Dandy was sitting at the head of the table directly across form Gloria's end as they patiently waited for Naya's coming down the stairs. She was drawn a bubble bath smelling of sweet French lavender and vanilla and was laid out a simple but elegant dress consisting of a black lace bodice with a silk skirt a clean ecru shade. Also, Dandy had instructed one of the maids to take one of Gloria's short strings of fine pearls and put them on Naya's neck when ready to come down to dinner. In the meantime, the mother and man-boy son had a conversation.

"Look under the dome," Gloria instructed, pointing to the metal piece resting atop Dandy's place setting. "I got you a present."

"A present?"

He gingerly took the handle of the silver dome and pulled it aside to reveal what looked to be a flat, unopened wrapper containing something. He took it and read the label, shaking his head with confusion at his mother.

"Prophylactics?" he asked with incredulity. "Mother! Why did you give me these?"

"You're a young man with needs, Dandy," Gloria responded graciously. "Inbreeding has caused enough trouble with our family. We don't need to muddy the waters any further, especially with whatever curse led to that…that…ghost's horrifying pallor." Dandy was outraged—how dare she call her a name so cruel and untrue?!

"I would never violate Naya, mother!" Dandy hissed through gritted teeth, his cold blue eyes like daggers directed at her. "I love her! I didn't think I could feel love until I met her. My heart waslost, don't you see?!"

"Please don't tell me you're going to be her escort to cotillion?" Gloria chided, shaking her head. "I will not allow you to isolate us from the world because of some new fetish!"

"Mother!" Dandy was getting angry. "What? Because she's a freak?! I am, too! With her, I feel normal for a change!"

Gloria had tears in her eyes, and she sniffled.

"Well," she sighed tearfully, "I guess there comes a time in every woman's life where she must give up her son to another woman."

"I'm going to marry her, mother," Dandy stated with excessive pride. "She and I will be together forever and ever."

At that moment, Naya entered the dining room gingerly, taking slow, steady steps in the t-strap kitten heels she was given. Dandy and Gloria both looked at her form flattered by the dress provided for her; luckily the digits tattooed into her forearm were hidden beneath the black lace of the sleeves. Her dark heather gray hose went up to her mid-thigh, matching her outfit perfectly. Her hair was the same style; nothing had changed, especially not her ghostly, stark white color. Dandy stood up from his end of the table and extended his hand to the albiness, who put her hand in his and was led to one of the other few dining chairs set at the table. Dandy had pulled the chair out for her that was on the left middle side and she sat down, putting her hands on her lap as she looked over at Gloria, who stared back in awe at how well-mannered she seemed.

"Hello, Miss Naya," she said. "Welcome to our home."

"T-Thank you," the albiness replied as the maid began to serve them their dinner—Dandy seemed to glare at his new personal maid. I liked Dora better, he thought to himself.

The appetizer included a bowl of fresh fruit consisting of cut kiwi, cool raspberries, and blackberries imported from north of the country. Naya hadn't touched her food until she saw Dandy and Gloria doing just that, and when she did, she had only just realized that in Russia, her family had been too poor to obtain such luxuries. Then the soup was served—French onion with a pinch of parsley on the top of the white, creamy broth. When the entrée was brought out, Naya had realized that she had been sitting eating with the Motts for a full hour, and she was shocked when the dome was lifted and smoke rose to her face—on her plate, a medium rare, marinated filet mignon rested topped with a rich burgundy, red wine-mushroom gravy with a vegetable medley and creamy, whipped mashed potatoes. It was when Gloria began digging into her food that the real conversation began between her son and their house guest.

"So, I couldn't help but notice that you have an accent, Miss Naya," the older woman asked. The albiness looked over at her with her violet eyes, but didn't answer quite yet. "Where are you from? I don't believe you've told us."

There was a brief moment of silence; Dandy also waited for an answer.

"Poland," Naya fibbed—technically, it was not a lie.

"When did you decide to come to the United States?" Dandy asked with a smile on his face after swallowing a bit of his vegetables. "After the war, I'm assuming?"

Naya nodded silently, trying to repress memories—she seemed to stare right through the prim man-boy who had welcomed her into his home.

"What was the journey like?" he asked. "Did you travel with your family?"

"Alone," Naya replied. Again, not a lie.

"I can only imagine what you must have gone through," Gloria said, sipping from her pinot grigio. "Travelling all alone like that. How old were you?"

There was another moment of silence.

"Sixteen."

"Oh, dear," Gloria muttered.

When dessert came out, two and half hours had been spent eating a full course dinner—Naya was already full, and once the Baked Alaska layered with tri-flavor Neapolitan ice cream, topped with baked whipped crème and a side of fresh-cut strawberries, she did not hesitate to reject it much to the shock of Dandy and Gloria, who looked at her strangely.

"Naya?" Dandy asked. "Are you sure you don't want any baked Alaska?" She shook her head.

"No. I am full," she replied. "May I please leave the table?"

"I insist you finish the last course," Dandy persuaded with a strange smile. Naya sighed as the plate was put out in front of her. Judging by his tone and smile, she somehow felt like he would do something or be angry for not doing what he said.

With a full stomach, she continued to eat.

She felt like she was about to vomit by the time the maids came and collected their dishes; Dandy led Naya to his playroom and she looked around to see a large, life-sized model horse and a toy box off to the side of the room. In dead center, there was a mini-golf course with realistic grass and a mini yellow pennant sticking up. At the far end of the room was a small stage with velveteen red curtains drawn back with a small wooden crate full of marionettes near the edge. Dandy looked back to see a blank expression on her face as he walked over to his toy box-like container and opened it, glancing back at her.

"Close your eyes," he said.

"Why?"

"I have a surprise for you."

She did so—it only took a few moments for Dandy to tell her to open them again. When she did, she saw it was a plain white box with a satin ribbon tied around it.

"Open it," he said with a smile bigger than Jupiter.

Once she took off the ribbon and lifted the lid, she saw a bunch of white tissue paper which she moved aside to a beautiful sight—a shiny, satin pair of white pointe shoes that were newer than a newborn baby. She gasped, taking the shoes out of the box and admiring them wholeheartedly with wide eyes and parted lips. Dandy smiled at her and heard her chuckle slightly as she admired and felt the new shoes she had been gifted. He gasped when she looked up at him and smiled grandly—her teeth were white, but imperfect. He even noticed her right eye twitching as her face dangerously lit up in front of him; her fully smiling face was about as frightening as a white mask.

"I wanted to wait until your next performance to give them to you," he said with a proud, smug look. "But now that you're here, you can have them. I know you're speechless, but this is how you will live when living here."

There was a moment of silence—Naya had tears of joy in her eyes as she giggled joyfully.

"I knew you'd like them."

Elsa's birthday party had been planned by Ethel, who also was in charge of making the cake. Everyone had bought her presents, but the moment someone asked about Naya and caught on about her absence, the birthday girl made a huge stink about it. The long faces of Jimmy, Eve, Paul, the twins Bette and Dot, Toulouse, Ma Petit (who had been wrapped in a pink crochet blanket as a snuggle-buddy at night), Ethel, Dell, Desiree and all the other carnies were dead giveaways of their disappointment in the absence of the dancing albiness.

"Why does everyone look so glum?" she asked. "It's only the beginning of a week of festivities."

"Why so glum?" Jimmy asked, repeating her in a testy manner. "Where's Naya? She should be celebrating with us!"

"We miss her," Eve said. "Did she say anything before she left?"

"Maybe we should look for her," Paul suggested.

"She might be lost somewhere if she is still here in—"

"ENOUGH!" Elsa barked, cutting Jimmy off. "I will have no more talk of that white-facedfreak! We bring her in, give her a home with food and company and this is how she repays us?! BY RUNNING OFF?!" She took a breath and tried to contain herself. "I don't want to hear anymore talk about Naya. Do you hear me?! I demand that you begin having fun this instant!"

The following day, Paul was walking to the center of town near the shopping district. His present for Elsa had been quite late, but she didn't mind and understood totally. On the way to the general store, he was suddenly stopped by a strange sight in a clear-as-day shop window past the two mannequins standing up. He saw a beautiful young woman with hair and skin the color of virgin snow. Her hair reached her shoulders with a fringe to cover her forehead and almost absent eyebrows. He moved closer to the window to see she was smiling grandly—she had never smiled whenever he had seen her, and her hands were in front of her holding out the skirt of a full-crinolined dark turquoise dress with the front lined with button and a canary yellow belt to cinch the waist. Paul looked in horror, but inside the shop, he could see a young, dark-haired man approaching her with extended arms. They seemed completely oblivious to his presence outside the window.

"You look spectacular!" Dandy exclaimed.

Meanwhile, the shop assistants, who had been bringing dresses to the albiness to try on for the past hour, looked at her white hair and skin with disgust. Naya was speechless, seeing a sapphire blue dress hanging up; Dandy, who was attentive to her every need, looked back and eyed the dress, seeing pearls sewn in the center of two dark blue colored ribbons. He snapped his fingers at the shop assistants, one of which took the dress off the rack and looked at Dandy, awaiting orders like a soldier to his superior.

"Give it to her," he ordered, "at once."

That was when Dandy took both of her hands and kissed their bluish fingertips; he also noticed hints of digits tattooed in black ink into her pale, moon-white skin.

Paul was happy to see the albiness content, but he knew what he had to do.

I must tell the others, he thought as he made his way down the street.

A/N:

So…things will be getting intense before they actually start doing so, I guess.

Shoutouts to MonaTheGreat, florathecake, and a mystery Guest for the reviews! I love the imaginative suggestions regarding ships and plot twists, so I thank you all for that.

Fun fact:Naya lies about being Polish while having dinner with the Motts. Why? Because the 1950s was NOT a good time to admit Russian ancestry. After World War II, many displaced Soviets (like Naya) who immigrated to the United States faked their ethnicity, pretending to be from another group of Slavic origin, like Polish, Czech, Serbian, Croatian, etc. If, however, they were found out to be Russian, they would be deported back to the USSR and to any of these three fates: imprisonment, exile to Siberia, or execution.

Stay tuned for the next chapter! Feel free to Favorite, Follow, and leave a Review!

Thanks and happy reading! :)