Chapter 5
Meanwhile Dorothy had taken the children down to the first floor and into the sewing room. There were a dozen other people from around the world all gathered in the sewing room.
The clock on the wall struck 2 o-clock and then Louis Gardener walked in with the king and queen. The king had tanned skin, a mix of African-American and Caucasian. Had short black hair and wore a black suit. The queen was a Caucasian woman with honey-colored hair and wore a light blue gown.
"Presenting king Harold Markle IV and queen Kristi of Dove Isle" announced Louis.
The royal couple walked up to the front of the room. Everybody bowed down to the king and queen.
"Welcome to the castle," said king Harold. "As you know on Saturday is Valentine's Day, and our son's wedding. You were all invited to come here and design a wedding dress for the bride."
"Today you will start drawing out your designs," joined in Kristi. "And then you will start making your designs tomorrow. You will have till Friday to finish your dresses, and our future princess, lady Bethany will choose the dress to wear at the wedding."
With that the king and the queen left. The boys watched as Alice and the other contestants set to work on their designs. The five friends noted that Alice was the youngest of all the contestants, the ones who weren't much older were at least in their teens.
Alice looked up from her drawing paper to see a middle-aged woman walk into the room. She had shoulder length blond hair with a braid on the right side and jade green eyes. She wore a bright orange gown and had emerald earrings.
"Mr. Gardener," whispered Alice walking up to Louis. "Who's that?"
"That's countess Alyvia Hillson," whispered Louis. "She's a lady in waiting of the royal court."
Louis and the kids walked over to the countess.
"Countess," said Louis bowing at countess Alyvia. "This is Alice one of the contestants and her friends from Fernfield." Alice curtseyed and the boys bowed.
"It's a pleasure to meet you countess Alyvia," said Alice.
"Glad to meet you all my dears," replied countess Alyvia in a kind voice. "My daughter goes to an elite boarding school in Italy. Have you met Bethany?"
The kids all turned in surprise to see another lady walking up from behind Alyvia. She had the same blond hair as her mother, only longer and curly and wore a pink cocktail dress.
"You're lady Bethany?!" exclaimed Sam.
"Yes, I am," said Bethany proudly. "I thought I'd check out the wedding dresses while they're still a work in progress."
"I've love designing," said Alice. "And I'm so excited to meet you. I'm Alice, and this is Bartleby, Sam, Peter and Billy.
The boys all said hello.
"It's so nice to meet such confident children," said Bethany. "And you might be the one who's wedding dress I'll choose. After all I want my wedding perfect. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some work to do."
With that countess Alyvia and Bethany left.
"What do you guys think of her?" asked Peter.
"She seems nice to me" replied Bartleby.
"I better get back to work," said Alice. "If I want her to pick my dress for the wedding."