small.

Catherine tipped her head to one side as she looked Jess over. ‘It actually looks better on you than it did on Krissie. But I won’t be telling her that,’ she added with a quick smile. ‘She feels bad enough as it is. Anyway, I’ll just give Doris a call. She altered my wedding dress for me a couple of weeks ago when I lost weight. I’m sure she won’t mind, since it’s an emergency.’

But as it turned out Doris was in Melbourne visiting her sister.

Murphy’s Law at work again, Jess thought silently as she took off the dress and put her own clothes back on again. But at least she could do something about the dismay which had already entered the bride-to-be’s face.

‘It’ll be all right, Catherine,’ she said soothingly. ‘I can fix the dress. I know exactly what to do. And, before you ask, I have my trusty sewing machine sitting in the back of my four-wheel drive.’

Both Catherine and Leanne gaped at her.

‘But…but…’ Catherine stammered, not looking too certain about Jess’s offer.

Jess smiled reassuringly. ‘You don’t have to worry. I’m a very experienced dressmaker. It was my profession before I went into marketing,’ she added, backing up Ben’s little white lie. ‘I made this jacket myself, you know, and I think it’s a pretty good design.’

‘You can say that again!’ Catherine exclaimed. ‘I’ve been envying it ever since you arrived.’

‘Me too,’ Leanne gushed. ‘Floral jackets are very in this spring.’

‘But tell me something, Jess,’ Catherine said, looking puzzled. ‘Do you always travel around with your sewing machine?’

Jess realised immediately she could hardly say that, until fate had stepped in and changed everything, she’d been going to do some sewing whilst she was stuck in a motel room for most of the weekend.

‘Lord, no,’ she said, laughing. ‘I simply forgot to take it out of the car after I did some sewing at a girlfriend’s place last weekend. How lucky is that?’ As little white lies went, it wasn’t too bad, except that it made Jess realise she didn’t have girlfriends the way Catherine did. When she’d left Sydney to come live on the Central Coast she’d drifted away from all the female friends she’d made at school. She did see a couple of them occasionally but they weren’t in her life on a regular basis. In truth, she didn’t actually have any female friends now that Colin had debunked, her recent social life having been more his mates and their girlfriends.

Jess had never thought of herself as being lonely before. She did have a large family, but suddenly she envied Catherine her girlfriends.

Still, she didn’t entertain her negative feelings for long, vowing instead to do something about her lack of girlfriends once she got back home. Maybe she would join a gym. Or a sports club of some kind. She’d been good at basketball at school, her above-average height giving her an advantage. Yes, she’d join a basketball club. For females only. Jess suspected that after Ben went back to America she would want a spell away from male company for a while.

Her heart lurched at this last thought but she steadfastly ignored it.

‘How about I drive Ben back to Andy’s place?’ she suggested. ‘Then come back and get stuck into the dress? It could take a couple of hours. I don’t want to rush things. I want to get it right.’

Catherine beamed at her. ‘Jess, you are a life saver! You must stay here for dinner,’ Catherine added. ‘Then afterwards we can have a little hen party of our own. I mean, there’s no point in your returning to Andy’s place. He and Ben are going out on the town in Mudgee tonight. A few of their mates from uni are staying at a motel there, so they’re having a big get-together. I did tell Andy not to stay out too late or do anything seriously stupid, but you know Aussie men when they get a few beers into them. Ben might sound like an American these days, but he’s an Aussie boy through and through.’