"Go and get the mail for us, Kat?" John is sitting at the table with Alex when I stumble, bleary-eyed, downstairs at ten thirty in the morning. I don't know how adults do it every day- I'm utterly exhausted from working yesterday.

Getting the mail at the Laurens-Hamilton household is a bit of a process. You have to go outside and walk down the driveway to an actual mailbox, the red 'you've got mail' flag painted with rainbow stripes. I obligingly skip down the driveway and pull out the mail. Bills for my dads, something with the president's letterhead on it, a postcard from Theodosia for me, and a very fancy-looking orange envelope. I sit down right on the porch steps to read the postcard.

Dear Kathryn-

Hello from Colorado! I'm visiting my cousin Tabor, and I'm having such a great time! We went to the Fine Arts museum- which is where I got this postcard- and I stared at one painting for three hours. My cousin and his girlfriend Alli finally went and ate lunch without me. It was such a nice painting. I want to get something of mine hung at a museum one day. Anyway, love you lots, miss you tons, and just wanted to let you know that I'm headed home!

Love, Theo

I clap in excitement, dropping the card. Theo's coming home soon! I've missed all of my friends who are away and doing stuff with their summers. I've been secretly jealous, just a little, of my friends who are off exploring other states and even countries, while I'm stuck at home.

I gather up the letters and walk towards the house, tripping a little on the gravel of the driveway. It's late July, nearly August, and the weather is balmy and warm already, only a few hours into the morning. My favorite pajamas- black with red trim and tiny ninja cartwheeling across them- cling to my legs in the heat.

Once inside, I deposit the bills on the hall table, deciding to bring the very fancy envelope (which has some calligraphy on the outside) and the letter from the president directly to their recipients. Which are Alex, for the missive from the POTUS, and all three of us for the fancy orange envelope. I've never seen any letters quite like this one before, but it's quite possible that all families get one and that, as a foster kid, I never saw it.

John pats the chair beside him. "Come and sit, honey. What did we get?"

I slide into the seat, striking a ninja pose to match my pajamas. "Some bills, something for Dad, and a fancy envelope for all three of us." I hand the letter from Washington to Alex, and set the orange envelope right in the center of the table.

Alex pushes the envelope back at me. "You can open it, my dear girl."

"Okay!" I lift it and slide my fingernail under the flap. Pulling out the card inside, my jaw drops. It's a piece of heavy white paper, with scrolling gold writing across it. In the top left corner is a large red flower, sending inky-looking droplets of crimson hue spilling along the border of the card. In the bottom right corner is a lemon yellow flower, with intricate petals made up of swirls. Its citrusy shade flies in tiny, shimmering beads of color along the border. Every place the two colors meet is a brilliant, pumpkin orange, like the color of the envelope.

John reads the golden writing aloud. "'The honor of your presence is requested at the union of Maria Lewis and Peggy Schuyler. September seventeenth, at four in the afternoon on Garden Hill. Reception to follow.'"

A tiny sticky note, pumpkin orange like the envelope, falls out onto the table, and I scoop it up. Clearing my throat, I read it out in a voice not entirely unlike Peggy's. "When you get this, we're coming over for dinner at six."

Alex laughs. "There's Peggy for you. Well, I suppose we're going to have dinner guests."

I nod eagerly. A tiny idea is nudging itself through the neurons of my brain. "Dad...can we invite a couple more guests?"

**********

"No." Peggy's voice is flat. "You're kidding me. You didn't actually invite her."

John lays a hand on Peggy's arm. "Pegs, listen to me. It's not that big of a deal."

She shrugs his arm off aggressively. "I don't want her here!" Peggy isn't normally this emotionally vocal, so I'm surprised to see her being angry.

There's a soap opera going on in the middle of my living room, it seems. Peggy, clad in a black dress and a huge yellow hairbow, is stomping her feet and arguing with John. Alex is trying to straighten out the napkins on the table, but I think he's just trying to keep out of an awkward situation. Maria is sitting on the couch, her skirts spread around her, trying incredibly hard to act blase. My fiancee's mildly throwing a temper tantrum? Happens all the time.

The cause of this tantrum has just walked in this door. Two people are now gazing around the living room, one in exasperation and the other with a nervous grin. Eliza's smile is plastered on her face, and it looks just a little bit like her face might be stuck. She's got one fist clenched around her skirt, as though she's convincing herself to keep on smiling.

Angelica, on the other hand, looks absolutely done. There are more grey hairs in her curls than I noticed last time, and the bags under her eyes are more pronounced. She looks exhausted. "Margarita, calm down!"

Peggy whirls on her heel to face Angelica and opens her mouth, as though she's going to chew Angelica out. She drops this angry posture, however, and folds her arms across her chest. "Alexander, please tell Angelica that I'm not speaking to her."

Angelica looks offended. "Margarita, listen."

"No one- I mean, Alexander, please tell Angelica that no one is allowed to call me Margarita anymore." Peggy's eyes are shining, with tears or with rage, I can't tell.

John clears his throat. "Well! Dinner's ready, so if everyone wants to come and sit down?" Though he phrases it like a question, I know that we all should get to that table right about now.

Somehow, in the shuffle for seats, I end up between Angelica and Maria. Probably good- based on the events of last time, we should keep them from being next to one another. Peggy's death glares are bouncing off of Angelica and making me thoroughly uncomfortable.

Finally, Angelica speaks up. "I wanted to apologize." Her voice is small, softer than I've ever heard it. Angelica has always been, in my experience, self-assured and confident. She knows that she is a fierce woman, a precise business leader, an imposing being to behold. She walks around in her tall heels and has a sharp gaze that seems to stare right through you. Even now, she's the tallest person in the room by quite a bit- and yet I've never seen her look so small.

Peggy freezes, forkful of salad halfway to her mouth. No one dares to move a muscle as she and her oldest sister stare at one another. When Peggy speaks, her voice shakes. "It's not me you should be apologizing to."

Angelica turns her gaze to meet Maria's. The younger woman has a dark blush spreading to her cheeks, and she looks as though she'd like nothing more than to hide under the table for a million years. "Maria, I am so, so sorry. My little sister..." Angelica exhales slowly, as if what she's about to say next is painful for her.

"Peggy hasn't always had the best judgement when it comes to dates. Once, she had this boyfriend...Thomas Conway, I think his name was. He was absolutely awful to her, but he made her feel like it was her fault. She didn't tell me that anything was wrong for over a month. She just kept getting sadder and sadder, and angrier and angrier, until one day she showed up for Sunday dinner with a broken wrist."

Angelica looks sad, and she brushes a loose curl out of her face and tucks it back into her bun. "She tried to tell me that it was nothing when I asked her, but when I asked how it happened she burst into tears. The next day, I marched into the high school- at twenty-seven, mind you- and reported it to the principal. Peggy's been single since- until she met you, Maria."

Maria bites her lip and reaches across the table to squeeze Peggy's hand. "Why didn't you ever tell me, Peggy?"

Peggy looks down at the surface of the table. When she speaks, her voice is barely a whisper. "Nobody wants damaged goods."

A stunned silence fills the room. All of us are shocked- except for Angelica and John. Maria has tears in her eyes, and she runs her thumb over the back of Peggy's hand, trying to reassure her fiancee. Eliza brings one delicate hand up to cover her mouth in horror.

"No, Peggy..." Eliza wraps her arms around her little sister, holding her close. "We would never think that."

A tear drops from Peggy's eye and lands on the table, glittering in the light of the room. There's something pure and untainted about it, like a million-faceted diamond. "That's what Tom said."

I feel like I'm choking all of a sudden- my heart has risen into my throat and my eyes are stinging. If I'm being honest, this isn't the first time I've heard stories like this. One of my first foster parents, Miss Hubbard, would have a man stay over sometimes. He would end up shouting at her and then leave, but not before leaving a bruise on her. I was only there for a few months, but I learned to stay in my room when he was over.

I hate that my Aunt Peggy, one of the strongest and bravest people I know, was broken so easily by one awful man.

She wipes her eyes on her sleeve. "I never meant for any of you to find out. It was my drama and my problem, and it hasn't been a concern in years." Peggy looks tiny and upset. Her face is still covered in tears, and her chin is wobbling lightly. "But that's the reason I got so scared when we were cuddling that one time. Why I can't handle arguments of any kind. Why sometimes, when we're asleep, I'm not asleep at all."

Maria looks like someone's just slapped her. She stands and walks around the table, then turns Peggy's face with her hand. She presses the younger girl's lips to her own, holding her for a brief moment before breaking away. "Listen to me, Peggy Schuyler. There is nothing damaged about you. You are beautiful and you are perfect and I love you more than anything else."

Peggy gapes like a goldfish for a split second, then smiles slowly. Her cheeks are still tear-streaked, and her eyes are reflecting a million emotions all at once. She wraps her arms around Maria, hiding her face against the front of the other woman's dress.

Angelica fidgets nervously, pleating the hem of her skirt in her hand. "Anyway, I'm so incredibly sorry for ruining your moment of happiness at the announcement, girls. I hope you'll forgive me." Her voice drops slightly. "I don't want to lose my baby sister."

Peggy extricates herself from Maria's embrace and flings her arms around Angelica's shoulders. "Of course I forgive you, you dork."

Angelica looks like she doesn't know whether she wants to laugh or cry. She clutches Peggy close to her.

Peggy laughs softly. "I had a question for you, though, Angie. Would you- I mean, will you- be my maid of honor?"

Angelica nods emphatically, still holding her younger sister. "Oh, my Peggy, I would love nothing more."