An Unacceptable Arrangement by Victoria Winters

dishes and pushed bits of food
around on her plate, her eyes downcast, hardly daring to believe
that she was once again sitting in her family home.
    After dinner her little sisters Emily and
Violet were brought down from the nursery to see Cassandra. They
squealed and ran to her and Cassandra wrapped them tightly in her
arms. She was so happy to see them. “When are you taking us for ice
cream, Sissy?” Emily asked, calling her by the name she herself had
created when she couldn’t pronounce ‘Cassandra’ as an infant.
    “Ice cream, ice cream,” Violet chimed in,
jumping up and down.
    A lump formed in Cassandra’s throat; she had
missed them so. Emily had grown taller, in just the weeks since her
wedding.
    “We would very much enjoy taking you out for
ice cream sometime very soon. Isn’t that right, my wife?” Frederic
responded, looking pointedly at Cassandra who had no choice but to
nod her head in agreement. This is what she’d feared – being sucked
back into socializing with her family. Being forced to put aside
the unforgiveable and pretend that everything had returned to
normal; that the injustice done to her had been forgiven and
forgotten, when it most assuredly had not. If she quickly
assimilated back into her family without much fuss or bother, her
parents would then congratulate themselves on her successful
marriage. They would have learned nothing and then who knows what
they would do to her little sisters when they grew up – marry them
off at 15 to the highest bidder? After more hugs and kisses, the
little girls were removed by their nanny.
    “Little Emily is growing like a weed,” her
mother sighed. “She is keeping Madeline busy letting down her
hems.”
    Just then Hayden and Theresa arrived, joining
them for dessert. They had been to a dinner party but rushed home
to see Cassandra and Frederic. Cassandra was truly happy to see her
brother and his fiancée and was a bit more herself by that point.
Seeing her tiny sisters had alleviated some of the tension in the
room. She even managed to hold up her end of the conversation,
although she refused to look directly at her parents.
    Frederic studied his wife as Hayden and
Theresa discussed the dinner they’d just attended. Cassandra’s
demeanor was so different with her siblings than with her parents.
What was the problem? Why was she so upset with Lord and Lady
Newblythe? Did she really mean to excise her parents from her life?
The conversation took an unfortunate turn as Hayden and Theresa
began to discuss their wedding.
    “We want you - both of you - to be in the
wedding.” Hayden said. Theresa, an innocent in what had transpired
between Cassandra and her parents, leaned forward to agree. “It
would mean so much to us if you’d agree. Please say yes.”
    Cassandra lowered her eyes and studied the
hands she had folded in her lap. Her bottom itched and throbbed and
she was upset with all of them - all except her brother’s fiancée.
However, she had no intention of being in this wedding, not after
the way she’d been treated. She had inherited her father’s
stubbornness as well as his temper.
    Frederic broke the tension by speaking, “Of
course we’ll take part, won’t we my wife?” he asked, putting
Cassandra once again on the spot.
    Cassandra looked up and finally spoke,
choosing her words carefully. “I regretfully have to decline your
kind invitation. I will be unable to participate or attend your
upcoming wedding, but I wish you both every happiness.”
    Socially, her response had been correct. One
was not required to give an explanation when declining an
invitation – only to make one’s refusal quickly and clearly so that
the person issuing the invitation could make other arrangements.
But Cassandra’s mother gasped audibly and her father began to
bluster.
    “This is outrageous!” her father raged. “You
are being a spoilt child. What will people think if you don’t
attend your own brother’s wedding, when even the