Welcome to Wonderland (OCxOC)

Chapter 2

Scarlet got herself a glass of non-alcoholic campaign and drank it slowly as she leaned against the table. She looked around the party, observing what was going on but not paying too much attention or mind. Though one thing did catch her eye. It was a white rabbit in a blue trench coat. It raised its pocket watch ,which was clearly too big for it, and pointed it at her as if telling her to hurry up. It disappeared behind the bushes as quickly as it appeared causing Scarlet to follow it after putting her drink down. She thought that she was imagining things but her curiosity kept growing to find out if what she saw was true or not. 

Meanwhile, Alice was dealing with her own dilemma. The Chattaway sisters had approached her, both wearing matching knowing grins. "We have a secret to tell you." Faith the elder sister said cheerfully. Alice raised a single brow and said "If you tell me it's not much of a secret anymore" she pointed out bluntly. "Perhaps we shouldn't" Fiona said turning to her sister before adding, "But we decided we should!"

"If we tell her she wouldn't be surprised" Faith said before turning to Alice, "Will you be surprised?" Alice was very much fighting to urge to roll her eyes annoyed, "Not if you tell me. But since you brought it up than you should," she said. "No we don't have to" Faith said before she and her sister added in unison "Actually we won't." Alice was clearly getting tired from this conversation and the secret so she decided to use a trick that Scarlet has taught her when they were younger on how to deal with situations like this. "I wonder if your mother knows that you two have swam naked in the Havershim's pond." This caused both of the sisters' demeanours to change drastically and their smiles dropped giving way to poorly masked fear. "You wouldn't!" Faith scolded Alice under her breath trying to regain control of the situation again. "Oh, but I would" Alice assured her without hesitation. Many people thought that she was the kinder sister compared to Scarlet but in reality they were two sides of the same coin that could be swapped when needed. Alice looked through the crowd before raising a gloved hand to gesture in a specific direction, "There's your mother," she said before raising her hand to wave the older woman over when suddenly Fiona blurted out, "Hamish is going to ask you for your hand!" which caused Alice's breath to get caught in her throat and her heart to start beating painfully. 

Alice than looked over at them, trying and hoping to find any expressions of trickery in their eyes and faces but found none. "What did you just say?" Before they could say more, Margaret Kingsleigh, the oldest of the three siblings, pulled Alice away from the twins clearly unhappy. "You ruined the surprise, idiots!" she said glaring at her siblings before walking away from them with Alice towards the dance floor. She did notice Scarlet nearby, walking around as if she's looking for something. Alice didn't notice her younger sister, too deep in thoughts about what she just heard. "So they were telling the truth....and that's why Scarlet has been arguing with mother for a while now...does everyone know?" she asked looking down at the floor. "It's why they've all come. This is your engagement party. Hamish will ask you today at the gazebo. When you say 'yes'..." Margaret was about to continue but she got cut off. 

"But I don't know if I want to marry Hamish. Alice halted, getting out of Margaret's grasp to look her in the eye. Alice has never entertained the idea of every marrying Hamish. She supposed she would have to marry a man at some point but she had always vainly hoped that she could escape that expectation.  "Who then?" Margaret straightened her posture looking down at Alice with a challenging  gaze of her own. "You won't do than a Lord" 

 Alice gazed over at Hamis who blew   his nose, than studied the contents of his kerchief, then it and puts it in his pocket. She than felt her face grow warm and her palms getting sweaty from the stress that this revelation came with. "You'll soon be twenty, Alice." Margaret gently reminded her sister. " That pretty face won't last forever. You don't want to end up like Aunt Imogene." she covertly gestured towards the old spinster, sitting alone by herself. Aunt Imogene was wearing a yellowing white dress that had visibly gone out of fashion, her roughed cheeks visible from across the garden. She refreshed herself with a large handheld fan, unstyled curls drooping around her face as she gazed around the garden as if looking for someone. 

"And you don't want to be a burden to mother don't you?" Margaret asked, as if to guilt trip Alice into doing what is expected of her. "No of course not. But will Scarlet have to go through the same thing?" Alice asked knowing how her sister is about marriage especially at her age. That's another thing the two of them had in common. "She has a while before she has to get betrothed herself, so she may be free for now but its likely that she'll have to go through the same thing if she isn't so stubborn about the whole thing." Margaret told Alice as she watched Scarlet walking around for a bit. "So. You will marry Hamish. You will be happy with him just like I am with Lowell and your life will be perfect. It's already been decided." 

"Alice dear," Lady Ascot appeared in front of the pair, her posture stiff. "Shall we take a leisurely  stroll through the garden? Just you and me?" she asked. "I'll you to it" Margaret said as she squeezed Alice's hand reassuringly before Lady Ascot took Alice's hand, leading the young woman through hedge garden at a brisk pace. When they were out of earshot of the other guest, the older woman asked, "Do you know what I've always been dreading?" 

Alice shock her head having no idea what the answer could be. "The of the aristocracy?" she asked guessing randomly. "Ugly grandchildren. But you're so lovely. You're to produce little..." Lady Ascot said but had to cut herself off and gasped when she noticed the roses. "Imbeciles! The gardeners planted white roses when I asked for red!" Alice cocked her head, cogs turning. She was thankful for the distraction that Lady Ascot had provided. "You could always paint the roses red," she suggested. This caused Lady Ascot to look at Alice strangely. "What an odd thing to say." As she led Alice through the squared hedges, chilling gloved hands held onto Alice's as and rambled poetically about Hamish's digestion, Alice found herself distracted and her thoughts and eyes started to wander. Her eyes trailed along the row of rose bushes, contemplating which colour she would paint the flowers. Purple perhaps since it was Scarlet's favourite colour, or maybe a pale blue. 

The bushes rustled suddenly and Alice perked up as she saw something large and white moving through the hedges. "Did you see that?" Alice asked Lady Ascot gesturing in the direction where she saw something. "See what?" Lady Ascot asked confused. "It was a rabbit, I think" Alice said taking a closer look at the bush to try and find it. "Nast things. I do enjoy setting the dogs on them. Don't dawdle." Lady Ascot rushed Alice towards the gazebo, getting impatient about the engagement. 

Alice cast her gaze back to the bushes where the creature had moved. Again, a rustle in the leaves and a small animal distinctively rabbit-shaped, darted out of the bushes and ran in front of them. "There!" Alice cried out, pointing in the direction that the rabbit came from. "Did you see it this time?" Lady Ascot was clearly getting irritated now, "See what?" 

"The rabbit!" Alice emphasised, pulling on the older woman's hand to try and follow where the creature had gone off to. "Don't shout!" Lady Ascot tugged her back harshly, straightening Alice back onto the path. "Pay attention. Hamish said that you were easily distracted. Now what was I saying" she said trying to get Alice to forget about this stupid rabbit. "Hamish has a blockage" Alice muttered to herself, parroting the few words she vaguely remembered from the conversation before. Her mind was elsewhere, scanning over the hedges looking for the rabbit as if her life depended on it. Which unknowingly to her it did, as well as Scarlet's. 

"You will have to excuse me for now," Alice said before running into the wooded area of the path to get away from Lady Ascot and from the conversation about marriage.