Fancy
Twice in her life Anne had felt truly fancy. The first time was when she was eighteen and had been allowed to finish the last part of her education at York Manor school after Eliza Raine had left and her uncle had wanted her to acquire new clothing for their trip to Paris. And because quite frankly she had grown tall and were in desperate need of a new wardrobe. Anne had told them that she wanted something less decorative and more practical. Her uncle hadn’t scrunched his nose at that, instead he had stood her cause at the seamstress and waistcoats had been sown for his niece as well as shirts, and cravats. She loved the little pocket on her waistcoat, it made for a natural place for her pocket-watch that they had gifted her for Christmas a few years prior.
Her aunt never minded her appearance, knew she could say nothing that would sway her niece in any case, and they proudly walked with her from the seamstress.
The day of their travel, Uncle James had surprised her with a black box and Anne had raised an eyebrow at that. But they had urged her to open it. Inside were black tissue paper and when she removed it, she saw the top of a hat. Anne had looked at them and picked the black hat up,
“I thought a lady might need a hat to go with her outfit.” Uncle James had told her excitedly and Anne had laughed in disbelief – had her uncle really bought her a top hat? Anne had put it on – feeling five feet taller, and her back straightened automatically and she felt proud. She had never felt more comfortable, it was a look. It really was – everywhere she went people would stare – whisper of her being a man and her uncle would look at her with a twinkle in his eyes and they would laugh at it. She was fancy – she was dapper, and she owned that look. No matter how warm it was – the hat stayed on, it was part of her image.
The second time Anne had felt really fancy was when she wore navy for the first time in seventeen years. She was almost forty-three and for this occasion she would wear colour – navy because it went well with gold and also it worked fine with black and she wanted to wear that old top hat that had collected dust for the past twenty years. She wanted that to be part of her whole outfit. It meant so much to her – that old thing that her uncle had gifted her. Anne had eyed herself in the mirror with a satisfactory smile. She looked well indeed. The waistcoat was white with a blue floral pattern all over it, and her navy coat was cut to perfection. The top hat did the whole thing justice – it topped it off literally. But together with Ann’s crème white and gold dress they had looked fancier than any of the other couples at church that morning in York.
They had arrived at Shibden from York at midday, and Anne expected a beratement from Marian – she hadn’t told her where she was headed, and they’d been gone for a couple of days.
As Anne handed Ann out of the carriage, wearing their secret smiles – only they knew what they had just done, Anne stroke the wedding band on Ann’s finger softly and was about to kiss it when Marian came outside the house, hands on hips as always.
“And where on earth did you run off to? You better have a good explanation for this!”
“We have three.” Anne smirked,
“Pick one.” Ann said as laughter bubbled up and Marian rolled her eyes at them.
“Aunt have been…” Marian began but Anne interrupted her,
“I told her where I was headed.”
“You did?! But she…”
Anne ignored Marian and took Ann’s hand in hers and led her into the house and to the sitting room where her Aunt was, her father was no were to be seen.
“Aunt, we’re back.” Anne went up to the woman and she grinned up at them,
“Oh, my! You are both looking rather dashing this morning. How was Easter service?”
“I think this might just have been the best one so far!” Anne said sharing a mischievous look with her new wife, and Ann’s eyes sparkled up at her shining with mirth, and Aunt Anne seemed pleased.
“Oh, it was excellent.” Ann agreed, without taking her eyes of the brunette.
Aunt Anne took hold of one of their hands each and eyed the new rings they wore, and she raised an eyebrow at Anne before laughing at her – shaking her head almost in disbelief – her niece had just done the impossible,
“Congratulations.”
“On what?”
Marian was stood in the doorway and all Ann(e)’s looked back at her and they shared a look before Aunt Anne glanced at her other niece,
“Well Marian, wouldn’t you congratulate them at matching each other so exquisitely? Gold and navy – beautiful.”
“Yes… very fancy. Why are you suddenly wearing colour though?” Marian mumbled suspiciously, feeling as though there was something, they weren’t telling her.
“Well, I had an epiphany – apparently there are other colours than black.” Anne shrugged her shoulder, but Marian didn’t look convinced,
“Right…”
“Oh, and before I forget - Ann is moving in today.”
Anne threw over her shoulder as they were on their way out again to fetch Ann’s things.
“What?” Marian cried shocked and turned around to face her aunt,
“Did you know that?”
“Um, yes. Did I forget to tell you?” Aunt Anne pondered and Marian huffed irked,
“Why doesn’t anyone ever tell me anything!”
“Anything.” Anne called from the hallway and Marian groaned out loud – her sister was truly the most annoying specimen to be found.