The Grace Kelly Dress Page 26

  Julien would shutter the doors of Madame Michel’s Bridal Atelier once they’d packed everything up and gotten it out of the building. It was difficult work: they’d had to separate the things they were able to sell to other shops—the sewing machines, reams of pristine fabrics, the office furniture—and decide on what to do with other things—the bulk of Madame’s private possessions, unfinished muslins, and nearly completed dresses that had been canceled. Julien had been unsuccessful in his efforts to stage an auction of the items from Madame’s atelier, like the completed dresses that would never be picked up or paid for, her sketches. Although she, at one time, had maintained a nine-month-long waiting list for her designs, that did not seem to matter anymore. Overnight, her dresses had gone out of fashion, her name had become utterly meaningless. The dresses would later sell for pennies on the dollar, Julien’s heart breaking just a little bit with each sale. But it couldn’t be helped; he needed the money to pay the seamstresses the last paychecks they were owed.

  Julien had discovered that the building itself was worth more than the business, than his aunt’s very name, so he’d sold it, the entire thing, including the atelier, the offices, the apartments. He couldn’t afford to pay anyone to help clear out the atelier—oh, how the seamstresses had no loyalty! Not one offered to volunteer her time after everything that he and Madame Michel had done for them—so it was just he and Rose who were left with the massive job. Charles had offered to come and help out after work, but Julien and Rose were exhausted each night after toiling all day, and by the time Charles arrived, they could no longer lift another box, dust another surface, and ended up going home for a light supper instead.

  This was not how Rose wanted to see Robert Laurent for the first time since learning of his broken engagement. After she had spoken to Diana, Rose had no idea how to approach Robert. Surely, that’s why he’d been sending her the roses—he’d wanted to tell her the news in person. But she had thrown out each note he’d sent her, each note that asked to see her; she’d had no idea of the truth.

  She should have known that he would come to her, but in her mind’s eye, she imagined seeing him again much differently. She would be beautifully dressed, with her hair set and makeup freshly applied. They would meet at the Tuileries, the gardens that Rose had come to think of as a space that belonged to them, and they would sit down on a bench. The sun would be shining, the birds would be singing, and she would finally be happy.

  Instead, Rose saw Robert Laurent for the first time since learning of his broken engagement as they stood in the dusty atelier, Rose looking a fright. She wore work jeans and had her hair up in a ratty old scarf. Her face was free of makeup. But she would not send him away again. She would not take the chance that he wouldn’t return to her a second time.

  “Grace Kelly wanted to elope?” Rose asked Robert, walking over to the doorway where he stood. She removed the scarf from her head and smoothed her hair. “Why on earth wouldn’t a girl want a wedding fit for a princess?”

  “Ah, yes,” Robert said. “A very good point. But in Grace Kelly’s case, she said all she cared about was the man, not the big, splashy wedding. Wedding planning had taken a toll on her nerves, it had made her so overwhelmed that she wished they could just elope.”

  “That sounds utterly mad,” Rose said, smiling despite herself. It seemed she could not stop smiling in Robert’s presence.

  “When you’re in love,” Robert said, looking deeply into her eyes, “you’re in love.” And then, as if remembering something, he reached into his jacket pocket and handed her a letter.

  “Is this another one of your love notes?” Rose asked. “Roses for my Rose.”

  Robert smiled. “This one is from my sister. One last favor she asked of me.”

  Rose quickly opened the envelope.

  My dear Rose,

  You have been a very good friend to me, and over the course of these months, I have cherished our friendship. You are a special person, and I have grown to think of you as not merely a friend, but as family.

  I have decided to elope. I simply cannot live my life based on my parents’ wishes anymore, and I must do what is in my heart. Although she didn’t want to, my mother has given us her blessing. Bertram and I leave for America tonight.

  I gift this dress to you. It is still the most beautiful thing I have ever laid eyes on, but what I’ve come to realize is that even though I love the dress, it truly belongs to you. It would be my honor if you would accept this gift, and wear it on your own wedding day.

  All my love,

  Diana

  “I don’t understand,” Rose said. “I couldn’t possibly accept this.” She looked up at Robert, and he had dropped to one knee.

  “Rose, I have a message of my own to deliver to you,” he said. “From the moment I saw you, I felt an inescapable pull. I don’t believe in love at first sight, or any of those silly things that you see in the movies, but still, there is no other way to explain the way that I feel. Getting to know you only confirmed what I felt the first day I met you. Rose, I am in love with you. Madly and truly in love with you. I can think of no other, and I hope that you feel the same way. Will you marry me?”

  Rose couldn’t speak. She looked at Robert and saw him reach into his jacket pocket. He pulled out a ruby ring—the one surrounded by diamonds that she had seen his mother wearing—and held it out. She took the ring and put it on her finger. It fit perfectly.

  “So, is that a yes?” Robert asked, laughter rising in his voice.

  “Yes,” Rose said, breathless. “Yes.”

  Robert stood and took her in his arms. For the first time, his lips met hers and they kissed. She felt her knees grow weak, and she held on to Robert tightly as she kissed him back.

  “I love you, Robert Laurent,” Rose whispered. “I love you.”

  Rose heard the sound of a champagne cork popping and she spun around to find Julien walking toward them, carrying a bottle of champagne and three flutes. “I think congratulations are in order,” he said, and pulled Rose in for a hug.

  As Rose poured the champagne, Julien and Robert shook hands. She gave each of the men a glass, and they clinked them together in celebration.

  Rose took a sip of champagne, and looked to the two men who meant the most to her in the world. She had never been so happy in her entire life.

  Robert held up an enormous box, a box that Rose recognized. “Don’t forget this. I think this belongs to you,” Robert said.

  Without even opening it, Rose knew what was inside: the dress she’d designed for Diana. The dress that she’d crafted by hand. The dress that truly belonged to her. The Grace Kelly Dress.

  Seventy-Two

  The bride

  Brooklyn, 2020

  Her something old: the heirloom wedding dress that her grandmother had made for someone else, only to wear it herself.

  Her something new: the perfect wedding shoes, a pair of white satin ballerinas with black leather straps and thick silver buckles, mismatched grosgrain ribbons that wrapped around her ankles.

  Her something borrowed: her mother’s white leather cuff bracelet, a bracelet Rocky had never seen her mother wear before. A bracelet Rocky didn’t even know her mother owned. But she did own it, and made it very clear that it was to be returned after the wedding. The leather was soft to the touch, in contrast to the hard silver grommets and pyramid studs it was covered in.

  Her something blue: her hair, freshly dyed baby blue for the wedding.

  Guests gathered on the rooftop of Rocky and Drew’s apartment building, where they danced all night under white paper lanterns to a band that Rocky and Drew heard on their fourth date. Amanda tried to get guests to post pictures on social media using the hashtag #FoundAGoodMan, but abandoned her efforts when she saw her new (old? former? did it even matter?) girlfriend Sloan come out of the kitchen in a tiny black dress that left very little to t
he imagination. After taking Sloan’s hand, she quickly forgot all about social media.

  Rocky danced with her new husband. She danced with her new father-in-law. She danced with her great-uncle Julien, newly back on his feet after his hip replacement surgery.

  “Oncle,” Amanda said, cutting in on Rocky’s dance. “There’s someone I’d like for you to see. Oncle, you remember Sloan, don’t you? Sloan, you remember my Oncle Julien.”

  “It is a pleasure to see you,” Julien said, taking Sloan’s hand in his and kissing it delicately.

  “I almost forgot where Amanda got her charm from,” Sloan said, smiling widely.

  “He owned the atelier that created this dress,” Amanda told Sloan, pointing at Rocky’s wedding dress. “So, when it’s our time, he’ll put the skirt back together for us.”

  “I took care of the business end of things,” Julien said. “It’s your Grand-mère who made the dress.”

  “Also, it’s my dress,” Rocky said, but no one was listening to her. As she walked away, she heard her Uncle Julien ask Sloan to dance with Charles and him. And then she heard Sloan tell her Uncle Julien that they didn’t need an intermediary to appear in public anymore, and they certainly didn’t need one in order to dance—it was 2020, goddammit, and men danced with men now. He could, and should, share a dance with his longtime partner, Charles.

  “Oh, we know that, dear child,” Rocky heard Uncle Julien reply to Sloan. “But can you blame two old men for wanting a dance with the infamous Sloan?”

  Rocky’s grandmother grabbed her hand. “You are the most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen in my life.”

  “That’s not true,” Rocky said, feeling a flush across her face. “You were the most beautiful bride in the world.”

  “What about me?” Joan asked, materializing as if out of thin air.

  “The sleeves, Mom,” Rocky said, shaking her head from side to side. “No one can get over the sleeves.”

  “They were the height of fashion at the time,” Joan said defensively. “I was very fashionable. You have no idea.”

  Rocky stood in the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by her mother and her grandmother. She reached out and took the hands of both women in her own. Wearing the dress, her hands entwined with the women who came before her, Rocky could feel it. That she was a part of something larger than herself, something larger than all of them, being the third generation to wear the dress. A dress that meant something different to each one of them; a dress that reminded them of where they came from, and where they had gone.

  “Let’s get a picture,” Joan said, motioning for the photographer to come their way.

  Rocky’s grandmother put her arm around Rocky’s waist and got ready to pose. She leaned her head into Rocky, and Rocky could smell the faint scent of ylang-ylang, the perfume her grandmother always wore, the scent that reminded her of Madame Michel, the woman she would name her first daughter after, the woman who changed the course of her life.

  Rocky’s mother glided into the frame effortlessly, as if she’d been next to Rocky the entire time, and the flash went off.

  “Don’t forget about me!” Amanda called from across the dance floor, and hopped into the picture before the next flash.

  That picture—the four women, together—would be the one that Rocky displayed proudly in the apartment she shared with Drew, and then later, when their family expanded, their town house in Prospect Park. It would be the photograph that Rocky’s daughter would display in her own home, after she, herself, got married, and the sterling silver picture frame, gifted to Rocky and Drew by Sloan, would become something of a family heirloom in and of itself. Rocky would give the picture, in that original sterling silver picture frame, to her own granddaughter at her own bridal shower.

  “This is your family,” Rocky would tell her granddaughter, as she looked at the picture. (Her granddaughter, of course, had always admired the picture and knew exactly who was in it, had heard her grandmother utter these exact words many times before.) “Those are the two women who wore the dress before me, and the one who would wear it next.”

  Rocky’s granddaughter would smile, and two months later, wear the dress herself. On her wedding day, Rocky would tell her granddaughter, just as her own grandmother once said to her: “To wear a custom-designed Madame Michel wedding dress is to guarantee a happy marriage.” And it would.

  * * *

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you to my superstar agent, Jess Regel, and her team at Foundry Literary + Media. I know I say this all the time, but let’s get it in print: Jess, you’re a genius and I feel so lucky to be working with you.

  Thank you to my wonderful editor, Melanie Fried, and her fabulous team at Graydon House Books. Thank you for taking a chance on me and this book! Melanie, you are so incredibly smart and always help to steer me in the right direction—I’m so delighted to have you on my side.

  Thank you to my phenomenal publicity and marketing team: Heather Connor, Roxanne Jones, Justine Sha, Pamela Osti and Ana Luxton, as well as my copy editor, Jennifer Stimson. Special thanks go to Loriana Sacilotto, Dianne Moggy, Margaret Marbury, Susan Swinwood and Heather Foy. And for that cover art that still makes me swoon, thank you to Quinn Banting.

  Special thanks to Tara Block and the entire team at PopSugar.

  Thank you to Kristina Haugland, the Le Vine associate curator of costume and textiles and supervising curator for the Study Room at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and author of the wonderful book Grace Kelly: Icon of Style to Royal Bride. Your insights on the Grace Kelly wedding dress, and dress construction in general, were invaluable. All mistakes are mine and mine only.

  Librarians are my superheroes. Thank you to my wonderful librarian and friend, Jackie Ranaldo from the Syosset Public Library. Thank you to Brenda Cherry from the Syosset Public Library. Thank you to Rebecca Federman, research coordinator at the New York Public Library. Thank you to Allison Piazza, health sciences librarian at Seton Hall University.

  Special thanks go to my family, the Janowitzes and Luxenbergs.

  Thank you to Shawn Morris for the boxes of books, Jessica Shevitz Rauch for the read, Danielle Schmelkin for the tote, Kim Kramer for the rings, Rachel McRady for the pitches and Andrea Peskind Katz for the hashtags. And for going the extra mile: Robin Kaplan, Bobbie Nottebohm and Melissa Vallone.

  Writing can be such a solitary endeavor, and it’s wonderful to have author friends who help you along the way with their brilliant advice and warm friendship: Cristina Alger, Mary Kay Andrews, Jenna Blum, Jamie Brenner, Julie Buxbaum, Jillian Cantor, Laura Dave, Fiona Davis, Liz Fenton, Elyssa Friedland, Emily Giffin, Jane Green, Kristin Hannah, Elin Hilderbrand, Pam Jenoff, Caroline Leavitt, Emily Liebert, Elinor Lipman, Lynda Cohen Loigman, Jo Piazza, Sarah Pinneo, Amy Poeppel, Alyson Richman, Kristin Rockaway, Eve Rodsky, M.J. Rose, Susan Shapiro, Lisa Steinke, Alix Strauss, Heather Webb, Jennifer Weiner and Lauren Willig.

  Endless thanks to my readers.

  Finally, the biggest thank-you goes out to my husband, Douglas Luxenberg. Thank you for everything.

  And to my children, Ben and Davey, you’ll never know how much I love you until you have kids of your own, so for now, I’ll just say this: I may have written six novels, but you are, by far, the greatest things I ever created.

  Questions for Discussion

  The Grace Kelly Dress is about an heirloom wedding gown that’s been passed down through three generations of a family. Do you have any heirlooms in your family? How important are these items? How did they become heirlooms?

  What does the dress mean to each woman in the novel? What impact does it have on their lives, and how does it shape their expectations for love, marriage, and family?

  How does the dress reflect the times in which each woman is living? Discuss the role fashion can play in forming (or performing) identity and in pushing societal boundaries.
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br />   Which woman’s version of the dress was your favorite? Why? How did you feel about the alterations each generation made? Do you think the women should have made changes or kept the original version?

  Family roles define many of the women in this book: Rose is an orphan, Joanie is an only child following her sister’s death, and Rocky struggles with her relationships with her sister and mother. How can familial expectations define a person? Can you ever step outside of these roles?

  Discuss how each woman in the story is touched by loss. How does the death of a loved one affect our daily lives? How do you keep those you’ve lost in your life and honor their memory?

  In chapter twenty-four, Diana tells Rose that her friends are like family to her. Discuss what this phrase means and how it applies to your own life.

  Do you think Birdie was right in keeping the truth about Michele’s death from Joanie? Have you ever had a family secret you withheld from loved ones? How important is it to shield our children from life’s more difficult moments?

  Why do you think Grace Kelly—and her wedding dress—have inspired so many? How does her influence live on today, half a century after her wedding and decades after her untimely death?

  Discuss the importance of tradition. How can family tradition both bond people together and cause tensions and misunderstandings?

  ISBN: 9781488056406

  The Grace Kelly Dress

  Copyright © 2020 by Brenda Janowitz