Dedicating Every Day to You

Chapter Forty-Two

"Go and get the mail for us, Kat?" John is sitting at the table with Alex when I stumble, bleary-eyed, downstairs at ten thirty in the morning. I don't know how adults do it every day- I'm utterly exhausted from working yesterday.

Getting the mail at the Laurens-Hamilton household is a bit of a process. You have to go outside and walk down the driveway to an actual mailbox, the red 'you've got mail' flag painted with rainbow stripes. I obligingly skip down the driveway and pull out the mail. Bills for my dads, something with the president's letterhead on it, a postcard from Theodosia for me, and a very fancy-looking orange envelope. I sit down right on the porch steps to read the postcard.

Dear Kathryn-

Hello from Colorado! I'm visiting my cousin Tabor, and I'm having such a great time! We went to the Fine Arts museum- which is where I got this postcard- and I stared at one painting for three hours. My cousin and his girlfriend Alli finally went and ate lunch without me. It was such a nice painting. I want to get something of mine hung at a museum one day. Anyway, love you lots, miss you tons, and just wanted to let you know that I'm headed home!

Love, Theo

I clap in excitement, dropping the card. Theo's coming home soon! I've missed all of my friends who are away and doing stuff with their summers. I've been secretly jealous, just a little, of my friends who are off exploring other states and even countries, while I'm stuck at home.

I gather up the letters and walk towards the house, tripping a little on the gravel of the driveway. It's late July, nearly August, and the weather is balmy and warm already, only a few hours into the morning. My favorite pajamas- black with red trim and tiny ninja cartwheeling across them- cling to my legs in the heat.

Once inside, I deposit the bills on the hall table, deciding to bring the very fancy envelope (which has some calligraphy on the outside) and the letter from the president directly to their recipients. Which are Alex, for the missive from the POTUS, and all three of us for the fancy orange envelope. I've never seen any letters quite like this one before, but it's quite possible that all families get one and that, as a foster kid, I never saw it.

John pats the chair beside him. "Come and sit, honey. What did we get?"

I slide into the seat, striking a ninja pose to match my pajamas. "Some bills, something for Dad, and a fancy envelope for all three of us." I hand the letter from Washington to Alex, and set the orange envelope right in the center of the table.

Alex pushes the envelope back at me. "You can open it, my dear girl."

"Okay!" I lift it and slide my fingernail under the flap. Pulling out the card inside, my jaw drops. It's a piece of heavy white paper, with scrolling gold writing across it. In the top left corner is a large red flower, sending inky-looking droplets of crimson hue spilling along the border of the card. In the bottom right corner is a lemon yellow flower, with intricate petals made up of swirls. Its citrusy shade flies in tiny, shimmering beads of color along the border. Every place the two colors meet is a brilliant, pumpkin orange, like the color of the envelope.

John reads the golden writing aloud. "'The honor of your presence is requested at the union of Maria Lewis and Peggy Schuyler. September seventeenth, at four in the afternoon on Garden Hill. Reception to follow.'"

A tiny sticky note, pumpkin orange like the envelope, falls out onto the table, and I scoop it up. Clearing my throat, I read it out in a voice not entirely unlike Peggy's. "When you get this, we're coming over for dinner at six."

Alex laughs. "There's Peggy for you. Well, I suppose we're going to have dinner guests."

I nod eagerly. A tiny idea is nudging itself through the neurons of my brain. "Dad...can we invite a couple more guests?"