Despite sneaking out in the middle of the night to watch the cherry blossoms, we avoided catching a cold in time for the new year—and we had Rohtas’s mulled wine to thank for that, probably.
The cherry blossom tree had managed to hold out in spite of all the petals it had shed the previous night; there were still plenty of flowers left on its branches.
“I’m glad to see it wasn’t stripped bare yesterday,” said Stellaria.
“Yeah. Though I got my fill of the cherry blossoms last night, so I wouldn’t have minded too much either way.”
“Huh?”
“Oh, nothing!”
While Stellaria was looking out the window at the tree, I almost fessed up to my and Mr. Fisalis’s midnight escapades, but that was supposed to be our little secret! I had to act like nothing had happened. (Even though Rohtas already knew the truth!)
✦ ✦ ✦
“Happy Flür Day!”
“Same to you.”
“Here’s hoping the year ahead is a good one.”
“Happy Flür Day, evewyone!”
We were seated at the table for our New Year’s breakfast. Having my in-laws, my husband, Violet, and I gather around and say our New Year’s greetings before we dug into our meal filled me with the energy to face the day.
Once we were done wishing each other a happy holiday, the servants brought out a lavish meal—our New Year’s feast.
Though we’d left our days of breakfast buffets behind, the table was lined with all sorts of sumptuous dishes just for this occasion. No problem—even the jolly green giant had to take a vacation for New Year’s!
“Too bad we’ve got that headache of a ceremony after this,” Father Fisalis complained.
“I know it’s an annual tradition, but that never makes it any less of a pain. I’d rather stay here and play with Lettie. You know what? I seem to have come down with a cold, so perhaps I’ll go ahead and skip the rite altogether!” said my mother-in-law, who was currently the perfect picture of health. Now that was a bald-faced lie if I ever saw one.
“That’s no fair!” her husband shot back. “I’ve got a cold too! I’m staying here with you!”
“Don’t be silly, dear! You can’t do that.”
“I want to be with Lettie as much as you do! I bet you’re scheming to keep her all to yourself!”
“Of course I am!”
Mother and Father Fisalis were getting swept up in their banter. It was way too early in the new year to be dealing with this, so I prayed that they would cease and desist.
Mr. Fisalis stepped in to intervene. “Uh-huh. How about you two leave it at that? Just tune out the ceremony if you hate it so much. Besides, no one will stop us from heading home if we tell them Lettie’s waiting for us.”
I’m glad he said something! That wasn’t the daughter-in-law’s place to butt in.
The pair took their son’s suggestion to heart.
Violet had yet to make her royal palace debut, so she would be skipping the New Year’s ceremony to stay home again.
“Good point. Let’s do without the sanctuary visit this time.”
“Agreed. We have to get home as soon as possible.”
“We won’t be making our usual trip to the church downtown either.”
“Not this year, we won’t! We’ve got to be good!”
For the sake of the little girl waiting at home, we had to zoom straight back to the manor!
“I mean, from our perspectives, the Rite of Audience is nothing compared to Lettie’s birthday next week,” said Mr. Fisalis.
“Exactly!” his parents agreed in unison, nodding vigorously.
That’s right! As far as we’re concerned, Violet’s birthday is a way bigger occasion than the new year!
✦ ✦ ✦
True to my word, I let the New Year’s ceremony go in one ear and out the other. I even managed to catch a few z’s with my eyes open—and no one even noticed!
When the rite was over, the king asked Father Fisalis to join him on a sanctuary visit, but my father-in-law shot the invitation down with the explanation that Violet was waiting at home. In any other situation, that borderline lèse-majesté would have me fearing for his life, but our king was one heck of a personable ruler. All he said was, “That poor girl! You’d better get going!” What a nice guy.
We packed into our carriage and hit the road without a moment’s hesitation.
“I’ll give you a handicap of five steps. How’s that sound?”
“Five?”
On the ride home, Mr. Fisalis and I were having a discussion of the utmost gravity.
“Isn’t that too few? Be a little more generous! I need at least ten!”
“Not a chance! I know full well what you’re capable of! Five steps should be more than enough!”
“You train on a regular basis, so you’ve got to be way faster than me!”
“Then...seven steps?”
“How did that number get so much smaller?!”
What had us so worked up, you might be wondering? Why, none other than the Annual Race for Lettie’s First New Year’s Kiss!
Last time around, Quince had stolen her first first kiss (by her own choice, but details).
That meant the pressure was on this year. We had to make up for that travesty.
Neither I nor Mr. Fisalis was willing to cede the right to her next first kiss, so we’d determined that the fairest way to settle this was on a first-come-first-served basis. The race would start the moment we alighted from our carriage. The first one to make it to Violet, who would be waiting for us at the front door, would be the winner.
That said, if I started from the same spot as Mr. Fisalis, I’d have been at an obvious disadvantage; hence why I was negotiating for a handicap.
“Man, I can’t believe seven steps is all you’re willing to give me... But hey, you never said they couldn’t be big steps!”
“That’s cheating, Vi!”
Mother and Father Fisalis burst out laughing when they saw how seriously we were taking this.
“Oh, give her ten, Cercis!”
“Mother, no! You’re only saying that because you don’t know what Vi is capable of! Don’t let her looks deceive you—she’s lightning fast!”
“My, is she really?”
“I am not! Wait a second—how do you think I ‘look,’ exactly?”
“Dainty? Slender?”
“Absolutely not.” All eyes were on me, so I denied it as hard as I could. Another beat later, I conceded, “Fine. I’ll take the seven steps.”
“Seven steps it is.”
I think I can manage that...maybe? But it’s definitely gonna be close.
I was going to have to give this race everything I had!
At last, we arrived at the manor, got down from the carriage, and it was go time! Our referee was Father Fisalis, who was waiting at the entrance ahead of us. His shout of “On your mark, get set, go!” was our cue to take off running.
The result: Mr. Fisalis won.
“This sucks! This absolutely sucks!”
“So much for being the bigger person—I ran as fast as I could go! Ha ha ha!”
Mr. Fisalis gleefully gave Violet her kiss, while I chewed on my handkerchief and told myself, “Next year will be mine!”
My in-laws and the servants watched us, laughing.
It was looking to be yet another peaceful year at the Fisalis manor.