Vera spoke first, her delicate jaw set in a firm, unyielding line. “I shall handle the press better in the future. After all, I’ve been manipulating journalists since I was in leading strings. I’ll ring up one of my reporter friends from Chicago to do a piece on us and insist that we are all properly featured.”
Miss McAdams’s long auburn hair gives hope that this impetuous young lady has not entirely forsaken modesty.
The words still burned through Mattie. The reporter seemed to want to dissect every aspect of her femininity and judge it. But why shouldhe, this virtual stranger, be allowed to defineher?
Well, she wasnotgoing to allow Benji Pringle that control.
“Girls,” Mattie asked, swinging her gaze about the gathered women, “how does one go about getting a bob?”
“I could cut it,” Lily offered. “I used to bob the girls’ hair back in Pennsylvania. Our local town only had a barbershop, and the owner absolutely refused to serve a female customer.”
Mattie stiffened her lower back. She hadn’t expected Lily to be the one to lop off her hair. But then again, Mattie had never before realized how rebellious fashion could be.
Sucking in a deep breath, she moved to the edge of her chair. “Okay. Do it.”
“Now?” Lily repeated. “This very instant?”
“Yes,” Mattie said resolutely.
“I’ll get my scissors and haircutting supplies!” Lily practically bounced from the room, and for once, the blonde’s enthusiasm did not set Mattie on edge.
“Let’s all head to my bathroom,” Vera said as she led the group from the parlor and through the castle until they reached an absolutely massive water closet. Having only seen small functional private bathrooms in the past, Mattie couldn’t help but stare at the elegant, cavernous space.
“Aida, are you going to mention this in your book?” Carrie asked.
“Most definitely!” Aida unscrewed the cap of her fountain pen. “The metamorphosis into a visible New Woman.”
Mattie took up her position in a chair resting against the sink as Lily joined them and flitted around setting up shop.
“How serious are you about a transformation?” Vera leaned toward Mattie. One of the heiress’s tweezed eyebrows dramatically arched as the flapper studied her with a slightly alarming intensity.
Hell’s bells and buckets of blood, she reallywasdoing this.
“A full metamorphosis,” Mattie confirmed decisively.
Lily whipped her scissors out from behind her back. The blonde twin worked surprisingly fast and efficiently, even though she chattered the entire time. The rest of the group all stayed, watching Mattie and Lily as intently as they would a Rudolph Valentino picture show. As clump after clump of hair fell, Mattie experienced a lightness. By the time Lily had finished, Mattie felt positively giddy.
Mattie drew in a sharp breath when she spotted in the gilt-framed mirror a confident woman, her red hair a wavy tumble about her head. She loved the bob immediately. Slowly, gingerly, she reached up to touch it.
“Do you like it?” Lily stood behind her, fiddling nervously with the cord of the hair dryer. In the reflection, Mattie saw Vera reach down and unplug it.
“It’s me!” Mattie laughed, tossing her head, loving how her new coiffure moved in a saucy bounce.
“Now for the clothes.” Vera steered Mattie and the others into her massive bedchamber. “We’re about the same size, and I have more than a department store’s worth of outfits. Marshall Field’s has nothing on me.”
“Clothes?” Mattie repeated cautiously.
“Well, you did say a full metamorphosis.” Vera winked at her.
Mattie had, and she was beginning to discover that fashion, especially feminine fashion, could make a statement as bold as a spiraling barrel roll through the sky.
“I did, didn’t I? And I don’t believe in doing things in half measure.” She boldly stepped up to the massive wardrobe and glanced inside. She had never even dressed her dolls in clothes, but when Mattie found herself staring at an ocean of chiffons and silks, excitement rippled through her. Although she couldn’t imagine ever wearing the full puffy skirts of the past, the sleek modern styles called to her.
“This. This one.” Mattie ran her hands down a sage-green dress.
“Try it on.” Vera pulled it off the hanger and handed it to Mattie. The silk floated over Mattie’s skin in a way that cotton fabric never did. The uneven hem swirled wonderfully about her calves with the right amount of flounce to give the dress a feminine look but contained enough that it didn’t resemble a fairy princess’s gown. The bit of beading about the hip caught the light, and the sight made Mattie feel as if she were sparkling too.
Mattie had never even shown off her ankles before. Now most of her calves were visible. But she didn’t feel vulnerable or exposed, even though the dress was one of Vera’s shortest. Quite the opposite. She felt powerful and daring. It was like shooting into the sky with her throttle fully open.
