BEAUTY-FLASH FICTION

Madeline excused herself from the kitchen where her two older sisters sorted through the coffee cakes and casseroles overflowing their deceased mother’s Formica counter top. Condolences came in the form of food in the Midwest and the flood gates had opened after the burial just four hours earlier.

When she reached her mother’s bedroom, Madeline could hear the sisters bickering about who got what, this time the focus was the Haviland china. Madeline didn't care about that. She knew exactly what she wanted and there would be no discussion about it. 

She opened the cream-colored  leather jewelry box sitting on the blonde wood dresser and scavenged through the mounds of costume jewelry  her mother had amassed over the years.   Memories of  childhood enveloped her and Madeline remembered the long summer days playing "dress up" with her friends, showing off  her mother's finery. She  pulled a rhinestone choker from the blue velvet shelf in the jewelry box and clasped it around her neck. It made her smile but she had to stay focused since her sisters might come looking for her once they tired of cataloguing the casseroles. She rummaged deeper in the jewelry box searching  for  the key to the cedar chest which held her desired object.

The treasure was her mother's slip, the one thing Juliette brought to the US after  the war. This wasn't just any piece of lingerie. It was an exquisite creation with a Parisian Maid label, fashioned of pink silk charmeuse with sexy black lace scallops around the bosom and a flouncy hem of the same lace. Madeline's father may have liberated her mother's hometown of Bayeux after D-Day, but he must have been Juliette's prisoner after one look at her in this chemise.

Madeline remembered  the day her mother discovered  her foraging in the cedar chest for more "dress up" clothes. Mother had made a strange noise before she rushed over to take the slip from her daughter's hands. She caressed the silk and reverently folded the garment before placing it back into the tissue paper and the Maison Chantelle box from which it came. "This is our secret," Juliette had told her. "You are my one daughter who appreciates true beauty."

Madeline found the key in the far corner of the second shelf of the jewelry box. She grabbed it and flew across her mother's room  just as the door bell rang.  Madeline was certain  it was another casserole delivery.  She'd have to go out and make an appearance with her sisters to accept the condolences and offer a cup of coffee. Quickly, knowing she had little time before they came looking for her, she opened the cedar chest and found the box her mother had hidden so many years ago.

Madeline wasted no time. She lifted her sensible TravelSmith knit black dress, appropriate for mourning, over her head and slipped the French silk chemise over her bosom, letting the sensuous fabric glide past her waist and travel effortlessly to  her hips. The black lace on the bottom of the garment reached her knees and the fit, to her surprise, was perfect. She tossed her dress back over it.

"Madeline," the oldest sister called. She pulled the choker off so as not to raise any suspicions with her sisters.  "The Sanderson's have stopped by and they brought a lovely tuna casserole."

"Coming," Madeline said as she placed the key and choker back precisely where she had found it. 

"To beauty", she whispered to her mother before she  joined them for coffee.