“So said the note he sent home. Mama and I seized the excuse to go out too. We haven’t had much time together, just the two of us, since the school term began.”

“A good evening, then?” Without looking, Lily visualized the pattern of her wallpaper. Where the stripes should be, where the flowers. Lifted a finger and traced her imagined line. A peek to check her accuracy brought a smile. “Did a certain someone find you today?”

“A certain someone may have walked me home from school.” The wall between them didn’t stand a chance of dampening the grin in Ivy’s tone. “We couldn’t linger. He was only out running an errand and had to report back to the office yet. But I think Daddy gave him the errand to run just then because he knew it was when I’d be walking home.”

And he’d known too that Lily hadn’t been anywhere near finished enough to meet her sister herself. “That sounds like Daddy. And like your Clarke, to take the opportunity.”

“Well, that’s going to have to change.”

Lily’s eyes flew open. “What?”

“Oh!” Ivy laughed. “Sorry. I moved my dressing table today, and I just looked up and realized I can see myself in the mirror from here. That won’t do at all. Just a second, let me tilt it up. I can’t stand looking at myself when I’m trying to talk.”

Lily chuckled and said loudly enough to still be heard as Ivy moved, “I don’t know why. Your Clarke seems to quite enjoy staring at you while you talk.”

“Oh, stop.” Ivy’s voice was more distant. But then footsteps, and the sound came of her settling in again. “And also, don’t. I love how you call him that—my Clarke.”

Lily pressed her hand to the wall where she imagined her sister to be. “He is your Clarke. I think he was the moment he set eyes on you. Has he proposed yet?”

She asked it solely because she knew it would send her sister into peals of laughter. The sound of it filled both their rooms and probably stretched out its fingers to find their parents too. “Silly Lily.” Even the words were a chuckle. “A bit too soon for that, don’t you think?”

“Oh, I don’t know. It wasn’t too much longer than this that Ara and her Camden knew each other before he proposed. Sometimes you know.”

Emphasis on the you. Lily’s breath hitched, and she prayed Ivy wouldn’t hear it. She couldn’t even be certain that the Zivon she thought she was getting to know was the real Zivon. Every time she turned around, she saw a new layer under the previous one. The man of faith. The man of intelligence. The man of devotion. The man afraid to trust.