Chapter 21

Saturday, both girls were up extra early so they could shower, dress and be out of the house super early, they wanted to be in Manchester as soon as the shops opened.

First stop was for a new mobile phone to be added to the family account, soon after parking up Gabbie was the proud owner of a black iPhone 14 Pro.

From the phone shop in the Arndale Centre they walked up to King Street, home to several very classy jewellers.

“Here we go, this is where Jerry and I got our rings after we got back from the US tour.”

They had to press a buzzer to be let in, not a shop where they allow just anyone to wander in and out, and once they’d gained entry Diane was greeted like an old friend.

“Hello Diane, so good to see you again, it’s been far too long.”

“Yes it has Phyllis, much too long.”

“So, how can we help you today?”

“You remember my daughter, Lucy?”

“Oh yes, but she was only a toddler when we saw her last.”

“This is my other daughter, Gabbie, a recent acquisition you might say, she joined the family last week.”

“Oh really, interesting. Two very beautiful daughters.”

“Yes, they are. Now, they’re in need of engagement rings, and also wedding rings.”

“Ahh, they’re both getting married around the same time, an expensive time for you.”

“We’re getting married at the exact same time, we’re marrying each other,” Gabbie said.

“Ahh, how wonderful. So, shall we go to our matrimonial room, that’s where you’ll find our engagement rings.”

They followed Phyllis through a door into what looked like a sitting room, a couple of sofas, a low table between the sofas, a sideboard with decanters and glasses.

The girls sat on one sofa, Diane on the other, Phyllis went over to the sideboard and touched the decanters.

“Mmm, maybe a little too early for brandy do you think?”

“Just a little,” Diane said, looking at her watch.

“I could get coffee, would you like coffee?”

They all agreed coffee would be good, so Phyllis left the room to get coffee.

“It’s not even 10 o’clock,” Gabbie laughed, “how could she even think about brandy at this time?”

“She’s always been a bit of a lush,” Diane answered, “I keep coming here because she employs some of the most talented jewellery makers in the city. There’s a girl in the craft centre in the Northern Quarter who makes lovely jewellery, but she doesn’t work in platinum, and I think you’ll both suit platinum rings.”

The door opened and Phyllis came back in followed by a man carrying a tray of coffee things which he placed on the sideboard and poured 4 cups from the cafetière before turning to leave.

Phyllis handed them each an exquisite china cup of coffee before sitting next to Diane.

“So, we’re looking for engagement and wedding rings for you both, do you have any ideas about what you’d like?”

Gabbie looked at Lucy and they both nodded, “we know exactly what we’d like.”

They held out their left hands.

“We’d like engagement rings like these, but with real diamonds, and made out of platinum,” Lucy said.

“And we’d like wedding bands like Lucy’s,” Gabbie added, “but again in platinum, with our names engraved inside with the date of the wedding.”

“And we want the date of our engagement inside the engagement rings,” Lucy finished.

“Well, that all makes my job much easier, can I look at those rings please?”

“Oh yes, here you go.”

“Well, this one,” she held up Lucy’s ‘engagement’ ring, “looks to be a copy of this one,” she held up Gabbie’s, “I’d wager the owner put on weight, so had her engagement ring copied,” she took out a jeweller’s loupe, “ahh yes, this smaller one has been stretched, I can see the stress in the gold, it’s 14 carat, so quite soft, they can be stretched a little if you’re careful, this is a real diamond I suspect, although I’ll need to test it to be sure, the copy is a cubic of course, and it’s only 9 carat gold.”

She handed Lucy her ring back, “if you’ll give me a few minutes I’ll get this one tested, help yourself to more coffee, and I’ll have Gerard bring you some cake.”

Diane leaned forward, “if that ring is real Gabbie, it’s the bargain of the century, I only paid £5 for a box full of costume jewellery.”

“I wonder who owned it?” Gabbie pondered. “Why it ended up on a car boot stall, it’s a bit sad isn’t it, someone’s engagement ring ending up in a pile of junk on a car boot sale.”

“It is, maybe from a house clearance or something, found in a drawer and just tossed in with some costume jewellery by a relative,” Lucy said.

“I need to stop thinking about it, I’m feeling sad and I should be happy now.”

Just then the door opened and the man who’d brought the coffee, Gerard they assumed, came in with more coffee and a plate of cakes.

“Ahh, now I’m happy,” Gabbie said as she jumped up and helped herself to a fondant iced cake, “mmm lovely.”

They chatted and ate cake for about 10 minutes until Phyllis returned with Gabbie’s ring.

“As I thought, this is a real diamond, it’s fractionally over 1 carat in weight, but not a very good quality stone or cut, if you wanted new matching rings I’d suggest a Princess cut, it’s a very pretty cut and very fashionable right now, let me show you.”

Phyllis pulled a set of keys from her belt and moved to the sideboard, she opened a drawer and pulled out a tray of rings.

“These are actually white gold, but you’ll get a feel for the brilliance and size of the diamonds all the same.”

She pulled one particular ring from the tray and handed it to Gabbie.

“This is a princess cut, about 1.2 carats in total, the main stone is a carat, the stones on the shoulder are about 0.2 carats.”

“Ohh that’s pretty, isn’t it Lucy.”

“Now, I like this,” Lucy replied as she passed it to Diane.

“Ahh yes, this is exactly what I thought you’d like, a princess cut for my princesses.”

Diane handed the ring back to Phyllis, “I hate to talk money, but roughly what are we talking about for this in platinum?”

“Let me see, if we use the diamond from Gabbie’s ring, and a matching diamond for Lucy’s,” she pulled out a calculator and consulted a price list from the drawer, “err, about £3,500 each.”

“But what about stones of the quality you just showed us, we like that stone,” Diane asked.

“Ahh, well, that would be somewhat more expensive.”

“Go on, we don’t scare easily.”

“More like £10 to £11,000.”

Diane looked at Lucy, “this is one of the times you can show that card,” she laughed.

Lucy opened her purse and put the black Amex on the sideboard.

“I see,” Phyllis smiled, “we don’t get those in here often, let’s get you measured then we’ll talk about wedding bands.”

An hour later Lucy tapped her pin into the card terminal and added £25,000 to Jerry’s credit card bill with Diane’s blessing.

They left the jewellers and walked up to Bridge Street for dinner at the best Indian restaurant in town. Gabbie bickered all the way that she’d wanted to pay for the rings.

Eventually Diane relented, “ok Gabbie, you can pay the bill when it comes, but you couldn’t pay today because you don’t actually have any money yet, it’s not arrived in your account, and won’t for a few weeks.”

“Ahh, yes, I guess you’re right. It’s just with that big cheque from the insurance I think I’ve got it all.”

“That reminds me, I need to take that cheque and get a trust opened for Chelcey,” Diane said, “I’ll go so Phil on Monday. One last time, you’re sure you want to give all that cheque to Chelcey.”

“Absolutely, she deserves it much more than me.”

“Fine. Ahh, here we are. Have you ever eaten here before Gabbie?”

“Never even heard of the place.”

“Oh wow, are you in for a treat, you will not get a better curry anywhere,” Lucy said, “Me and Steve ate in the branch near Carnaby Street, it was amazing, absolutely fantastic food and a really great atmosphere.”

And Lucy wasn’t wrong, what an amazing meal, a lamb biryani slow oven-cooked to perfection, a wonderful spicy sauce, delicious naan breads, and a superb mango lassi to wash it down.

They could barely walk at the end of the meal, they were so full, but walk they did, all the way to the Northern Quarter to find a dressmaker Diane had seen recommended in Lancashire Life.

Gabbie was fascinated by the area, a mixture of hipster tea shops, old fabric shops and gold merchants, adult DVD shops and tiny Pakistani cafes serving curry and rice with jugs of water on each table. Gabbie wagered the curries in the café would be just as tasty as the one they’d just eaten but a quarter of the price, undoubtedly cheaper ingredients, and the rice would be sticky from being kept in a steamer to keep warm, but still really tasty, it smelt delicious anyway. Maybe she’d see if they’d sell some in a takeout tray to eat at home later.

As Gabbie was thinking this Diane called out that she’d found the shop upstairs in a rundown building on a back street.

“Mmmm, a bit of a contrast to the jewellers,” Lucy said as they climbed the bare wood stairs to the top floor, avoiding the hand rails that were barely connected to the wall.

“Are you sure this is the place?” Gabbie asked.

“The sign outside said Brenda Patton, Dressmaker, didn’t it?” Diane asked.

“Yes, it did.”

“Well, this is the right place then.”

Diane knocked on the door and they waited a couple of minutes before a very old lady opened it.

“Err, hello, we’re here to see Brenda.” Diane said.

“Yes, that’s me.”

“The dressmaker?”

“Oh no dear, I was once, but I retired years ago, you’ll be wanting my granddaughter, I’ll go fetch her, come inside and take a seat.”

A few minutes later a young woman came out of the back room.

“Hi, sorry, I was cutting some fabric, I couldn’t stop mid-cut so I sent gran out to bring you in. I’m Mel, how can I help you?”

“Err, we were told to see Brenda Patton.”

“Haha, you just did, but if you need her to make you something, you’re about 20 years too late. I’m the dressmaker now.”

“Why does the sign downstairs...”

“Still say Brenda? Because she’s so well known around here people still call this place Brenda’s, if I took that sign down I’d lose half my custom, they’d never find us.”

“Ahhh, well, I think we’ll gladly speak to you then.”

“Excellent, what can I do for you.”

“Well, my daughters are getting married, to each other, I know what you’re going to say, they’re not related, Lucy is my daughter, Gabbie is fostered.”

“Phew, I was about to phone the police. So are you both the bride, or is one of you being the groom, I’ve done same sex weddings that have gone both routes, to be honest I’ve also had girls who are both groom, but I’m not so good at making suits, so I sent them to a guy up the road, he makes the best morning suits.”

“We’re both brides,” Lucy said.

“And we want proper wedding dresses,” Gabbie added.

“And, I know this might be awkward, because I’m a size 14 and Gabbie’s an 8, but we’d like them to match.”

“What style are you looking for, the full meringue or something a bit more fashionable?”

“Good god no!” Gabbie and Lucy cried together.

“I hate dresses at the best of times, it’s bad enough wearing a skirt at school,” Lucy said, “so if I have to wear a dress I want it to flatter both mine and Gabbie’s figures, which I realise are somewhat contrasting so will be a challenge for your skills. I also want it to be cream, not white, and I need lace somewhere. No train, no veil, no sleeves.”

“And I want it to be a little be sexy, you know,” Gabbie added, “so, like a fairy tale princess but one that’s gone off the rails a little.”

“Ahh, amazing, you are actually helping me a lot, let me get my sketch pad.”

Mel chatted with the girls, and Diane who wanted at least a little input in the design, for about 20 minutes as she sketched a sexily elegant dress, then she brought out a few fabric samples.

Lucy had asked for cream instead of white, but Mel persuaded her that ivory satin would be a better match for Gabbie’s pale skin tone.

“I’ve got some antique lace,” she said, “I could sew a triangular panel in the neck to show some cleavage,” she looked up at Diane, “would that be ok?”

“Absolutely fine with me,” Diane answered.

“I might need a bit of help,” Gabbie frowned.

“You’ve got enough boob to make a nice cleavage with a push-up bra,” Mel said.

“Of course you have Gabbie, you looked good last week didn’t you.”

“I guess I did look good last week didn’t I, it’s just when I look at me, then at you, I just think I look like an ironing board.”

“Can I borrow Gabbie for a minute or two,” Mel asked before taking Gabbie’s hand and walking her through the bead curtain and into the room beyond.

They emerged about 10 minutes later, Gabbie was beaming.

“Look at my boobs!” she cried.

She was wearing a fitted silk dress, it was peach coloured so didn’t really suit her, but the important part of the dress was the mesh panel across the chest, and the very pronounced cleavage.

“Don’t, whatever you do, turn round,” Mel laughed, “or they’ll see all the pins holding the dress together.”

“I can barely move for fear that I’ll stab myself.”

“Well stand still so I can show Lucy what I can do to make a dress like this look special for you both.”

Mel spent about 10 minutes talking about the dress and how she could change certain details with clever cuts and stitching so that Gabbie and Lucy would look like they were wearing the same dress even though they were very different sizes. She brought out the piece of lace to show them what it looked like.