Author’s Note: Trixie Belden and related characters are the properly of Golden Publishing, and I am receiving no compensation for writing this story. The new characters introduced here are a product of my overactive imagination. Regan’s wife, Leda was introduced in an earlier story, Second Chances.

"Here," she croaked hoarsely.

Later that day…

The Bob-Whites were seated together on a bench in the large gymnasium as Mr. Stratton tried for the third time to get the microphone in front of him to work. The ancient sound system finally registered the sound of his tapping fingers followed by loud squeal.

Diana covered her ears with her hands.

"Ouch, now I won’t be able to here when…I mean if they call my name," Di joked. Diana Lynch had been told from the cradle that she was pretty, but she really wasn’t vain at all."

Trixie wondered what it must be that confident. To feel that sure that everyone would look at you as you entered a room. To be that sure that someone you loved thought you were pretty.

Diana noticed the glum look on her friend’s face. She threw her arm around her Trixie’s shoulders. "You haven’t looked in a mirror lately, have you?" she asked reading Trixie’s mind. "Half the boys in this room would kill for you to look at them the way you look at Jim."

"It’s that obvious?" she asked miserably.

Di smiled and shook her head and turned and looked at Honey. She whispered, "Not as obvious as the way Jim looks at her."

"…and now for the announcement of your homecoming court, here’s student body president Martin Belden."

The student clapped as the handsome young man left his friends to take the podium. "Welcome, my fellow knowledge seekers! My most sincere appreciation for your attendance this afternoon as we select the fair damsels that shall bestow the honor…"

"Get to the point, Mart," warned Mr. Stratton, quite familiar with Mart’s vocabulary.

"First we will announce the junior attendants, and then we will announce the senior attendants who will also be running for queen. The queen will be announced next Friday at halftime," Mart continued.

The students cheered as Mart proudly announced the first name, "Ms. Diana Lynch."

With a flick of her shining hair and a wave to the crowd, Di moved toward one of the twelve chairs near the podium.

"Ms. Madeleine Wheeler," he continued as Honey smiled shyly and waved.

Feeling very lonely. Trixie slumped further down on the hard seat and missed the next three names.

"….and finally, Ms. Beatrix Belden."

Shocked Trixie looked up to see Honey and Di motioning to her. She walked to the front of the auditorium not even hearing the wolf-whistles and clapping.

As Mart began reading off the list of seniors, Honey and Di hugged their friend.

"You don’t look very happy," said Honey.

"You don’t have to go to the dance with Tad," Trixie retorted leaving the girls speechless.

The next week was a blur for the girls. Every afternoon they completed their usual chores at home, exercised the horses, did their homework and then debated on hair and makeup for the dance.

"It is impossible to do anything with this," said Trixie with a sigh as she ran her fingers thought her hair.

"It’s not as bad as that," laughed a pretty brunette.

Trixie, Di and Honey turned to look at Leda Regan, the wife of the Wheelers' groom. Leda had come to Sleepyside two years before and had become a friend and confidante to all of the Bob-Whites. With her sweet personality and quiet beauty, it was impossible not to love her. The girls spent many afternoons, like this one, relaxing and chatting with the young woman in the tiny apartment that she and Bill Regan shared.

A few weeks before, Leda had gone to New York to help the girls select their dresses. Honey had selected a deep gold that had complimented her own golden looks and Di had selected her usual regal purple. Leda had wisely steered Trixie away from her usual baby blue to a more sophisticated slate blue gown.

"If you want certain people to consider you grown up, sometimes you need to look a little more grown up," Leda had said as she handed Trixie the dress to try.

Correctly guessing that the other girls could handle their preparations, Leda volunteered to assist Trixie on the afternoon of the dance.

The evening of the game was cool and crisp and the Bob-Whites, including the visiting Brian, enjoyed cheering their team to victory. For Trixie, the evening was less than pleasant with the crowning of Lauren as queen at halftime and Tad slipping on the dewy grass near the end on the fourth quarter.

Trixie hung up the receiver of the payphone. Celebrating students crowed Wimpy’s after the game. The tiny restaurant was filled beyond its meager capacity, and she had to gently push and shove to get back to the table where her brothers and friends waited.

"My luck!" she wailed to the other Bob-Whites as she slipped into the booth.

"How is Tad?" asked Honey.

"His ankle is fractured," said Trixie burying her face in her hands. "Only my date would break his leg the day before the dance!"

"Wait," said Brian teasing his younger sister. "I come home to find you raving about going with Tad, and now you are complaining that you don’t have to?"

"Said that way, it doesn’t sound so bad," said Trixie immediately cheered. "I do feel sorry for Tad, thought. He was the star of the game tonight, and now he won’t be able to play again this year."

Brian looked thoughtfully across the table at his sister and then went to make a phone call of his own.

Saturday Afternoon…

"Sit still," said Leda exasperated with Trixie’s squirming. "Dressing Bets is easier," she said referring to her one year old daughter, Elizabeth.

Leda had dried Trixie’s hair and now wielded a curling iron and bobby pins. She was glad that Trixie’s hair, while still short, was no longer cropped closely. She touched up the silky, natural curls and pulled them back from her face and off her neck in tiny sections. When she was done, the shiny blonde hair formed a crown of curls but was smoothed back from her face.

She then lightly powdered Trixie’s smooth, tanned skin and added touches of blush, eyeliner and lipstick. When she was finished, Trixie looked elegant, but not overly done.

As Trixie slipped her feet into the low-heeled silver shoes, Leda removed the rich gown from the hanger. She slipped it over Trixie’s head and settled it into place. The simple satin bodice was fitted and had tiny capped sleeves that showed off Trixie’s shapely arms. The wide sweetheart neckline perfectly suited her face and the bias cut velvet skirt fell from the empire waist to emphasize rather than hide her gentle curves.

Leda reached in the bag that she had used to carry her makeup and tools and removed a pearl bracelet. She clasped the bracelet around Trixie’s wrist and stepped back to admire her work.

"I can’t wear this," Trixie said running her fingers over the triple strands of black Tahitian pearls.

"Yes, you can said," Leda smiling. "It’s the perfect piece of jewelry for you and that dress. Anything else would be too much."

"No," said Trixie starting to unclasp the priceless piece. "What if I lost it?"

"Wear it," said Leda. "You would have to take better care of it than I did." A devilish grin spread over her beautiful face. "My dad gave it to me for my fifteenth birthday and I pawned it for smokes. He found out about it, redeemed it from the pawnshop and kept in under lock and key until last year. That was during one of my more rebellious phases."

Trixie grinned back at the quiet, clean-scrubbed twenty-four year old and tried to imagine the terror she had been at fifteen. When Leda had appeared two years ago, the Bob-Whites had found out a lot about her and Regan’s not so innocent past. They had for once come to understand why the handsome redhead expected so much and was so protective of them.

Leda made a few tiny adjustments and, satisfied with the results led Trixie to the mirror.

Trixie gasped at the image that blinked back at her. She looked like herself, but could not believe that she had been made to look so elegant. There was nothing fussy about her finely cut dress and the simple hairstyle looked like an elegant updo. Leda’s light application on makeup had enhanced her sweet face making it look young but polished.

"Happy?" asked Leda leaving Trixie to admire her reflection.

"Yes," Trixie finally gasped.

"Helen, she’s ready!" called Leda before returning to Trixie’s side with a small box.

She removed a fine spray of tiny pink roses from the box and quickly pinned them in Trixie's hair rather than on her dress.

"Your date awaits!"

Trixie looked at her friend in confusion, but was quickly led out the door to the stairs. Looking down, she saw Jim looking handsome in his tux.

"Hello, gorgeous," he said as he recovered his gift of speech. "You look incredible."

Trixie blushed at the attention and stammered out a "thank you." She quickly hugged both of her parents and Leda before heading out the door to the Wheelers' limo, which had been loaned to the Bob-Whites for the evening. Inside the elegant car, Brian and Honey, Mart (for once too astonished to speak), and Dan and Stephanie were waiting. They were soon at the Lynches’ mansion where Diana and a formal dinner awaited them.

During dinner, the group talked of adventures they had had together as well as current happenings in their small town and the city. Seeing her friends wrapped up in their conversations, Trixie seized an opportunity to talk to Jim.

Trixie leaned over toward Jim and whispered, "I thought you couldn’t make it to this weekend."

"I couldn’t make it to the game, and after I learned that you were going to the dance with Tad, I didn’t see any reason to come home at all," he responded softly.

"You could have asked me before Tad did," she said.

"I wasn’t sure you would say yes," Jim whispered avoiding her eyes.

"OH," Trixie said suddenly very interested in her drink.

The Bob-Whites enjoyed their leisurely dinner and then headed to the school gymnasium.

As they walked inside the room, the teenagers were startled to see the room had been transformed into a white and silver vision. An "Early Snow" had been selected for this year’s theme and the winter wonderland that surrounded them was incredible. Wires had been run across the room high above their heads and hundreds of glittering snowflakes had been suspended at varying heights. White batting and white confetti had been banked against the walls and tiny white lights decorated the doorframes and tables. Silver icicles dripped down the walls over white paper. A disco ball had been hung in the middle of the floor, but rather than providing a retro look to the room, provided tiny twinkling lights that gave the illusion of snow falling.

"Would you like to dance," Jim asked, still looking at the beautiful girl in wonder. Trixie nodded and proudly walked out on the floor as a popular song began to play.

Time magically slipped away as Jim and Trixie danced with each other and their friends and schoolmates to the selection of pop tunes and oldies.

Later that evening, as the music began to slow down, Jim claimed his date from one of the bedazzled football players as and they began to slow dance to "I Only Have Eyes for You."

 

"How appropriate," said Jim to a very happy Trixie.

Jim removed his arm from around Trixie long enough to take something out of his pocket. "Trixie," he said, "I miss you so much when I’m at school. I can’t imagine not having you in my life."

"I feel the same way," Trixie said hopping he couldn’t see her blushing in the dimly lighted room.

Encouraged by her words, Jim continued, "I promised my self years ago that I wouldn’t ask you to marry me until I was finished with college. But I need to know if you will to be my girl until then. I realized in the last week that I could lose you to Tad or someone else if I didn’t let you know how I felt."

Trixie hid her face against her shoulder until she could control her emotions. "Oh course I’ll be your girl," she said so softly that he barely heard her words.

Jim took her hand in his and slipped his great aunt’s ring on her slender finger. "I never really liked the idea of promise rings, but I had your father get this out of the safety deposit box for me yesterday. I would be pleased if you would wear it and think of me when you see it. I love you, Trix. I always have and always will."

"I love you too, Jim. I have since we found you in the mansion years ago. I just wasn’t sure you felt the

same way…" She was silenced by Jim’s gentle kiss.

The song ended and Jim and Trixie found themselves near Lauren and her date. Trixie looked over Lauren with her high piled curls and flounced baby blue dress. Her arms, neck and ears were trimmed with sparkling stones. "She is beautiful," Trixie thought to herself, her high spirits momentarily subdued. Trixie suddenly smiled as she remembered the word Leda had used to describe her in a similar dress that Trixie had favored. "It looks common," Leda had said wrinkling her perfect nose. "You look distinctive. Therefore you need a distinctive gown," she had said triumphantly holding up a simple dress that was somewhere between a deep gray and blue. Trixie had been unsure of the sedate dress until she had heard Di’s astonished gasp. Surprised by how elegant their pretty friend looked in the dress, Diana and Honey had backed up Leda’s choice.

"I thought I wasn’t going to get a chance to dance with you tonight," Lauren purred seductively although she felt somewhat disconcerted by Trixie’s sudden smile. "She looks like she knows something I don’t," Lauren thought uneasily as she studied the petite girl for the hundredth time that evening. Once again, she noted the simplicity of her dress and hair as well as the gorgeous pearl bracelet.

"You aren’t," said Jim leading Trixie away. Lauren stood looking as thought she had been slapped and her date flickered a final, disappointed glance over Trixie.

As she and Jim began dancing to the next number, Trixie smiled sweetly at Lauren over Jim’s shoulder and gently moved her hand until the stone caught the light and Lauren’s eye.

"The kitten has claws," Jim said looking down at his love.

Trixie only smiled and kissed Jim as she had wanted to for so long.