Chapter 22
Gus called Monica to see if she could help Tess choose a wedding dress. Next, he arranged for Sophia to meet them in the dressing room of his mansion house.
Leading the way to the top of the long central sweeping staircase, Gus stopped outside two arched double doors and turned to Ally.
"Bad luck to see the bride before the wedding where you come from isn't it?" he said pressing the handle down to crack the door open slightly. Seeing the unmistakable figure of his bombshell girlfriend Monica in the room, Gus stood by the opening and allowed only Tess to pass.
Putting his hand out to prevent Ally's entrance, Gus told him, "I've got something else for you." He closed the door and looked into Ally's face. "That's some girl you've got there."
Hugely complimented, Ally thanked him and followed behind as he lead the way back down the grand marble staircase and into the plush office along the corridor to their right.
Once in his comfort zone, Gus knew exactly which tray of rings would be the best to tempt Ally with, and thrust the most appealing in front of his diamond stricken eyes.
After a quick lesson in the five C's of diamonds, Ally selected a well-shaped, large, clear cut stone, set in a platinum ring and asked, "How much is this one?"
"If you like it, it's yours." He replied. "On the house as they say. It's on me." Considering the reward due to him, this didn't seem too much of an unrealistically expensive gesture to begin with.
Monica welcomed Tess by standing close to her, taking hold of her elbows, and in true Italian style giving her a double congratulations kiss, one on each cheek. As Monica stepped away, she allowed the baggy shirt sleeves of Tess's forearms to slip through her fingers, unexpectedly stopping when she felt the heavy bracelets on both wrists. The duplication and weight raised a question in Monica's mind, prompting her to frown at Tess and query her choice of jewellery. "These are shackles aren't they?" She asked.
Caught out, Tess confessed, "Me and Ally have a special arrangement in our relationship, one that only likeminded people would understand." Monica acknowledged her response with a shiver to demonstrate her disagreement at the principals of such immoral grounds.
"Ok. Well." Monica struggled to reply. "Why don't you get undressed and we'll see what we have for you?"
"Erm, I'll just have a look for now, if that's ok?" Tess said, visibly reluctant to remove her clothing, knowing that it would reveal her waist belt and drive a wedge further between the two women.
Turning away, Monica walked up to the rail where the kaftan style dresses were hanging and glanced back for an educated guess at Tess's frame size.
To judge her hips, she looked at the undersized denim shorts, covering the part of her body from where Tess's long sleeved shirt had been forcefully tucked in at the top, down to where her thighs relieved themselves of the tight strain inside the lighter blue, turned up hem around her legs.
In disbelief, Monica couldn't help but draw her attention to the red lines on Tess's lower exposed skin, and with an open jaw, she had to clarify by asking, "Did he do that to you?"
Tess looked behind at the swollen welts of the whip marks she referred to. "No. It was a mistake by someone else."
Discouraged from any future friendship with Tess because of her alternative interests, Monica hurriedly picked out two, full length, armless dress's, one in dark turquoise and the other, white with an embroiled pattern.
"Blue or White?" she asked.
Tess pretended to be interested and walked over to Monica. "I like the white but I really wanted long sleeves." She reached up to the rail and began to sift through the hangers herself, looking for a dress with arms that would conceal her wrist cuffs.
Monica selected a white blouse from another part of the dressing room and offered it to Tess. "Why don't you try this on."
Tess had already degraded herself enough in front of this beautiful woman by admitting to voluntarily wearing the cuffs and didn't want to make it worse by unnecessarily having to explain the waist belt too.
"Give me a minute." Tess stalled her, looking through the rest of the dresses. She'd noticed the frustration on Monica's face but couldn't bear to belittle herself further by removing the shirt of Ally's that she wore.
The double knock and opening of the door broke the stale atmosphere in the room as spa manager Sophia's presence put a welcome smile on both Monica and Tess's face. She carried a large box in her arms with a much smaller, more narrow box resting on top.
"Am I ok to come in Miss? I was told to bring this over." Sophia announced, referring to the items she carried.
"Yes, come on in." Monica welcomed her, "And please call me Monica."
"Thanks." Sophia said, catching her breath, "I've brought a gown that I think you might like."
She sat the large box down on a low coffee table and set the smaller one aside to open the large lid and reveal a Champaign dress inside. She lifted it out of the box and held it up in front of her.
"Do you even know if that will fit?" Monica asked, as Sophia walked towards Tess with the hanger of the tall dress held higher than her head.
"I know every inch of this girl's body." Sophia delightfully admitted, "I picture her in my dreams." She smiled.
