It was the Wednesday following exams, and Alice had decided to find her brother after yearbook pictures had been taken. She made a mental note not to take one home with her, as she was now listed as Alice Grabiner. She had been voted most likely to be a 'dragon trainer,' which she thought may have been a tongue-in-cheek reference to her marriage, or possibly the sticky situation her whole class knew that she and Donald had left that dragon in. If it was, she had to admit some amusement on her part. Ellen had noted that Clark had been 'most likely to sleep on a pile of gold,' though that was hardly surprising. Her brother had been keeping out of sight lately, but she wanted to talk to him before he left school and she would be busy later. There was a relatively simple spell to find members of her bloodline, which was how she found Clark sitting alone in one of the attics, staring out the window at other students who were taking advantage of the sunshine and spring weather.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

His head came up, and he turned to face where she stood by the door. "You found me."

Alice shrugged. "It's a simple spell, really. I should probably teach it to you so you can keep track of the twins this summer."

"Probably," he answered. "On the other hand, they'll probably have some revenge planned once their blocks are gone. I hate to think about what they'll get into once they can make themselves invisible."

"Maybe," she admitted, taking a chair beside him. "But now they're pretty much your responsibility, since I won't be home much."

Clark nodded. "Yeah, you just keep an eye on Nancy. I never really thought that she was capable of getting into even more trouble than the twins." He was silent for a few moments before continuing. "It's going to be different, isn't it?"

Alice nodded. "It is. But there is always hope. Things change."

Clark considered that. "You mean, if Grandfather can get the laws changed."

"If he can get on the High Council someday, they might," she agreed. "This means, the best way you can help is to do well in school, and get yourself ready to take a Council seat so Grandfather will have you available when he needs you."

Her brother nodded slowly. "I think I can do that. I've also been wondering if that is part of why Virginia decided that we'd be better off just as friends."

"To some degree," Alice answered. "I think that if she thought that there was some chance that she would fall in love with you, she would have stayed. But…."

A small, sad smile tugged on the corner of her brother's lips. "She said that she didn't want to be the 'skeleton in my closet.' I admit, I was wondering if she would be able to put up with being married to a Councilman myself. Under the circumstances, it's not a path I can deviate from. You can't do it now, and I would have to be crazy to let Emma or Ethan do it. It will be even longer before Nancy could be ready, and Grandfather might need one of us before then."

"True," she agreed.

"I am worried about what she'll do, about finding someone to marry," Clark continued.

"I think she's hoping that her parents will help her find someone," Alice answered. "And she has more than a year to get it taken care of."

Clark nodded. "We're still planning to go to the May Day dance together, but as friends. Donald tells me that news of my new 'available' status has spread like wildfire."

"Is that why you're hiding?" Alice asked.

"That's part of it," he admitted. "Three girls offered me 'a shoulder to cry on' on my way to lunch today. I don't think that I'd even spoken with two of them before."

"Oh dear," she said, unable to hold back a smile.

"I just don't feel like dealing with that at the moment."

"And there's nothing wrong with that," Alice said. He would have to, sooner or later, but she knew that her brother was the sort of person that liked to mull things over for a while. It was how he adjusted to changes, and his life would change every bit as much as hers had. "Have you seen Adelaide?" Alice had. She had seemed…happy wasn't quite the word. Hopeful.

"She's keeping a respectful distance, right now," Clark admitted. "She knew that it wasn't going to work out between Virginia and me, and told me that when we were at the opera."

"Hmmm…you never mentioned that. She is an intelligent girl," Alice admitted. She was now certain that the girl actually liked Clark, instead of just merely needing him. She understood Clark well enough to know to give him a little space right now, and Alice had to wonder if Adelaide would indeed be a more appropriate match for him than Virginia had been capable of. Alice deliberated if she should ask Adelaide to spend a week or so at the new house with her—she had put her on the list of allowed visitors on a hunch. She admitted to wanting to get to know her better herself, and was sure Adelaide's parents would only be too happy to let her go.

Actually, they would probably push her out the door as soon as the invitation from 'Lady Grabiner' arrived, with luggage packed or not.

"I expect that she'll be asking you out next fall," she considered.

"She doesn't have to," Clark said. "She asked if I would consider her after Virginia and I broke up, and I said that I would. So I will…later, when I'm ready to start thinking about dating again. In the meantime, I have to come to terms with the changes in our family."

"I know what you mean," Alice sighed. They had both known for some time…but for him, going home without seeing Nancy running out of the house to hug him would make it real. She suspected that when he had first gone home during spring break, he had still been in shock, so the fact that Nancy was not home was never going to be again would sink in once he arrived back at home. Then the grief would hit, and he did not have a caring spouse to share it with to make the grief lesser like she did.

At least he could use his breakup with Virginia as a cover so their parents would not think anything else was wrong. She, on the other hand, could cry in her husband's arms when she felt the need, and the hope that her grandmother had given her would be sufficient to try to make the home happy for Nancy. The twins had probably had enough time to grow accustom to their sister's absence by now. To them, it was possibly no more than as if Nancy had gone to a boarding school. "It will be different, being the mistress of a household, and then coming to school where I'm just another student. I'll have to be a mother to Nancy…."

"And your married life will begin for real," her brother finished for her, and Alice turned red. "Don't worry," he continued. "The only thing I want to know about the subject is if he treats you well."

"I'm sure that won't be an issue," she answered, still able to feel the heat in her cheeks. Sometimes, she wished that she did not blush so easily. Perhaps finally going on her honeymoon would take care of the matter.

"I admit," Clark continued, "I had been kind of wishing that I could get lucky as you. I mean, finding the love of my life on the first try, or on accident even."

It struck her that it would be ironic if it actually was Adelaide that her brother ended up with, given that she had been his first date. It was a pity that she had decided to try to be what she thought boys would want rather than herself. She knew that Clark would have responded differently to Adelaide in the beginning had she been genuine with him from the start. "It didn't feel like luck at the time, or at least, not the good kind," she admitted. "I think that sometimes you can find love where you least expect to find it, though." Like possibly even with a girl he knew had originally taken notice of him because she had wanted a husband with access to money.

"I'll keep my eyes open, then. And I'll try to drive the twins up to your house a few times this summer, so Nancy can see them," he answered.

"Maybe Iris can have a 'future student' orientation week," Alice suggested. "And I'll come home a few times. Maybe over the week of the fourth of July."

"And when are you letting Mom and Dad know that you're 'dating' your husband?"

Alice sighed. "Probably this fall. Our first official 'date' was the Cider Day last fall. I can truthfully tell them that that was our first date…I'll just omit which year it was. I told Mom that I was planning to ask Hieronymous out during spring break. If she asks you, just tell her that I've been trying to spend more time around him."

"Makes sense," he agreed.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Alice got up out of her chair. "Did you want me to bring you something for supper, or to go down with you? My presence might shield you a little, especially if you wanted to eat with Hieronymous. You are unlikely to be bothered within a three yard radius of him."

Clark snorted a laugh, and then shook his head. "That radius is probably closer to nine yards. I keep hearing rumors of a 'nightmare detention' that the sophomores had after one of their tests, but they won't give any freshmen specifics. It seems to have enhanced your husband's reputation for being someone the students would not want to cross. Thanks, but no…I need to get used to dealing with this myself, so it's time to stop hiding. I've done enough of that already. I'll be down to eat before much longer. I just wanted a little quiet to think things out. It was good talking to you, though."

Alice smiled, and then left the attic.

...

Alice woke early the next morning, and delivered the mail that had arrived since last Saturday, since tomorrow would be the last day at school for the majority of the students. When she came back, she noticed that she had a bouquet on her desk made of orange blossoms, nutmeg scented geraniums, and daphne odora. Bridal festivities, an expected meeting, and a desire to please.

She could not help but smile at her husband. This was the night, and they would be leaving to go to their honeymoon destination tomorrow.

Alice wasted no time getting to the greenhouse, and found an orange rose to send back to him deciding that declaring passion and enthusiasm was the best response to his message.

She did not see him at either breakfast or lunch, and thought that perhaps this was by design. She spent most of the morning helping with the decorating for the May Day dance that she would not attend, wondering if there would ever be a year that she would go. She thought that Hieronymous would take her if she asked but…she did not think that either of them really belonged among the sparkly trappings. Something more sedate, more cultured perhaps, though if they went to another opera she intended to do so without her father-in-law there if only because she knew that they would be thinking about what had happened last time.

After performing her duties, that left her free for the afternoon and she returned to her room to pack. Virginia and Ellen were already there, doing the same, laying out what they needed for the morning and the dance but the rest of their clothes went into suitcases. Like her roommates, she left her decorations alone. She would not need them in her house, and they were an echo of her presence Alice thought her roommates might like in her absence. The only one she did take was the picture of her family, the last photo they had sat for together which was possibly the only copy in which Nancy had not been erased. She intended to put it on top of her dresser in her new home. The rest of her things either went in a suitcase for her honeymoon, or into boxes to be transported to her new house. She helped Ellen change the dress Petunia had gotten for her a little, so it did not look exactly like it had last year. Potsdam had somewhat gaudy taste, Alice thought, but with a little work it could be toned down to something nicer.

Her friends looked at her in askance when she laid out her wedding dress…the one she had chosen herself last fall, and had worn to her January wedding.

"Are you the new May Day queen this year?" Virginia asked. "But you aren't a junior."

"Um…no, I'm not going," Alice replied, sure that she was blushing again. The reason this dress had come out was that before her most recent wedding, Hieronymous had told her that this was the first wedding dress he had seen her in that he wanted to help her out of. The sentiment had been sent to her mentally, of course, as Minnie had been there at the time. It had solved her question of what to wear when she went to him tonight. Otherwise, she would not have packed all of the lingerie she had started to acquire. It made sense that he would want to see her in her wedding dress, in a way. Her husband appreciated classic elegance, and it would give the illusion that they had just had their wedding instead of waiting months for this night.

She had been unable to stop herself from teasing Hieronymous a little bit, though. Yesterday after supper, she had sent him lip gloss with a note that asked him to pack it with his baggage. The note also asked if he thought that she would need anything else to wear for their honeymoon.

Alice had to admit that her husband had risen to the occasion, sending her a yellow carnation, which was a clear 'no.' And she had not been able to explain to Ellen why she had started laughing and blushing when she had seen the flower. Her roommate probably thought yellow carnations meant something naughty.

"Oh…oh," Ellen said. "Belated wedding night."

"I don't want to know," Virginia said.

"Well, we are leaving for our honeymoon tomorrow evening after most of the other students leave for home," Alice admitted. "And don't expect to find me back here tonight."

"I said that I didn't want to know," Virginia sighed.

"You're ready for this?" Ellen asked.

"Absolutely," Alice answered. "That doesn't mean that I don't have butterflies in my stomach, though." The butterflies were the size of Buicks. But she trusted her husband absolutely. She was ready to be totally and completely his.

As the three friends helped each other get ready, Alice could not help but reflect on how it all had started; her instinct to help, and his initial resistance to her. Once Hieronymous had been certain of the quality of her character and her desire of a connection with him, he had started to court her in earnest. She had been willing to fall in love with him, and he had needed to fall in love with her for his own sake. And now they would have the rest of their lives to journey together.

Alice knew that it would not necessarily be an easy journey. There was the separation between her parents and Nancy, to begin with. And then there was the coming war, and the son they would raise that would have a large part to play in it. But a great destiny did not mean something that was easy, or even necessarily compatible with a long life. Perhaps it would be better if they had a large family. She thought that children deserved siblings anyway, and close allies would always help lighten the load. She had always considered Clark indispensable to herself, and her son might need reinforcements of his own.

The thought of children made her remember to weave a ward that would keep any from resulting from what would happen tonight. She had spoken with Potsdam about finding a method of birth control that Nancy's proximity would not affect. Petunia had said that she would have a potion ready by the time they got back from their honeymoon.

The decorating of their new house was finished, and the warding set to begin tomorrow. From a letter she had received from her grandfather, the wards to his house had needed daily repair though with his man making them they had not deteriorated nearly as badly as they had at home, so the professional warder would be joining her household. She wondered if he would be the member of her staff that would catch her father and grandfather watching the house. After all, he would be the one tasked with the security of the house. In that, she had hope…hope that her family could be together again. She suspected that it would be at least a year, as she was not letting her parents know that she was in a relationship with Hieronymous until next fall. Her father would have to have time to be able to get a hold of his father, as Grandpa did not contact them often.

She did not know if the future she had seen during her exam was probable, just that it was possible. For now, possible would have to be enough.

When they were all finally ready, her two friends hugged her, assured her that she looked beautiful, and wished her well before leaving the dorm room. Alice took a deep breath, and let it out slowly, preparing herself to teleport into her husband's rooms where he waited for her. In one way or another, he had waited for her for a long time. That wait would be over in mere moments, and she did not doubt that it had been worth it to develop their mental and emotional relationships before truly starting their physical one.

A part of her life was over, but the next awaited her. There was no going back, and she would have it no other way.

...

Author's note: I know this sounds like an ending, but there's actually one more chapter, so stay tuned!