As the first few groups trickled in, I tried to focus on evaluating what sort of people my parents had let into our house. I saw a group of men at about the age of fifty conversing with my father. Friends of his no doubt. Women my mother’s age who appeared to be their wives were whispering behind there elegant fans and exchanging glances at their husbands and then the dance floor. No doubt they wanted to be danced with, but I doubted their husbands would take the hint. With all due respect to men, they can really be quite dimwitted when it came to social cues.

My thoughts were interrupted by a strong high-pitched voice.

“Anastasia, is that you?”

I turned around to see one of my best friends Margaret Dale. She had a slight tan that told me she had just gotten back from her manor Georgia. Her dirty blonde hair was done up in an elaborate hairstyle that must have taken hours to do. She too had blue eyes, but they were softer, like the sky just after dawn. She wore a positively beautiful pale blue dress that perfectly matched her eyes. I smiled knowing she would soon comment on how lovely it is that our dresses would complement each other.

“And would you look at that? Our dresses look beautiful together!” She beamed.

There it was. I liked Margaret. She was kind and steady. Someone I could count on. I had met her at an old boarding school I had gone to when I was fourteen. We had graduated last year but we kept in touch.

I approached her and welcomed her to the gala.

 “So, what is it for this time?” She inquired. That was another thing I liked about her. She could see through just about everyone and everything.

“Oh, you know. The usual.” I covered my mouth with my fan so my parents could not see the wonderful impersonation I was about to do.

“Most girls your age show an interest in finding a suitable husband.” I said in a nasally impression of my father.

Margaret stifled a laugh. She was no stranger to the many social events my parents had planned for my sake. Having a friend here would make tonight easier.

“Well hopefully we can have some fun tonight.”

“Yes, key word hopefully.” I replied. My smile wavered. I had not told anyone about The Will development yet. It certainly did not help my mood.

Margaret’s eyes filled with concern.

“Is something wrong?”

I forced a smile. “Oh, it’s nothing. I’ll tell you later.”

Margaret did not look fully satisfied, but she backed off.

“I have to go.” I said. “My parents will want me to greet the guests. I’ll talk to you later.”

Margaret smiled and walked off to talk to other party goers.

For the next half hour, I greeted people. I saw a few friends I had not seen in a while and conversed with them as well as a man who claimed he needed to “find the eagle before it was too late!” I politely pointed him in the direction of the nearest exit. After that, my mother came up to me and told me to go “mingle” So, I headed off to get a drink.

I did end up getting a drink. However, I did not know what drink it was. It appeared to be water but had a different taste to it. I took a few sips before discretely pouring it out into a potted plant. Margaret saw and almost snorted up her drink.

I heard the music start and plastered the most realistic smile I could manage on my face as a young man who could not have been more than twenty asked me to dance.

The next few hours were a blur of dancing, eating, and dancing some more. I caught sight of Margaret every now and again and gave a wave. I do recall a small group of men only a year or two older than me talking in Latin about who they thought I would kiss first. I spewed a rapid fire of Latin insults that would have made a sailor proud. Before they could retort my confused partner and I waltzed away.

   Soon after I was asked to dance again, and again, and again. I lost track of their names and I forgot their faces as soon as they left. I almost never remembered them after we stopped dancing. But the key word was almost.

As soon as the next song ended, I ran off to find Margaret. I found her at the edge of the room talking to a group of young men. Once I saw that I started to back away, but it was too late. Margaret saw me. We locked eyes and she exclaimed, “Oh, this is her! Anastasia, we were just talking about you.”

“Oh really?” I said. I glanced at the young men she was talking with. Although, upon further inspection I realized they were more like boys. They could not have been much older than me if they were older at all.

Margaret spoke. “Anastasia, this is Philip Hamilton. He is attending Columbia College and going to become a lawyer.”

My eye’s flicked towards the young man to which she was referring. He had lovely intelligent sea green eyes and brown hair. He also had a sort of impish look to him.

“Oh,” I said. “I took a class on law once. I found it fascinating. We had a fun little debate where we put a classmate on trial for murder and split into teams to try to prove or disprove their innocence. I was on the defense.”

“Really?” He replied. “Who won?”

“The defense. We ruled not guilty because of the described blood pattern. The blood came down undisturbed so we claimed it could have been suicide and there was no proof of our classmates’ guilt.”

Philip raised his eyebrows. I suppose he did not expect a woman to know anything about murder or law for that matter. Just then a new song began to play.

“Would you care to dance?” He asked.

Margaret gave me a giddy smile and shooed me to go. I looked back at Philip. “I would be delighted.”

He lead me to the dance floor, and we waltzed for the next few songs. He was like no man I had ever met before. We talked about the law, and poetry, but not once did he belittle me or say something along the lines of “you wouldn’t understand, you’re a girl.” I came to learn that while he was studying law, he loved poetry. He also had many siblings while I had none. I wondered what it was like to have siblings. I imagined it would be quite annoying. But then again, there would be another person for my parents to pay attention to and I could have more time to myself.

He really was quite handsome too. He talked about the law and poetry with such a passion. He carried himself with an air of confidence like he knew exactly where he belonged.

I was having a wonderful time. Then I thought about how I was going to be forced into a relationship by June or lose my place in my parents Will. My smile faded into a frown. It felt like the air had been sucked out of my lungs. His voice turned became muffled as the reality of my situation set in. I stopped dancing and ran outside into the gardens. I needed the fresh air. A thick layer of frost caked everything. I wandered through the barren hedges and dead flowers until I found a nice stone bench to sit down on. It had carvings of lions roaring. I felt like more of a mouse right now.

I placed my face into my hands and just tried to calm down. My labored breathing returned to a steady rhythm and I felt my heart calm down. I heard the rustle of leaves in the breeze. I shivered and began to feel the bite of the cold on my skin. I did not realize how cold it was. Just as I had calmed down, I heard a twig snap and felt a pair of eyes on me.

“Who’s there?” I asked. A figure stepped into the moonlight and I saw it was only Philip. I realized he might have been a little confused why I suddenly ran outside in the middle of our dance.

“Are you okay?” He asked. His voice full of concern.

“Oh, yes.” I replied as I hastened to my feet. “I just came outside for some fresh air.”

“Fresh air in the middle of winter?” He questioned. He walked closer to me and picked up my hand. “Did I do something to upset you?”

“No!” I exclaimed. As I pulled my hand away. I began to fiddle with my fingers. Butterflies were doing little backflips and 360’s in my stomach. “No, it wasn’t anything you did I just got a little overwhelmed with, um, all of the people.”

He nodded his head and replied, “Well if people are the problem, would you mind if I kept you company out here? You didn’t finish your thoughts on Aristotle.”

I was taken aback. No young man ever wanted to spend more time with me than strictly necessary. Especially when I have demonstrated my opinions on things other than how to properly clean a house. I decided he must really want my parent’s money, or he liked me? What a strange and alien novelty.

“Sure.” I said.

We strolled through the frost covered gardens debating different laws and poetry genres. We wandered by one of the ponds on my parents estate. It looked so peaceful. It was covered with a thick layer of ice. I could probably go ice skating tomorrow. Ice skating was fun, like dancing.

“Oh dancing!” I gasped. Philip looked thoroughly confused.

“What dancing?” He asked.

“The gala! Oh, I must get back. It must be nearly over! My parents are going to kill me!” I said as I started running back through the gardens.

“Wait!” Philip yelled. “When will I see you again?”

I stopped dead in my tracks and turned around, “Tomorrow,” I said. “At three o’clock at the pond. Please, tell no one.” Without any further explanation I bounded of through the maze of dead bushes to try to get back to the gala.