In the two years since that wonderful free winter night Ice had never found the garden gate to be left open again although she checked regularly.  Roger had kept his word that night much to her surprise. He never said a word about her night in the city and he even snuck them back into the house very clearly proving that he wasn’t lying when he said it wasn’t his first time doing so. Ice was grateful for this as exhausted as she was, she wasn’t sure she would have been able to be as stealthy as what was necessary for her own route back to her room. As she split off Roger gave her a questioning look.

  “My room’s on the other end of the house.” She barely managed to whisper an explanation as she fought to stave off her laughter. It was very clear that Roger paid very little attention to what actually went on inside the house.

  “Good night then.” He whispered looking the friendliest Ice had ever seen him. Probably it was more fun sneaking around at night with a friend rather than being alone.  She hoped they would become friends. It sometimes got very lonely without one. One closer to her own age would be a lot of fun. Sure, he was eight years older but that was the closet she had ever gotten to her own age group.

  “Good night.”

  That night she wondered if the others ever snuck out and she did for a long time afterward.

          While her friendship with Roger hadn’t quite blossomed the way she had hoped it would he was still a friend for certain. He was often gone for long periods though leaving her with no one to talk too.

          His birthday was coming up soon and Ice knew that he’d returned home for that for certain. Remembering a conversation that they had once had while walking in the gardens about a particular kind of bird he liked she began to draw a sketch. She had been applying herself to realism lately and thought the drawing came out quite nice when she was though. She put a small signature on the bottom right corner just to make sure he would know who it was from, and a happy birthday wish on the back so he would know what for she carefully rolled it and tied a scrape piece of string into a bow. That night when the house was quiet, she took the same secret route Roger had revealed when they snuck back in and left the rolled-up drawing on his bed where he would be sure to see it.

          In the following days Ice began to notice some strange things. The first was the sudden doubling of her classes and the second was that William, Amelia, and Simeon suddenly started acting nice. Giving compliments on dresses that were two years old and how her hair looked when it was done up the same way she always did it. She took to avoiding them all together including foregoing a trip to the gardens if when she first checked out her window, she would spot one.

  Even her aunt made more efforts to interact with her. Summoning her to dine with them frequently, asking how her studies were going, and repetitiously saying how fortunate they were to have had her put into their lives.

   They very clearly wanted something from her but what she could not imagine. What could she possibly have that they would want? She hurried on her way back to her room after supper. Today Charlie would drop off the updated servant’s schedule and Ice was hoping to catch him and talk for a while and try to figure out what was going on. 

          When she arrived, she saw that he had not yet been there, so she waited nervously pacing the room until he arrived. When there came a knock on the door, she forced herself to count to three before answering instead of throwing the door open herself.

 “Enter!”  Charlie opened the door and sheet of paper in his hand.

   “Charlie! Your timing is perfect! I want to ask you something.” Receiving no indication not to continue she took this as an agreement. “My aunt and cousins have been acting peculiar lately. I believe they want something from me, but I can’t possibly think what I have that they could want. Do you know what they’re planning?”

  “I have not heard of any plans directly related to you Miss. However, I have heard Roger is expected to return home tomorrow and another socialite by the name of Dave Winkles and his son Richard Winkles will be staying here for a few days and they are set to arrive in three days' time.”

  “Are they here for a party?”

“No Miss.”

 “Then it has to be something to do with them. Maybe Roger we hear more about what’s going on when he gets back. Thank you, Charlie.”

Ice found sleep difficult as she pondered what it all could mean. But eventually she drifted into a fitful slumber.

  Roger arrived the next morning and was immediately embraced by hid family and drowned in question about where he had gone, what he had done, and what he had brought back for them. When he finally freed himself, Ice thought he looked like he had just been mauled. She decided to wait until he left the solitude of his room to ask her own questions.

           In the meantime, she had a book she had to finish reading by the end of the week. Roger turned up at her doorway a couple hours later.

 “Hey Ice. How’s things? Thanks for the bird. It’s cool.” He wandered over to the bed and plopped down.

 “You’re welcome.” Ice said through a laugh.

 “What’s so funny?” He demanded throwing a pillow at her.

  “Nothing. It’s just that before you started traveling all the time you never used to talk so casually like this. You used to sound like a starched cotton shirt and now you sound like a real person.”

“Well thanks. I try.”

  “Where’d you go this time?”

 “Italy. It’s beautiful this time of year.” He laughed.

 “So, I hear.” She threw the pillow back. “Listen there is something up though.” She saw Roger sit a little straighter and knew she had his attention. “Would you keep your ears to the ground for me? Everyone’s been acting really freaky lately and I think it has something to do with me.”

“Why do you think that?”

” Yesterday Amelia complimented my dress which is two years old.”

“Yikes. That is scary when she starts acting like she doesn’t care about keeping her closet fresh. I see what I can find out.”

  “Thanks Roger. There’s a Dave and Richard Winkles visiting in a couple of days I think it might have something to do with them.

  “Double yikes! I’ve never liked that family they’re a bunch of creeps.”

          Ice found out for herself what the visit had to do with her the next day during her studies. She was in the schoolroom taking a written test on an 80,000-word book she had read titled The Dedication and Prestige of Proper Umbrella Etiquette. 80,000 words! Just she was getting to the part of her report where she makes up the mention of a dragon eating a teacher while holding an umbrella pristinely there came a knock on the door.

  The brisk tutor assigned to her today answered swiftly. “Enter!”

  Charlie stood in the doorway.

    “Madame wishes to see the young lady in the parlor promptly.”

“Very well.” Barked the woman.

  Ice hustled through the hallways following behind Charlie. They came to a stop in front of a set of painted white double oak doors. Charlie quietly slipped inside to announce her arrival. A moment later Charlie opened one of the doors and bent into a small bow extending his arm into proceed into the room.

 With a nod of thank Ice entered not quite know what to expect.

Aunt Priscilla was sitting on a sofa awaiting her.

  “My dear child, you’ve grown up into a woman so fast. Where did all the years go? I never really noticed until recently. And when I did you can be assured that I leapt into action right away. I want you to be taken care of. Really, I do. Which is why I’ve invited an old family friend and his son to come for a visit, isn’t that just splendid?”

  ‘Tomorrow you and Richard Winkles will have a chance to have tea and Dave Winkes and I will discuss arrangements for the ceremony. It’s all set.” Her aunt delivered this barrage with a bright tone and polite in manner in spite of not inviting Ice to sit down.

 “Ceremony?” She questioned.

 “Yes, your wedding ceremony! Isn’t it wonderful? I believe I plan for a June wedding the weather so nice that time of year. Oh, there’s so much to think about I must get started immediately. You may leave me now.” Aunt Priscilla flapped her hand dismissively.

   Stunned Ice obeyed looking to Charlie for some guidance.

 “I believe your studies have been canceled for the rest of the day, Miss.”

 “Thank you, Charlie.” She gave a dazed nod before heading up to her room.

  It wasn’t long before the planned wedding was known by everyone in the house. Roger showed up at her room after having heard the news from William.

  “Hey Ice. I’ve had my ear to the ground and you’re never going to believe what I heard. It’s the craziest thing.” He tried to joke knowing already how she had received the news.

 “Hey Roger.” Ice mumbled staring out at the garden from her window seat.

 “What are you going to do?” He asked.

  “I really wish I knew.”

  “We’ll come up with something. I don’t want no family of mine being married off to a creep like him.” This finally got a small smile out of her.

 “Thanks.”

Ice still hadn’t come up with anything by dinner time and neither had Roger. Or bedtime. Or Breakfast. Or when they greeted their guests as they arrived. Or when they had to suffer standing in the hot sun listening to Dave and Richard both complain about the terrible car ride for close to twenty minutes before Aunt Priscilla finally managed to herd them into the house. It was only at teatime that Ice knew exactly what she had to do. As Richard continued talking about what he wanted out of life as he had been for the last hour Ice ordered a fresh pot of hot tea. When it arrived, she stood to take it from the confused kitchen maid.

  “Richard. I’m afraid this just isn’t going to work out.” And with that she removed the lid and dumped the whole pot across his front.