Moonlight in the Morning (Edilean 6)

“Great,” Tris said. He was smiling in a way that said he had a secret.

“‘Great’ doesn’t describe what I heard,” Roan said.

“Well,” Tris said, and there was pride in his voice, “Rebecca did hit the edge of the trampoline. If it hadn’t been for Nell’s fast thinking, more than likely she would have gone over the side. Nell probably saved her from a broken bone or two. But thanks to Nell, Becca ended up with just a few bruises.”

“What did the other girls do when that happened?” Jecca asked.

“Stood there in terror, is what I was told,” Roan said.

Tris nodded. “The girls were pretty shook up, but then it happened very quickly. Nell just . . .” He trailed off, but his pride

in his niece was apparent.

No wonder Rebecca hates Nell, Jecca thought. Nell was prettier, smarter, and reacted quickly in an emergency. Jecca would have loved to tell the two men the truth about young Rebecca, but she couldn’t betray a trust. She looked at Tris. “Were you called in for the accident?”

“Yes,” he said. “Why?”

“You wouldn’t by chance remember what Nell was wearing when you got there, would you?”

Tris looked blank, then his face lit up. “Actually I do. She had on a leotard with Mickey Mouse on the front. I remember because I teased her that it was two sizes too small for her. When we got home, she had me go online and order her a new one. No cartoon characters on it!”

Jecca had to bitcca hite her tongue to keep from saying anything. She was willing to bet that Rebecca “forgot” to tell Nell that she needed to bring a leotard to the party, so Nell was given an old one. How humiliating it must have been to have to wear a Mickey Mouse outfit that was too small for her.

“And this year it’s a fashion show?” Jecca asked.

“Yeah,” Tris said, “and I forgot to tell Nell about it. But we don’t have to worry about anything. Savannah told me that they’re supplying all the clothes. They’re from local stores and they’ve invited a lot of kids to be in the show. Pretty much everybody in Edilean will be there. Savannah asked me if I’d MC the thing.”

“And you’d wear your tux?” Jecca asked, trying to keep her face as straight as possible.

She didn’t fool him. “Jecca, what’s going on?”

“Nothing that we women can’t handle.”

The next morning after breakfast, Jecca took Nell into their bedroom and told her that this year Rebecca’s birthday party was going to be a fashion show. Immediately, Nell’s pretty face fell; she looked as though she was going to cry. “You think Rebecca will give you a Shrek outfit to wear?” Jecca was trying to make Nell smile, but it didn’t work.

“Yes,” Nell said. “She’ll give me the ugliest clothes she can find.”

“I have an idea,” Jecca said. “What if you show up with your own clothes? Not only clothes made just for you, but your own line of clothing?”

Nell looked as though Jecca had lost her mind.

Jecca sat down next to Nell on the bed and opened her sketchbook. “These are just rough designs, but I took your idea about being a French exchange student and ran with it. I came up with a few possibilities.” She flipped the pages to show Nell what she had in mind. There was a red jacket with oversize black buttons. It was pleated in the front, smooth in the back. Jecca had drawn it over a straight black skirt with black tights and shoes. A black beret went with it. Next was a simple navy dress with black piping across the bodice and sleeves. A peach party dress had a square neck and a high waist.

All the clothes were simple and very elegant. They weren’t at all like what girls usually wore, layers of seemingly mismatched clothes, one layer on top of the other.

“What do you think?” Jecca asked.

“I love them. But . . . ?” She didn’t seem to know what questions to ask. “How . . . ?”

“Lucy,” Jecca said. “We’ll get Lucy to make these for you. And I’ll help her with the cutting, and maybe Tris can . . .” She waved her hand. “He can give us moral support. And . . . drumroll please . . .” Jecca turned the page to show a rectangle that said in a distinctive cursive writing Nell’s Closet.

“What is it?”

“Your label. You can name it anything you want, but I saw a place online that will make the labels and send them to us. We’ll sew them into the back of the clothes. Thhe ackey’ll be yours alone. No one else on earth will have anything like them.”

Nell held the sketchbook for a moment, staring at it and obviously not understanding what Jecca was talking about, but her enthusiasm was contagious.

“Would you like me to go over it all again?” Jecca asked.