The Enchantment of Lady Ice

II. Tables Turned

Eva's nose was nearly touching the window as she gazed at the approaching carriage, eyes narrowed and brows furrowed. She impatiently sighed and turned to Alice. "Are you not at all curious as to what Lord Surley looks like?"

Alice lifted one shoulder into a shrug from where she was sitting beside the window doing her knitting. "He would look either one of his parents or both, therefore he would be fairly handsome."

Eva shook her head and looked out the window once more. The sound of the carriage was getting stronger, so was the thumping heart within Alice's chest which she perfectly managed not to show any sign of. The arrival of the new Lord of Surley had happened and she could now visualize her mother making wedding arrangements.

"How do you suppose you can get away from your mother's schemes?" Eva asked.

"I do not plan to."

Her friend whirled to face her, eyes round in shock. "What do you mean you do not plan to? You barely know the man!"

"I am almost past the marrying age. It would not hurt to consider Lord Surley as my future husband. He will inherit Langworthy in the future."

"But—"

Alice paused from her knitting and looked up at Eva to find her friend gaping at her. "You do not believe I would want to marry?"

Her friend shook her head. "No, I do not believe you could enchant Lord Surley to want to marry you."

Her friend's brutal honesty did not even bother Alice for she knew that her friend knew she would take it as an honest opinion. And she did. "Well, he might find me convenient."

"How so?"

"I would not bother him so long as he does the same to me. He would require me to bear him an heir, which I believe would be a task I could summon myself to do. It would also please everyone if I were to have a child."

"You must know, Alice, that there are far more things involved where marriage is concerned."

"Of course. For one, there will be mistresses. And if Lord Surley could manage them discreetly, I can live with it."

Eva blinked in disbelief. "You are insane. What if you grow to love the man?"

Alice considered her friend's words for a moment and shrugged. "Then he shall have to try to be very good at making certain I do not find out. It would not be good for him or the mistress should I grow to love him."

Eva scoffed and laughed. "I cannot believe you just said what you just said in a very calm manner."

Alice bent her head to continue her work and murmured, "Butchers do their job well because they calmly do so."

"You dare compare yourself to a butcher!"

"Of course. They are highly respectable people." She looked up to stare at Eva. "And they handle knives with precision," she added, giving Eva a wink.

Eva shook her head once more, facing the window and waiting for the carriage to enter the driveway. "I still believe we should marry for love. You should marry for love." With a sigh, she added, "You may marry Lord Surley to get Langworthy in the future, but what made Langworthy home is not the estate, Alice, but the people who shared memories inside it."

Alice nonchalantly kept on with her task, all the while managing to keep her mask intact. Eva's words struck her, pulling out memories of her father.

Before she could investigate her emotions further, her friend jumped in her spot in front of the window. "Oh, he is here! He has arrived!"

Alice did not realize she had stopped knitting. Without moving, she waited and listened at the sounds outside the window.