20

THURSDAY, 20 JUNE 1918

You know, dearest sister, one of these days it may behoove you to actually remember your own umbrella.” Lily sent Ivy a narrow-eyed glare around the shaft of the brolly they were both huddled under. Of course, she was also fighting a grin, so it wasn’t likely to terrify her sister into responsibility.

Ivy laughed. “Why bother, when you can just supply my need? Besides, it’s cozy.”

“Until you have to walk home in the rain without it later.”

Her sister sent her a mischievous smirk. “Clarke is walking me home this evening. So if it happens to still be raining and I happen to not have my own umbrella and must share his . . .”

“Ah. So this was planned irresponsibility. I see.” Lily gave up and chuckled as they neared Ivy’s school. “Are the girls getting antsy yet, ready for their summer holiday? I remember this last term taking forever to finish.”

“They’re little monsters.” Though still Ivy smiled as she said it. “This last month is always impossible. And Diana Oglesby has been especially disruptive this week because her brother is coming home to recover—trench fever, she tells me. And everyone else in the class. Repeatedly.”

“Luckily, their teacher is in the best of moods, thanks to a certain someone.”

Ivy grinned, though it only lasted a second. She sent Lily a woebegone look and said, “I miss having you and Mr. Marin out with us. It’s been a month—do you think Daddy will relent soon? I mean, I know he’s allowed him to come to dinner, but it just isn’t the same as the four of us out for a promenade in the park.”

Lily sighed. “I’ve been prodding him. But I’m afraid to push too hard, lest he rescind what he’s granted.”

She’d been plotting exactly how far she could make that “dinners are acceptable” dictate stretch, though. This Saturday marked the day Zivon should have been celebrating his wedding to Alyona, and Lily meant to support him through it. Distract him from it. And, yes, see if any emotion peeked out about it. Mama and Daddy would be dining elsewhere that evening, so she couldn’t just beg for him to be invited to their table. There had to be something she could do, though.

Ivy sighed too and adjusted her hat. “I think it may be time for some well-placed rebellion.”

“Ivy.”

“What?” Her sister shot her a look that was somehow both all innocence and all mischief. “You’re a grown woman. And Daddy’s letting fear govern him. Wouldn’t we be honoring him more if we checked him in that than if we let it govern us too?”