Almost done, only two to go. Be brave ;).

Chapter 29: Pearl

Miss Fisher pulled a chair to Dot's side and sat down. Her knees felt rather wobbly at this stage. Her stomach twisted, like she had sensed this would go terribly wrong all along and it had finally happened. Only, she hadn't sensed that. She had blamed Dorothy's strange behaviour on the usual bridal flutters. She grabbed her companion's hand and pulled her around to face her.

"Dot, tell me what's wrong. What happened?"

Sobbing answered her, then sniffles.

"I just woke up this morning and realised I can't get married, Miss."

Helplessly Miss Fisher sought out support from Mr. Butler, but even he seemed out of his depth.

"Is it because of the murders? Do you want to go somewhere else? I'm sure we can arrange something." She tried, rubbing calming circles on her maid's wrist. But the younger woman shook her head.

"No, I want St. Ignatius. I've been going there since I was a little girl. And I always imagined I would marry there."

A faint smile, briefly ghosting over her face let Phryne draw some hope that this was not lost yet.

"It's Hugh." The girl finally wailed. Miss Fisher was gobsmacked and scared in equal amounts.

"But you love him!" She stated quietly, holding her breath. In front of her inner eye she saw Hugh Collins looking at her, his heartbreak mirrored in eyes as big as two dinner plates when she would cancel the wedding. It couldn't be true!

"Yes, I do." This time the wet smile let a weight drop from Miss Fisher's heart.

"So what is it Dot?"

"If I marry Hugh, everything will change. I won't live here anymore, with you and Mr. Butler and Jane and the Inspector. And I won't go investigating with you and you won't introduce me as 'Miss Williams, my companion' anymore."

The Honourable Phryne Fisher couldn't help but smile at this.

"That is very true. I might have to come up with a new introduction. But Dot, things change. That doesn't have to be a bad thing."

"But I don't want things to change. And Hugh wants us to move in with his mother!"

New sobs shook the girl's shoulders and Phryne looked with humorous eyes at Mr. Butler. So this was the point of this little meltdown.

"And she hates me." Dot went on. "She still hasn't forgiven me, because Hugh converted and it will all fall apart. And I don't want it to fall apart. I love him! But we can't afford a place of our own just yet."

Miss Fisher slipped to her feet and stretched out an inviting hand.

"Let me show you something, Dot."

She pulled the surprised companion from her chair and behind her out into the hall, past the guest rooms, the back parlour and plenty of other stuffy rooms, that nobody ever seemed to enter much, besides probably Mr. Butler to dust them, to the other end of the house where she stopped in front of a door that Dorothy Williams had never noticed there before.

"You remember the town house, at the end of our garden, Dot?"

"The ghost house?"

"That one. Even though I find myself rather wishing right now, you wouldn't call it that."

Miss Fisher sighed, while pulling a silver key from the pocket of her silken trousers. The little town house had in fact never had any tenants in the whole time Miss Fisher had lived with her colourful family in the Victorian Mansion ajoining it. If this was caused by it's abandoned appearance or by fright of the moral decline behind the shared wall, only God and probably some real estate broker knew. Nobody remembered why it had ever been separated from the main building, but it probably had been some sort of staff-accommodation. And that was pretty much what Miss Fisher intended it to be again. With a majestic gesture she pushed the door open.

"Welcome home, Mrs. Collins."

Dot stepped through the door in awe and Miss Fisher had to admit, that her mouth stayed open for a moment longer than she had expected it to, as well. Ryan and the Cabbies really had done her proud. It was of course a little more restrained than her own house. The walls for example were painted in a rather boring shade of cream rather than in all colours of the rainbow. But then again, this was Dot's home. Dot's and Hugh's. If they would have it. There was no danger really of Dot objecting, she found, as she watched her companion spin on her heels, taking in every small detail of the selected furniture and the thoughtful decoration.

"Is this...do you mean..." She seemed speechless.

"This is my wedding gift for you, Dot. It was intended to be given to you after you tied the knot but then again it seems to be the time for hasty gifts." She smiled, her fingers unconsciously finding the necklace she hadn't bothered to take off. Dorothy was only listening with half an ear however, currently bustling through the rooms, occasionally exclaiming "Ahhs" and "Ohhhs" about the sofa, the dining table and the vase upon the fireplace. Phryne caught up to her in the kitchen, where she was running her fingertips over the wooden counter in silent concentration.

"I can see us living here." The maid said quietly. "I can see us sitting there on the table eating breakfast."

Miss Fisher felt her heart warm at the absent look in the bride's eyes, who seemed to have completely forgotten, that only half an hour ago she hadn't wanted to become Mrs. Collins anymore.

The sound of a key turning in the lock caused her to spin around in the middle of this touching moment. Male voices drew closer. Dot was still too absorbed in inspecting her brand new oven to care. 'Oh dear', was all Phryne could think, before the door flew open and an excitedly chatting Hugh, followed by a Jack on the verge of bursting into laughter appeared in the door frame, stopping in the middle of a sentence he had just uttered. He stared in shock at his bride, who, while still somewhat red around the eyes, stood enlightened by the sunlight flooding her kitchen, with an angelic smile on her face in her wedding dress. Then the groom slapped his hand in front of his eyes.

"Dottie! What are you doing... you're not supposed to be here! I can't see you before the wedding, it's bad luck."

Laughing, Dorothy Williams stepped towards her fiancé, who had already donned his tuxedo and peeled the fingers from his face, to reveal his eyes being tightly squeezed shut.

"Hugh, three people died in the week before our wedding. What other terrible things you think could happen to us?"

While Phryne's and Jack's smiling eyes locked over the heads of the young couple, Hugh Collins slowly opened his lashes to look at his bride.

"Dottie, you look..." He trailed off.

"If the next word from your mouth is not 'beautiful', Hugh Collins, you will never hear the end of it for the eternity of our marriage." Dot stated, only half joking.

"I was more thinking along the lines of amazing." He said, absolutely serious.

"That will do."

Firmly, she grabbed his hand and pulled him through their house to show him every single little detail. Jack Robinson took the moment to step into the kitchen and reunite with a woman of his own, his eyes flickering for a moment over the sapphires still wrapped around her neck, like they belonged there.

"What are you doing here, Jack?" Phryne asked, not hiding the smile in her voice. "This was supposed to be a surprise present."

"I'm afraid we ran into a small hurdle, threatening Collins' resolve to get married today."

Miss Fisher raised her eyebrows at this, while the Inspector pulled his lips into a serious line.

"The best man is lying in bed with a fever and the Constable suffered a spell of cold feet. So I had to convince him that it's too late to be a coward."

"But we are still short a best man." Miss Fisher stated.

"I'm afraid I got promoted."

The Inspector had the decency to look embarrassed and Miss Fisher took his arm laughing.

"Does Father Grogan know you are a Protestant?"

"No, and I have no intention of telling him. The poor man has suffered enough."

X

After the bride and groom had finally been convinced that appearing late to their own wedding really would mean bad luck in the form of Father Grogan's wrath, the four separated in order to get ready for church. Miss Fisher fixed Dot's runny make-up before hastily slipping into her own dress, while the Cabbie's were already waiting in front of the door, honking the horn just for the pure joy of it. While she closed the clasp of the loaned bridal pearl necklace, Phryne revelled in the sparkle that had returned to the bride's eyes.

"You do look absolutely beautiful, Dot." She smiled, carefully brushing a kiss to the apricot coloured cheek, without smearing her lipstick onto the pale skin of her companion.

Dorothy grasped her employer's hand and squeezed it, her excitement now wetting her palms with sweat.

"Thank you." She said, and Miss Fisher had the suspicion it wasn't only for the compliment. She fished for the flowers, that had surprisingly turned out to be pink roses and lavender and handed them to the bride.

"Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

When the limousine that Phryne had hired for the day, finally pulled up in front of the bluestone facade, she had to briefly shut her eyes to fade out any pictures of lifeless limbs on the cobbles. Instead she concentrated on the people waiting for them. Jack and Hugh were nowhere to be seen, doubtlessly already waiting at the altar, but besides an abundance of children and their mothers – it was after all a good Catholic family Hugh was marrying into - and an aunt that smelled faintly of moth-balls and hugged Phryne as if she was the niece she was marrying off today, there were also Alice and Nell. It had taken some convincing for Father Grogan to let a prostitute be the Maid of Honour but in the end the "Mary Magdalene" argument had left him no room for further protest. A serious looking man with grey hair kissed Dot on the forehead and pulled back with tears in his eyes, before he offered his daughter his arm to lead her up the stairs and through the portal. Phryne found she was holding her breath, when she stepped through the door, faint organ music in her ears. The church was dipped into light that glimmered of the stone pillars and drew rainbows onto the floor, where it fell through coloured glass. At the end of the aisle stood Hugh, who looked like he was about to faint, but Phryne brushed her eyes over him quickly, if with a fond smile, to concentrate on the man beside him. Jack looked proud and handsome and really... She ran out of words to describe the feeling in her chest, having to stop her feet from just keeping on walking till she reached him. Instead she snuck into one of the many benches. Only when she sat down did she realise, that she had taken the men's side, a splash of colour in the middle of black tuxedos. Jack noticed it too, rolling his eyes in mock annoyance at her for having to cause a stir even choosing a seat. His eyes didn't let go of her until Dot had reached the altar and Father Grogan began the ceremony.

Miss Fisher had to admit, it was beautiful. He spoke of love, it's meaning, it's secrets and how it would keep those two together. Dot smiled so tenderly at Hugh that Miss Fisher felt tears prick in her eyes. There was more - she was sure there was, because weddings tended to be long and included an abundance of weird rituals, there were rings traded and wine drunk and papers signed and a lot of singing in Latin, but honestly the lady detective couldn't have described any details if her life had depended on it. Her eyes were glued to the three people standing at the altar, with her heart beating in her chest as if it had every intention to jump out and run over to them. A hand found hers, pressing it only for a second. She looked up at Mr. Butler, who was smiling a discrete smile, completely betrayed by the wetness glittering in his own eyes. She hadn't noticed him joining her but nevertheless, she was glad he had. In the sanctuary, oblivious to all of this, Hugh Collins was swimming in his own world, that was currently held completely by the pair of eyes looking up at him. He felt he was going to drown in happiness if someone was not to throw him a life ring soon. He also felt, he didn't mind drowning all that much really. And then it was over, there was music and a hand pulling him down the aisle. The hand of his wife, he realised startled and it was dragging him with some resolve. There was rice thrown, sone of it hitting him in the left eye and making him go blind for the split of a moment or maybe it was just the tears, that he really didn't want to shed in front of everybody. He kissed Dot again, inhaled her sweet scent and was a little shocked, when he realised that she was crying too.