“To a Halloween party,” Aster teased, slipping the dress over her thin frame. It fit her perfectly. Natasha straightened up. “I want to wear something too.”
“And me, please!” Skylar volunteered, reaching out her arms. Rowan found a floppy striped hat Poppy had bought for a trip to Saint-Tropez and gave it to her. Skylar placed it on her head, giggling. “Can we do a fashion show?”
“Oh, honey, I don’t know,” Corinne said cautiously, bobbling Briony up and down.
“Come on, it’ll be fun,” Aster decided.
“I’m game,” Natasha agreed.
Corinne shrugged, placed Briony on the floor, pulled a robin’s-egg-blue gown from the rack, and started to undo the clasp. “Okay, twist my arm.”
“Yay!” Aster cried, pushing a long peacock-blue column dress at Danielle. “Wear this! It would look amazing on you!”
Danielle looked touched. “You want me to join in?” She ran her fingers along the silken fabric.
Aster waved her hands. “Stop asking that. You’re one of us now. Now, come on.”
You’re one of us now. Aster was handling that so well—but then, that was Aster for you, always game for whatever life threw at her. Rowan glanced at Danielle again as she quietly unzipped the back of the dress. She wanted to like her new cousin. She wanted to embrace her as much as Aster did. But she wasn’t sure she quite trusted her yet. Perhaps that had nothing to do with Danielle and everything to do with Julia—after all, Danielle was just as much of a victim as they all were.
Rowan selected a fringed black dress and put it on too, feeling a little bit like Poppy as she zipped it up. Moments later, when Rowan looked around, all of them had transformed into Poppy, their skin glowing, their eyes bright, their smiles confident. Even little Skylar in the floppy hat and a pink tunic of Poppy’s that came to her ankles had a sudden je ne sais quoi about her. In the dull bedroom light, her face turned a particular angle, she looked so much like Poppy, it took Rowan’s breath away.
Then she realized how ridiculous they looked standing in the middle of a closet in such ornate gowns and bare feet, and she burst into laughter. It felt suddenly as if they were little girls at Meriweather again, playing dress-up in their mothers’ closets.
Aster ran to the stereo and put on dance music, bopping to the beat. Then she started across the floor, swinging her hips and pasting a confident look on her face. “Go, girl!” Rowan called out to her, swaying to the music too.
“Aster, you still have a great walk,” Natasha admitted.
“You really do,” Corinne added, which made Aster’s face light up. “Have you ever thought about modeling again?”
Aster burst out laughing. “I’m sticking with Saybrook’s. Haven’t you heard? Boring is the new black.” Then she looped her arm around Natasha’s. “Maybe Danielle could recruit you too.”
Danielle, who had finished pulling on the blue sheath—it did look amazing on her—looked up. “That could be arranged.”
“It would be so much fun!” Aster cried, clapping her hands. “We could all be there. Have lunch every day, cocktails after work, take retreats on the company expense account . . .”
Natasha shook her head. “I don’t think so. Actually, I’ve been thinking about getting out of New York for a while. Traveling somewhere remote, getting my head together.”
Corinne looked crushed. “You’re leaving?”
“It won’t be for very long,” Natasha promised. Then a sly smile crept across her face, and she shot down the hall, swinging her hips like Aster. At the end of the hall, she thrust her arms into the air dramatically, just as she used to do at the end of her dance routines or one-act plays. Everyone hooted with laughter.
“Rowan’s turn!” Corinne called when Natasha finished.
Rowan looked at Poppy’s dress. It was so long that it dragged on the ground. “I need shoes,” she announced. She hunted Poppy’s racks for good ones.
“Ooh, I know she has some silver sling-backs that would look great with that dress,” Aster announced, dropping to her hands and knees too. She pulled a small step stool from the back and climbed up it to check the upper racks, producing the pair in question.
“My turn!” Skylar tugged on Rowan’s skirt when Rowan finished her run. “Watch me!”