February 8, 1179
Where was it? It was the fourth time Pandora had checked her parents' wardrobe and as she might have predicted--for all she'd prayed and prayed again otherwise--it hadn't just reappeared, waiting for her to swoop it up and lovingly pack it away for the upcoming nuptials. She'd swept her own room, Thallie's, Camaline's... hell, she'd even checked her brothers' rooms, for all they'd protested. But why would anyone else have had it? It was hers by right and they all knew it, and it had been here just last night. She'd looked. Twice.
She slammed the wardrobe shut and glared, for all the little help it did. She supposed she ought to be happy. She would be married in little more than a week, and to a man who'd taken the time to woo her at that--and unlike poor Mona, her family would actually be there to see it.Well... not quite all of her family. The wardrobe was doing more than its part to make her remember it.
"That armoir wasn't cheap, you know."
Pandora's father closed the door behind him but never took his eyes off of her. Her shoulders drooped. It wasn't about the armoir. "Sorry."He frowned. Not that he'd been smiling much lately. "Pandora--"
"I can't find it."
Her father blinked. Either he was shocked beyond belief or he didn't know what she was talking about. "Mother's wedding dress. It was here last night, but it's just... vanished!"
"Pandora--"
"I've looked everywhere! Do you think someone might have taken it? I don't want to suspect anyone, but they all know--""Pandora--"
"--it's mine. Mother said she wanted to see me in it, just before she died. She wanted me to wear it. I know she's not actually going to be there, but if Thallie took it--"
"Pandora, calm down." Was he... chuckling? How could he chuckle at a time like this? Her mother's dress... the dress she'd married him in... "Your sister didn't take your mother's dress. You can't find it because I already packed it."
Now it was Pandora's turn to blink. "You packed it?"
"Yes. It's in one of your mother's old chests, along with a few more of her things I thought you might like to have. I had Sparron take it out to the carriage. I'm sorry for not letting you know, but you're not usually prone to panic."No, she wasn't. And now she just felt silly. "There's usually not much worth panicking over."
"Hmm. Perhaps. But that dress would have been, had it truly gone missing." If he was playing through that scene in his head, he did a good job of not showing it. "I put one of your mother's necklaces with it--that one with the crystal dove. She didn't wear it on our wedding day, but she later lamented not doing so. She thought it would have matched well."
She believed it. He would not have made such an observation on his own. "I think it will too."Her father smiled. He hadn't been quite stingy with his smiles these past few months, but that didn't make the sight any less of a relief. "Are the rest of your things packed?"
She nodded. Her father wrapped his arms around her and squeezed like he never meant to let go. But he knew better. This house had become painfully aware of the finite.
"We're all ready to go, but you can take your time saying goodbye to your home. We won't leave without you."Pandora didn't answer. She just peered over her father's shoulder and squinted until she could see some hint of her mother behind him.
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