Kylie and I returned to her house with all of my snappy new duds in tow. Camille Bouvier, the up and coming fashion designer, had finished measuring Beth and seemed very pleased.
"She's the perfect size, Kye." Camille stated. "I already have something drawn up that will be perfect, I think. I just need to know what color you had in mind."
"I was hoping you'd have some input on that, Cammie." Kylie answered. "You're the expert on this."
"These are metallic colors?" I inquired.
Camille nodded.
"It's a brand new material that gives the effect of glitter. Silver or gold would look nice I think." she replied.
"Do they make it in green?" I asked.
I got an odd look from Kylie, but she didn't say anything in response. She knew me well enough by now to know I had a legitimate idea in mind, no matter how wacky or off the wall it might seem at the moment.
"Actually, yes." she said with a nod. "It's almost a jade green, but would that color be appropriate for a prom?"
"Green is a traditional Irish color." I explained. "Like Kelly green. Beth is going to have her hair dyed to a shade more like her mother's. I think the red hair and green dress would really pop. It would certainly scream Gaelic."
"That it would." Kylie agreed.
"How about a removable hem?" I asked of Camille.
"What do you mean by a removable hem?" she inquired with a puzzled look. "I'm not following."
"Well, the prom dress has to be below the knee," I explained, "but afterwards, if it could be made shorter, to say mid thigh, that would really show her legs off. Maybe that wasn't the correct term to use."
This was way before the days of zipper legs like we have now, so the idea was a bit out there, but Camille seemed intrigued by the challenge.
"Hmm, I could do that using Velcro." she mused.
She thought about it for a minute and smiled.
"What about the removable portion being gold, and the rest of the dress, green?" she suggested. "I could do it with two halves as well, so that the dress is slit up to the shorter length. I could add a dot of Velcro to hold it in place if that long of a slit would violate the dress code."
"Green and gold, the colors of money." I observed. "I like it! I like the idea of the adjustable slit too. What about you, Babe?"
Beth nodded excitedly.
"Oh yes!" she gushed. "I think that would look awesome!"
"I'll get to work on it right away." Camille said with a smile. "It should be ready by the end of the week."
"I can't wait!" Beth exclaimed.
"That's not much time to design something like this, is it?" I inquired cautiously. "I mean, I'm not trying to insult your capabilities by any means."
Camille laughed.
"I already have a design drawn out." she replied. "I'll just need to make some minor adjustments for the breakaway design you suggested, and how to make the pieces fit. Two colors should meet in a design, as opposed to just making it shorter. Don't worry, I'll burn the candle on both ends for this."
"Thank you." I said with a smile, "Just try and keep it under ten grand, will you?"
Camille laughed again.
"Tell you what." she responded. "You let me send some photographers there to capture the metamorphosis of Miss Beth, so I can reveal this in all of the fashion magazines, and the dress is on me."
"That's very generous of you." I said respectfully. "Thank you. And I don't think that Mr. Hunter would mind if you attended either. Maybe you could talk to the students in the fashion class as well. I'll bet they'd be thrilled to meet you."
"Bethany told me what this is all about, and I'm more than glad to lend a hand." Camille replied. "Consider this my donation to the cause. I got picked on when I was in school too. This is my way of exacting my own brand of revenge. Quite literally, my own brand in this case. And I would be honored to speak to the students if they plan on pursuing this line of work."
"You're the best, Cammie." Kylie said with a smile. "Thank you."
"You can thank me by doing a mother and daughter runway show when the line comes out." Camille replied. "Toodles."
She left, and I turned to Kylie.
"Are you going to show me how to cook those steaks?" I inquired. "They've been sitting for close to twenty fours hours now, and I'm getting kind of hungry."
"Typical guy." she laughed. "Men always think with their stomachs."
She showed me how to sear the edges of the steaks in boiling butter, and then how long to fry them on each side before turning them with a pair of tongs. Once the butter was boiling, she added some fresh rosemary to give an extra savory flavor to the meat. While it was cooking, she continually basted the meat with the sizzling frothy butter and rosemary, along with the other seasoning that had ended up in the delicious and calorie-laden sauce.
Beth had made some garlic mashed potatoes to go along with the steaks, as well as some baby Brussels sprouts in a butter sauce of their own.
"I think this is going to blow my diet." she said ruefully, as we sat down to eat.
"Don't worry about it." I replied without thinking, as I sliced into my delicious and very tender steak. "We'll work it all off later on anyway."
I immediately clamped my hand over my mouth, and Kylie burst out laughing. I could feel the warmth in my cheeks as blood rushed into them and turned my face what I figured was beet red.
"I meant we were going for a walk around the block." I said, in a feeble attempt to cover my Freudian slip.
"Uh-huh." she said, with the biggest grin I had ever seen on her face. "Don't worry about it, Jack. I told you from day one, that I was okay with it as long as you treated her well, and you have. By the way, don't forget to tell her about that important piece of evidence you obtained earlier."
"That's right!" I exclaimed. "Beth, Sadie Wilcox videotaped what happened to you. She gave me a copy of the tape."
"What?!" she responded incredulously. "When?"
"At the mall." Kylie replied. "She feels really badly about what happened, and I believe her when she says she's sorry."
"Well, she should tell ME then!" Beth snapped.
"She will." I said confidently.
"I want to see it." Beth stated. "When we're finished eating, I want you to see what they did to me."
I nodded.
"Okay." I agreed. "I honestly don't know what's on it myself, although I have a pretty good idea."
"Then we'll find out together." she said, as she took a forkful of mashed potatoes. "I want you to see it too, Mom."
We finished eating, and I went out to my car to retrieve the tape while Beth and Kylie washed the dishes right quick. I handed the cassette to Beth, and she inserted it into the VCR, pushing the play button on the remote. It began playing as I was apparently approaching the front door. The bell rang and Amy let me in. I had absolutely no idea I was being filmed while all of this was happening. It clearly showed me going into the rec room to wait. The tape suddenly jumped to Beth being let into the house, followed by Amy's BS story about getting undressed.
My heart was pounding, as I watched her robe pulled off as she entered the room, and Amy slamming the door shut and locking it behind her. This was followed by Beth's pounding on the door, while everyone laughed. And just as Sadie had said, it became clear that every girl thought it had gone too far and asked Amy to stop. Amy refused, and kept the game going until my voice could clearly be heard threatening to kick the door down if she didn't open it. Everything I described in the first chapter was all caught on tape, including my breaking up with Amy over it and leaving the house with Beth. Amy was clearly ranting after we left, about being dumped like that.
"Jesus Christ!" Kylie mumbled. "I never doubted you Jack, but this is unreal! Seeing the way you handled it though, only reinforces my feelings of trust in you. You will always be welcome in this house."
"Thank you." I responded.
"I told you he was chivalrous." Beth said with a smile. "My knight in shining armor."
"Are you sure it isn't 'shining amour?'" Kylie asked with a grin. "Working those extra calories off?"