Chapter 41

Kitty smiled as she looked over at Svetlana, seeing friendship, curiosity, and yet something else in the Ukrainian girl's large, dark brown eyes. "Hey, confirm something for me, would you, Svetlana?"

Svetlana frowned minutely a moment, then grinned. "If I can, Kitty. What is it?" she replied, reaching up to toss her dark wavy hair back over her shoulder.

Careful now, girl, Kitty cautioned herself. "Okay, it's like this, sweetie…Yuri tells me she's offered you a job at C'est Sing as a photo model. Is that right?" Kitty continued.

Svetlana blinked in surprise, then sagged and sighed. "Da, that is true. So, Madame has told you of this, hmm? Well…I suppose I am not surprised," Svetlana replied, just a trifle bit grumpy.

Sean, who sat on the opposite side of Svetlana from Kitty, frowned at her tone. "Ah, now…why the long face, Svetlana darlin'?" Sean inquired, laying one big hand upon her knee, then gave it a gentle squeeze. "I'd fair expect a girl'd be doin' handsprings to be offered such an opportunity, so I would."

"Da, maybe," Svetlana hedged, uncomfortable.

Sean rubbed her knee softly, soothingly. "Yer nervous about the whole thing, aren't yeh, love?" Sean guessed, leaning over to gaze into his lady love's pretty eyes.

Svetlana sighed again, then smiled wanly. "Terrified would be a better word, Sean," she answered. She then shook her head, her hair tossing slightly from that movement. "But…that is not why I am so hesitant, my love."

Kitty beat Sean with the obvious reply. "No? Then…whyever for, sweetie?" Kitty asked, using her hands to emphasize her query.

Svetlana hung her head, her dark hair swinging over to hide her face, and said nothing.

Sean leaned over, reaching out a hand to gently lay his curled index finger below Svetlana's chin. He then gently raised her face up into view again, and searched her troubled brown eyes with his own green ones. "What's the matter, Svetlana? Yeh can tell me, y'know…" Sean told her.

Svetlana shivered under Sean's intense yet tender gaze, feeling that everything would be all right…as long as he was by her side. Then, she actually did shiver slightly, then smiled…just for Sean's benefit. "I know, Sean," she told him, reaching up to touch his cheek ruff tenderly a moment. "It's just…well, I…I just don't feel I am so beautiful so that I could take such a job as modeling. That is for women such as Naomi or Madame herself. Not a simple Ukrainian girl like me…"

"Allow me to answer that one, Sean," Kitty blurted out, causing Sean to grin. She then turned her head to Svetlana, fixed her in her blue-eyed gaze, then spoke. "Svetlana, that's what Yuri would call 'merde'," Kitty opined bluntly. "You know, a big pile of---"

Sean cut the sometimes-too-blunt vixen off. "Aye, we get the picture, lass," Sean said in a hurry.

Kitty blushed softly as she realized she'd almost put her foot in what she had almost said herself. "Um, heh heh…right," she squeaked, then cleared her throat and continued. "Anyway, you're dead wrong, Svetlana…and you know it!"

Svetlana felt as if her head was being squeezed, an unpleasant sort of pressure growing just behind her eyes. She reached up and gently massaged her forehead, sighing. "Please, Kitty…not you too," she groaned.

Kitty leaned over and put a companionable arm around Svetlana's shoulders. "Yup, me too, girl!" she returned with a smile. She then looked Svetlana in the eye again. "I know I'm right, and I'll tell you right this very minute that I'm not giving up as easily as the others did either, sweetie."

"Bozhe moi," Svetlana moaned softly, closing her eyes wearily and sagging in Kitty's embrace. "Why must everyone push me so?" she added plaintively.

Kitty gave Svetlana a one-armed hug. "Because we all see what you don't, Svetlana, that's why," Kitty answered her. "Tell you what…go ask anyone in this room---right now! ---who's the prettiest girl here."

Svetlana showed no signs of moving, and Kitty sighed mentally, glad her instincts proved true. "They'd tell you it's a toss-up between you and Yuri, sweetie. And, maybe it's just me, but that ain't bad company you're being judged in." Kitty pointed out.

"Me? As pretty as Madame herself?" Svetlana protested with a frown, and a shake of her lovely head. "Nyet! Now you are mistaken, tovarisch!"

"Oh, am I?" Kitty challenged in return, though she softened it with a smile. The kernel of an idea---a grand idea---formed in the clever vixen's brain just then, and her smile widened. "Sorry…but I don't think so, sweetie."

Svetlana clenched her teeth in frustration, her body stiffening, her eyes blazing in anger. "Stoy! I am no prettier than most girls my age, Kitty Petro! No more, no less!" she snapped. "Me as pretty as Madame Yuri? Please, Kitty…do not be ridiculous!" Svetlana crossed her arms defiantly.

Kitty was beginning to get a glimmer of what frustrated Yuri so about Svetlana. This girl was stubborn! With a capital 'S', it seemed! "Look, kiddo," Kitty soldiered on, "I'm a tomboy…and even I can see you're an extraordinary girl." Kitty looked up and over to where Sean sat quietly. "C'mon, sport…help me out here! What sort of boyfriend are you anyway? Jump in here and tell this stubborn girl what a doll she is!"

Sean chuckled at Kitty's outburst. "Kitty darlin'," Sean began patiently, with a charming half-smile on his face, "don't think even fer a minute that I haven't told Svetlana here the very same thing! Time and time again, don't you know? Look you, I don't call her me Angel because she's got wings now, do I?"

Kitty snorted, then chuckled, then finally giggled into her hand. She then mock glared over at the now grinning Sean. "Okay, you got me on that one, pal," she admitted with another snort and a soft giggle.

Svetlana smiled at Sean calling her an 'angel' again, and leaned over against him, laying her head upon his shoulder. "Spasiba, my love," she whispered into his ear.

"Faith," Sean exclaimed with a laugh. "A lad'd have to be bloody blind not see that yer the bonniest belle he'd ever laid eyes on, so he would." Sean leaned over to gently kiss Svetlana atop her head once. "Tis like Kitty's been tellin' yeh, love…yer a grand-lookin' lovely lass, so yeh are. An' don't let anyone tell yeh different, do yeh hear?"

Yes! Kitty exclaimed in her head joyfully. "It's about time, Sean Mallory," Kitty complained with a grin. "I was beginning to wonder about you, bud."

Svetlana could only smile at Sean's embarrassed blush, and then hug this wonderful man with one arm, snuggling her cheek against his strong shoulder in her thanks. She then looked back over to the grinning Kitty. "My Sean loves me…of that you need not wonder, Kitty," Svetlana declared, just a bit possessively in Kitty's estimation…which was just fine with her. "And I love him too." Svetlana's soft voice was full of emotion as were her very expressive eyes just then.

"Don't know why she does exactly, mind yeh," Sean observed a moment later, a wondering sort of smile on his face, "but I know I'm certainly not complainin'…"

"Yeah, yeah," Kitty pretended to grouse. "But back to the subject at hand, folks," she added, narrowing her eyes at Sean and Svetlana pointedly. She then locked her eyes on Svetlana, who blinked. "So, missy…are you going to model for Yuri…or aren't you?" Kitty's bluntness---as you might see by now---was nearly legendary amongst her friends.

Svetlana softly bit her full lower lip in consternation. She then looked over to her Sean, who smiled warmly at her and nodded. Svetlana looked away, then groaned softly. "Oh, I do not know!" she finally declared, wringing her hands now. "I want to believe you all, but…" she began, only to trail off in indecision. She continued to gently wring her hands, her ordinarily perfect brow furrowed in her worry. "I cannot…I am too plain. I do not wish to let Madame down! I cannot…I just can't!"

"I don't think you need worry about that, girl," observed Carmelita's voice from behind Svetlana's shoulder that moment. "C'mon, Svetlana…look at me. You know you're a lovely woman…right?"

Svetlana smiled at Carmelita's encouragement, thanking her friend with her eyes. "Da," she finally agreed, grinning and blushing softly. She looked over to first Sean, then Kitty. "…or so my friends tell me, at least."

"Do you remember the night of the rehearsal for that Fall Fling, Svetlana?" Carmelita posed then.

"Oh, da!" Svetlana replied, her dark eyes brightening. "I was so nervous! My poor stomach was all in knots." She then looked back to Carmelita again. "As I recall…so were you, my friend."

"Si, you'd better believe it, Svetlana," Carmelita answered with a nod. "Then, Sly was there, and he talked me through my nervousness. He gave me my confidence back." She then looked down at Svetlana, who looked startled somewhat. "That's what you need, Svetlana…just a little boost in the confidence department."

"Perhaps," Svetlana admitted reluctantly, speculatively. She then looked over to where Yuri sat, then over to where Naomi sat beside her Murray. The lovely little tigress then shook her head, her face falling a bit. "Nyet. Nyet…there is no comparison. I am not anywhere near as beautiful as either Madame or Naomi."

Naomi looked up upon hearing her name spoken. One look at Svetlana's troubled expression, and the svelte cheetah woman knew what was going on. She excused herself from Murray again, and made her way gracefully over to where the three were trying their best to encourage their little friend. "Svetlana," Naomi said fondly, laying her hand on the tigress' shoulder. "Svetlana, oh my Svetlana," she added, leaning over to chuckle and softly kiss her upon her head. "Allow me to guess what I missed, hmm?" Naomi offered, grinning.

"Go ahead, Naomi," Kitty prompted the platinum-haired Naomi. "Go on…tell her."

"I would suppose," Naomi posed confidently, "that our Svetlana was telling all of you that I am that much lovelier than she…am I right?"

"Dead on, sport!" Kitty chimed in, eyeing the startled Svetlana with a smile. "But, don't mind me…do go on."

Naomi smiled indulgently at the smug vixen, then turned her attention back to Svetlana again. "Svetlana…you honor me with your comparison, cheri," Naomi said humbly. "But, you are wrong, you know. Even Madame---who is a true judge of female beauty---as well as myself, know how truly remarkable and beautiful a woman you are---both inside and out, cheri."

Svetlana blinked then, then sniffled, her large lovely eyes brimming with unshed tears. "Oh, Naomi…tovarisch," she whispered. "Spasiba, Nomi…"

Naomi had lived with her Russian friends long enough to know what that word meant and she smiled warmly at her smaller friend. "You are welcome, cheri," she told her, cupping Svetlana's cheek with her hand a moment. She then smiled again, snorting. "You know, cheri…you and Madame are far far more alike than you would think. Did you not know this?"

Kitty nodded. "Exactly!" the vixen exclaimed triumphantly. "Look, sweetie, I've been drawing people for a long time now, and let me tell you, I've got an eye for faces, okay?"

"Da, I have seen you draw, Kitty," Svetlana replied as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "You are very talented, tovarisch."

Kitty grinned a lop-sided grin of satisfaction and thanks. "That's sweet of you to say, Svetlana," she said by way of thanks. She then paused and gazed intently first at Svetlana…then at Yuri in the near distance, then back to Svetlana once more. "Y'know…apart from you having fuller cheek ruffs and of course the stripes on your face, you and Yuri could be twin sisters…er, at least face-wise, that is."

"No way," Svetlana replied in a flash, disbelieving. "Madame and I look nothing alike." She looked over to where Yuri and Bentley were softly talking to one another. "Madame's eyes are more slanted than mine. And, my face is rounder than hers is. Then, she has blonde hair, while I have dark. Then there's her ears…which are---"

Kitty held up a hand imperatively. "Svetlana…stop!" she commanded. "Look, kiddo…I've got a proposal for you. Interested?"

"What sort of proposal, Kitty?" Svetlana asked, immediately suspicious.

"Easy there, sweetie," Kitty replied, smiling. "Nothing difficult…nor dangerous. Naomi here would skin me if I tried some lame-brained scheme like that."

"You may count on that, cheri," Naomi reassured her.

"Uh-huh," Kitty said with a gulp then, just a bit nervous a moment. But, that didn't last, and she continued. "Look…all I'm proposing is that you let me draw Yuri…then you…both in the same pose. Then, if you---and your friends, of course---agree that you and Yuri could pass for sisters…why, then you will agree to model for Yuri and C'est Sing."

"That's all?" Svetlana replied, narrowing her dark eyes while she thought. "You promise?"

"Cross my heart, and hope to die, champ," Kitty pledged, holding her hand up again.

Svetlana looked at Kitty, then the others, clearly thinking things over. "Hmm, very well then," she finally decided. "If you can truly prove to me---and the others!---that Yuri and I look nearly identical as you proclaim we do…then, I will agree to model---as Madame and Naomi have asked me to."

"You promise?" Kitty asked then, binding the contract.

"Da, I promise," Svetlana replied, thrusting out her hand to shake Kitty's and thereby the wager was laid.

"Great!" Kitty proclaimed, clapping her hands together eagerly. "Now, give me about five minutes…and, I'll be back," she asked, then hurried out of the room to gather her sketch book, pencils, and erasers.

"So, Sean," Svetlana asked, worry evident on her pretty face, "do you think I chose wisely?"

"I suppose that all depends, love," Sean answered her with an encouraging smile. "I think Kitty's got you dead to rights on you and yer friend Yuri lookin' alike, so I do. I just hadn't noticed the resemblance until the wee lass pointed it out is all…"

"Really?" Svetlana asked quickly, surprised to hear herself being compared so favorably to the incomparable Yuri Sing. "You really think I and Madame are so much alike?"

"Hmm," Sean mused as he gazed first into his Svetlana's exquisite face, then over at the equally lovely Yuri Sing. "If yeh ignore yer stripes and Yuri's spots, an' just look at yer bonny wee faces…aye, yeh do." He then shook his head in wonder. "Why, tis like lookin' into mirror, so it is…" he added, more to himself than to Svetlana.

Svetlana grinned, but then shook her head. She supposed that only Kitty's test would truly tell…

Five minutes came…and five minutes went. It was more like twelve minutes later that Kitty actually returned---supplies in hand---and took her place, sitting down in a large posh armchair. "Okay, all set," Kitty remarked aloud, as she flipped through her sketch book for a clean page. She then dug a couple of pencils out of her bag, and grinned. "All right…anyone who'd like to see a really neat trick, get yer rumps over here, pronto!" she called playfully.

The others---intrigued by what was about to happen---eagerly gathered around where Kitty sat, forming a ring of sorts behind and beside her. Yuri stood behind Kitty's left shoulder, while Svetlana stood behind her right.

"All right now…I need some quiet, okay?" Kitty announced, then quicly set to work. The vixen was a fast sketcher and within ten minutes' time, completed a remarkably accurate sketch of Yuri's very lovely face and neck. "Done! Okay. Now, I hope you'll all agree that this does look like Yuri, right?"

"Nice job, sport," Carmelita opined, ruffling Kitty's short hair playfully.

"C'est manufique," murmured an awed Naomi.

"Have to admit," Sly opined a moment later, "the girl does have talent…"

"Bozhe moi!" Maria said in hushed tones. "Is it not amazing how she does that?" Maria looked down at Kitty in wonder. "How can you do that? Without even looking once at Madame?"

Kitty smiled, looking over her shoulder at Maria. "Look, it's really not that hard, Maria," she explained. "You see, once I've drawn a subject a few times, it's like I have a mental picture in my head of it. That way the next time I draw that something or someone, I just can. It's almost like my hand knows what to do, understand?"

"Nyet," Maria replied with a laugh. "But, please…continue!"

"I think I see what Kitty's driving at," Yuri spoke up a moment later. "It is much like that with clothing designs, you see." Yuri nodded in understanding. "Clothing of any sort all begins with a simple form, you see. We designers then elaborate on that form…creating that which we want our creation to be." She looked down at Kitty. "Is that what you meant, petite?"

"Close," Kitty admitted. "Well then, now comes the magic bit," Kitty declared a moment later, as she withdrew an eraser from her bag, and then regarded her pencil drawing again. "Now, observe closely," Kitty announced, clearly enjoying being the center of so much attention just now. She eyed her work a moment longer, then carefully began to erase the spots on Yuri's face, brushing aside the eraser dust as she did so. She then put the eraser down, picked up her pencil once more, and began to sketch again, making Yuri's cheek ruffs a bit fuller looking now. Then, it was a matter of adding some stripes…and---

"Bozhe moi!" Svetlana gasped, watching as Kitty modified Yuri's straighter hair into her own fuller, wavier hairstyle.

"Well, I'll be," Sly observed then, grinning. "That really does look a whole lot like our Svetlana."

Svetlana was also surprised. "Da, there is some similarity…I will admit that," she remarked carefully. "However, that is all there is…similarity. It is still quite easy to tell the two of us apart."

"She's got you there, sport," Carmelita told Kitty then, giving the vixen a little nudge on the back.

"Hey, I'm not done yet," Kitty protested. "Let the artist finish, okay?" Kitty then continued. She plied both pencil and eraser liberally, making dozens of very subtle changes to her drawing. She changed the eyebrows first, giving the face an expression of some doubt and worry, then modified the eyes on the face too to reflect someone not as at ease with themselves as Yuri obviously was. Kitty then brushed the last of her eraser leavings away, and sat back. "All righty then…now it looks like you, Svetlana."

"Bozhe moi!" Maria gasped in wonder. "Kitty is right! That is you, my Svetlana!"

The others gazed down at the woman's face on Kitty's sketch book…and darned if Maria wasn't right…that was Svetlana's face…to a tee!

"B-B-But, that cannot be!" Svetlana protested, only to relax a bit as she felt Sean put his arms around her protectively. "I don't believe it…and yet…Kitty's sketch does not lie."

"Faith!" Sean then softly exclaimed, then chuckled. "So that's what it was, eh? Yer a wee clever scamp, Kitty…figurin' that out like yeh did." Sean looked over to the still surprised Svetlana in his arms. "Kitty was right all along, love…you and Yuri do look very much alike. It's just yer constant worryin' that changes yer expression tis all." He then snuggled his cheek atop Svetlana's head, and kissed her there. "I know yeh look that beautiful…but only because I'm probably the only one here what sees yeh when you're at peace, love."

"Really?" Svetlana asked, looking back and up into Sean's face. "You noticed how I look like Madame…and never thought to tell me?"

"Now now, love," Sean countered, "it wasn't until Kitty drew yeh both that I finally put two and two together." Sean then smiled down at Svetlana, his scar nearly disappearing when he did so. "Yeh couldn't be holdin' somethin' like that against me now, would yeh?"

Svetlana continued to glare at him a moment longer, then she laughed, and in doing so…they all could see her pinched worried look evaporate. It was then that all of her friends could remark on just how closely her and Yuri appeared at times.

Kitty sat back, smiling. "The only reason you haven't seen it yourself, sweetie, is that you worry all the time," Kitty explained to her friend. "You gotta learn to stop---"

"I am sorry," Svetlana interrupted Kitty, giving her a quick smile of an apology. "But, ever since I was 'rescued' from the Russian mob, and found all of you…" Svetlana's lower lip quivered then, and her exquisite eyes brimmed full again. "I cannot help myself! I worry about you all…perhaps too much, I know. But…but, that is only because I love you all!" Svetlana closed her eyes, tears leaking down her cheeks now, as she tried mightily not to cry.

Sean clasped his teary-eyed Svetlana to himself soothingly. "Aye, we know, love," Sean whispered to her. "An' we all love yeh too."

"Of course we do, cheri!" Yuri echoed Sean's sentiment. "Our lives would be so much poorer for not having you in them, Svetlana. You know that, oui?"

"Oui, I know," Svetlana replied, smiling yet sniffling still

"You know…it could be for another reason altogether, you know," Kitty thought to mention.

"Oh? And what would that be?" Svetlana asked, curious.

"Well," Kitty began, smiling once more. "Hey, haven't you ever looked at a photograph of yourself, then thought that it doesn't look anything at all like you?"

"Da, now that you mention it…I have," Svetlana acknowledged, nodding her head.

"There's a reason for that," Kitty explained. "And, that's because even if you think a person's face is symmetrical…it isn't. We all see our reflection in the mirror, but our brains see it the wrong way around….if you catch my drift." Kitty paused, then shrugged. "That might also be the reason."

Svetlana thought about that for a moment, then sighed, yet smiled still. "Very well then," she stated, turning toward where Yuri and Naomi stood beside her. "Madame, Naomi…I agree to model for you." Svetlana paused, then looked around at all of her friends. "I still don't agree with all of you…but, if everyone here thinks that I am truly as beautiful as Madame, then perhaps it is I who am wrong."

"Oh, Svetlana!" Yuri proclaimed softly, then laughed, reaching over to hug Svetlana in her happiness. "You will model for me? Oh, Cheri…I am so happy! Non, make that I am ecstatic! Oh, Svetlana…you shall not regret this decision. I shall see to that!"

Svetlana could only smile and hug Yuri back tightly for a long moment.

Yuri looked over to the grandmother clock that graced the room for the time. "Here, here…listen up, all of you! As of now…it is eleven o'clock. I had not realized it had gotten so late, amis." Yuri clapped her hands together imperiously, though she did smile. "It is high time for all of you who do not live here to head back home." She then turned to Kitty. "Except you. Perhaps you will consider staying here over night…you see, so as to save yourself the trouble of coming back here again tomorrow."

Kitty thought on that a moment, then nodded. "Thanks, Yuri…that'd be great," she said by way of thanks.

"D'accord. I thought so too, mon petite," Yuri replied with a grin of her own. "After all, it is the least I can do for you, eh cheri? You have helped my poor business immeasurably this day by convincing our Svetlana to model for her."

"Don't mention it, Yuri…it was my pleasure," Kitty answered, then nodded. "Now, if you'll excuse me a moment," she added, and then hurriedly made her way into the hall so she could say her good-byes to her waiting beau, Ling.

As their friends slowly filed their way out into the hallway to collect their coats and agree on who should ride with whom, Yuri stopped, then smiled and looked down at her fiancé, Bentley. "Adieu, mon amour. I shall see you tomorrow, oui?" she asked.

"You got that right, babe," Bentley assured her. "I mean, after tonight, you're my fiancée. And, that means we'll see more and more of each other, sweetheart."

"I am glad to hear that, Cher," Yuri told him, then smiled finally kissed him goodnight. "Which is good, no? I, for one, never get tired of hearing that."

Bentley grinned, then kissed Yuri once…though it was a long, lingering sort of kiss. One that left both Bentley and Yuri slightly breathless and grinning.

And with that, Yuri and her girls bade their friend's good-bye, while all the while continuing to thank her guests who continually seemed to congratulate her on her and her Bentley's engagement.