A New Cullen Sister

Chapter 71

"What about this one?" Alice held up a dress for Amelia to see. Amelia shook her head. Alice shrugged and stuck it on the ever-increasing stack of formal dresses for Amelia to try on.

"This one?" asked Esme, pointing out a pale blue dress.

"I'd like a high neckline to cover my port if possible," stated Amelia.

"But then no one can see your necklace!" shrieked Alice, horror-struck that the jewellery that she planned for Amelia to wear would be hidden.

"It's not comfortable playing the violin whilst wearing a necklace," spoke Valerie, "what about this dress?"

"Pretty. Put it in the stack please," commented Amelia, scanning the rack.

They were now in their fourth dress shop, having not found anything at the previous three. Amelia was starting to drag her feet, tired of trying on dress after dress.

"Now go and try them on," Alice insisted, pushing Amelia towards the fitting rooms and bundling her into a room, before dumping the stack of dresses on the only stool in said room, before pulling back the curtain of the dressing room, effectively shielding them. They could hear Alice muttering unintelligibly under her breath as she undressed Amelia. Amelia merely sighed and left Alice to boss her around, too tired to care anymore.

Esme felt a pair of arms encircling her waist. Carlisle and the rest of their family had arrived.

"I missed you," stated Carlisle, placing a kiss on her neck.

"Me too. Please help us rein Alice in. I don't know how much longer Amelia is going to last before she snaps."

Carlisle chuckled softly, before letting go of Esme and going to greet Ariané and Valerie, who by now were taking cover from Hurricane Alice. Emmett and Jasper looked uncomfortable and beat a hasty retreat out of the shop. Bella, Edward and Renesmee were in one of the bookstores, also hiding from Alice.

"Ta-da!" trilled Alice, pulling back the curtain and dragging Amelia out of the room. One look at Amelia's face told them that she hated the hideous canary yellow dress that her middle sister had wrestled her into.

"It's not very Amelia," ventured Valerie bravely. Alice narrowed her eyes at the cellist.

"I agree. No one has a yellow dress. You want something subtle and dark, very understated," agreed Ariané.

"No, Alice, just no," confirmed Rosalie, crossing her arms and giving her middle sister a look that made Alice mutter 'that's what you think' under her breath.

Ariané and Valerie continued to look for dresses.

"Need some help, ladies?" queried Carlisle.

"Go look on that rack please," directed Valerie. Carlisle obeyed his instructions and moved all the dresses to one side.

"Anything in particular to look out for?" he asked as he began to move each dress across the railing, scanning them for a decent looking dress.

"Dark colour, high neckline. I'm thinking maybe purple or deep red?"

"Alright," he said, continuing with his task, a frown puckering his marble forehead as he concentrated on finding a dress for his youngest daughter. Ariané and Valerie exchanged glances and stifled a giggle at the serious look on Carlisle's face.

Alice had Amelia try on a few more dresses before Carlisle picked up a dress, folded it over his arm and continued looking. When he had finally reached the end of the rail, he turned to the two ladies and showed it to them.