The charity polo thing, which I was only at for the food, turned out to be in the afternoon on a Saturday, so when I tried to call Kat to settle my nerves before we left, she was still asleep. Stupid time zones.

“Why am I even nervous?” I asked my reflection in the mirror, shaking my hands by my sides as though that would shake the worry right out of me. “I’m just going to watch some silly event and eat food!”

“Probably has something to do with the host,” Ezrah said from my doorway. “I’m to escort you down there as your grandmother isn’t feeling well enough to attend.”

“Thank God!” I breathed, before clapping my hand over my mouth. “Oh please don’t tell her I said that! She might actually kill me. They’ll never find the body, either, because that woman is cunning.”

Ezrah laughed and I turned around to scold him. I was shocked to find him dressed up quite formally with pressed pants, a button down, and a not-matching suit jacket. Even dressed up, Ezrah was Ezrah. “What are you wearing?”

“Excuse me?” he asked, putting his hand to his chest as though offended. “What am I wearing? What are you wearing? Is that a dress?”

“Oh, yes, truly shocking as you’ve never seen me wear a dress before.” I rolled my eyes. “I meant why are you dressed like that to drop me off at some event.”

“Well, I’m not just dropping you off as I was actually invited to attend.”

He has to be joking! How did he get an invitation to the party of a prince or duke or whatever? I should probably figure out what to call him.

“Okay, pick your jaw up off the floor. I know some people. And I happen to know you are nervous. You wanna talk about that?” He offered his arm to me once I had slid my feet into my wedge heeled sandals.

I gratefully accepted his arm to clutch along with the rickety bannister as we descended the staircase that still felt like a small dog could easily fall through the wood. “No, I don’t want to talk about my being nervous.”

“Not even going to try to deny it?”

I turned my head away from him to hide the blush that must have been forming as the heat flooded my cheeks. “I guess I’ve never been to an event like this. I’m not sure of any of the protocols or anything, though I’ve learned about them in books. Real life feels different.”

“What makes you, Adelaide Becker, suddenly want to fit in with rules and protocols? Don’t you want to get out of here as fast as possible?” He nudged my shoulder with his own as we stepped onto the level ground of the main floor foyer.

“You know how I have this grandmother…?”

Ezrah laughed. “Well, in that case, we’d best be leaving because if she hears I got you there late she might fire us both.”

“Can’t fire your granddaughter,” I pointed out.

“Can’t you?”

He had a good point. If anyone could fire a granddaughter, it would be Nora. So I picked up my small handbag and hurried out the door behind him, thankful that it had not rained since the night before so my shoes were not digging into the driveway as we ran to the car.

We arrived a few minutes early and, therefore, were wandering about the back gardens — which were more like a park — when the event was officially opened. When they say ‘officially opened’ apparently they mean the person hosting it gives some kind of speech welcoming you and then people politely clap and then everything returns to exactly how it was before as a master of ceremonies takes over talking to the microphone and no one pays him any attention.

“It’s good to see you here.” Edward appeared at our side and reached his hand out for Ezrah rather than me. Weird.

“Thank-you for the invitation.”

These two are talking like they know each other or something. Are they that good at hiding?

“And I’m glad you could attend as well, Adelaide,” Edward said, turning his attention toward me and picking up my hand. His eyes looked up at mine as he gently clasped my hand in his. Something about the way he looked at me felt personal and he let his thumb trace the place on my ring finger where my engagement ring should normally sit.

“Of course,” I answered, trying to regain the thoughts that were spinning around in my head. “I wouldn’t have missed it.”

Ezrah chuckled beside me, hiding his mouth behind his hand. If we weren’t in this type of society, I would have smacked him for that. As it was, I settled for a stern glare.

I swallowed the lump growing in my throat as Edward still held my hand. “Won’t people notice?”

“Maybe.”

Didn’t he care? Did I? Everything was quickly becoming more confusing. Is it possible the excitement of all of this is softening me up to the idea of actually maybe agreeing to this engagement? And to think it had happened when the ring wasn’t even on my finger.

“Well, I’m afraid I must leave you both here. I’ll be expected to make the rounds to all of my guests.”

“Of course,” I answered, my hand dropping from his and falling to my side.

“You should probably curtsey,” Ezrah whispered somewhat loudly as he bowed his head briefly toward Edward’s retreating form. “Wouldn’t want people to think you’re too familiar.”

“Hilarious,” I said, gently bending my knees and turning my head to face Ezrah. “You are so hilarious.”

“Shall we?” He offered his arm to me again. “Wouldn’t want you getting lost and starting any rumours.”

“That’s enough,” I said through gritted teeth. “This is already weird enough without you acting all odd.”

“Fair enough. Can we at least eat?”

I nodded and followed him toward a nearby tent which turned out to be full of delicious snacks. See, this part I could definitely get used to, I thought to myself as I looked around at all the bite sized food and delicious sweets. No matter what happened, I wasn’t letting that opportunity go to waste, so I dove right in and started stuffing small yet delicious food into my mouth.

What is it with fancy food always being so small?