Although I knew I would have to face Mother and Father at some point without Uncle Matthew there, I wanted to put it off as long as possible.

Despite Uncle Matthew's repeated reassurance that no one was mad at me, that didn't stop the fear or anxiety from bubbling up. A historical precedent told me all I needed to know about what would happen when I emerged from my room the next morning. I couldn't avoid school which meant I couldn't avoid Mother and Father; I would have to face them, even if I didn't want to.

When I woke up the next morning, I had a few fleeting seconds where I didn't remember anything about the previous day, but it soon came flooding back. I groaned and ran my hands over my face before kicking the blanket away from me but remaining in bed. Sunlight streamed into the room and I knew it would only be a matter of time before someone came to wake me up.

I slumped out of bed with my feet thumping onto the floor in protest of being forced to move. My legs ached from the running I did the previous day and I stretched my arms behind my back. Before anyone came up to my room, I changed out of my nightdress and into my school dress, running a brush through my hair and pulling out several twigs and sticks that I didn't know were in there the day before.

A knock at the door caught my attention as I pulled out yet another small twig from my hair. Mother always said it resembled a bird's nest when I didn't brush it, that morning it could have housed several birds.

"I'm awake," I said, grabbing a ribbon from my dresser and tying it into my hair.

"I thought as much when I heard you thumping around," Mrs Smith said, pushing the door open with her back. "Breakfast."

"But we eat breakfast in the dining room." I furrowed my eyebrows at her.

"Given the circumstances, this might be for the best."

"Great, so they can't even stand to look at me?"

"I didn't say that." Mrs Smith entered the room, she crossed to my writing desk and put a tray with toast and scrambled eggs on top. "Your father left for work early and your mother has decided to take breakfast in her room this morning. Marsh will take you to school as usual."

"Alright."

"You can leave the tray in here and I'll send one of the girls up to get it."

I nodded. "Thank you."

Mrs Smith smiled and backed out of the room, closing the door behind her. I sighed and walked across the writing desk which had become my own dining table in recent days. Even though I had barely eaten anything the night before, I didn't feel all that hungry but sat at the desk to shred the toast and make it look like I had eaten it. When I did make an attempt to eat the toast, it scratched my throat and I didn't think I could stomach the eggs.

Mother never took breakfast in her room unless she was unwell and I doubted that would be the case. Not only that, but Father rarely got called into work early unless he was supposed to be working at the hospital but I knew he hadn't been scheduled in. They were both ignoring me, there couldn't be any other explanation. After the previous night, I suppose it should have been expected, but they couldn't even stand to be in the same room as me.

I spent a few minutes picking at my breakfast without eating before deciding I needed to head off to school. Grabbing my satchel, I stuffed it with some work from the writing desk and left my room with my hat to hand. The entire house appeared to be holding its breath with tension weighing down on every nook and cranny throughout the house. Every creak of the floorboard sounded louder, every breath I took echoed around the empty space.

Marsh was standing outside by the car by the time I had escaped the confines of the house. He smiled at me; at least someone wasn't mad with me for some reason or another.

"Just the two of us again, it would seem," Marsh said.

"Apparently so."

"Come on, let's go."

He climbed into the driver's seat and I walked around to the passenger side, dropping my satchel onto the floor and settling into the seat. We pulled away from the house and started down the gravel track until the house disappeared from view. I looked over at Marsh, watching him drum his fingers on the steering.

"We'll be moving out of Grandfather's house on Thursday," I said.

"That soon, eh? Doctor Ealing didn't mention it."

"Grandmother is to move in immediately, apparently." I paused. "Do you know her?"

"I can't say I've had the pleasure. I do know someone who used to work for the family, however, a man called Samuel. He used to be the stable hand and gardener until he got kicked by a horse which forced him to retire."

"What did he have to say?"

"He thought the idea of your grandfather leaving the estate to his estranged wife to be a strange one. Samuel doesn't believe it is something he would do unless he had been coerced. Either that or he thinks the will might be a fake."

"Really?"

Marsh nodded. "Samuel worked for the family for a long time, he has a better insight than anyone."

I chewed on the inside of my cheek and turned away to stare at the houses and shop fronts that we passed. The idea of the will being faked had appeared immediately after it had been read, but no one could believe it to be true since the lawyer was the only one with access to the will. Uncle Christopher vouched for the lawyer since they had been firm friends for a while, but that didn't mean anything. It could still be fake.

No one believed that Grandfather would have left the entire estate to a woman he hadn't seen in such a long time and yet no one would look further into the idea that it might be fake. Uncle Christopher might be able to vouch for the lawyer, but that didn't mean anything if Grandmother got to him first. Maybe I just didn't want to believe that Grandfather wouldn't just forget about us in his will, but I had the feeling that the will the lawyer read, wasn't the one Grandfather wrote.

However, I couldn't prove it.

We reached school about ten minutes later and I scrambled out, grabbing my satchel off the floor.

"I'll collect you from here later if that's alright," he said.

"Perfectly." I swung my satchel onto my shoulder. "Is Father working late tonight?"

Marsh nodded. "Apparently so."

"At the hospital?"

"No, his office. He said he was behind on paperwork and wanted to get on top of it."

"Oh alright. I suppose I shall see you this afternoon."

"Indeed you will." Marsh smiled. "Goodbye, Miss Isabel."

"Goodbye."

I smiled and waved goodbye before turning and walking through the school gates, ready to face another day. Evelyn was already sitting down when I walked in and she waved when saw me, a smile on her face. At least school could become an escape from the troubles at home, although Marsh's comment floated around in my head.

If there was one thing Father had never been behind on, it was paperwork. He had always made sure to be on top of it and even had Mother help him out on occasion to make sure he never fell behind on anything and to make sure it was all accurate. Father had left the house early that morning so he didn't have to face me because he just couldn't bear to look at the mess he had created. That only confirmed that Mother had chosen to take breakfast in bed all so that she could avoid me. Neither of them could stand to look at me.

In the cloakroom, I hung up my satchel, removed my workbooks and slate, and swallowed down the feeling of disappointment and anger that had started to well up inside of me. My hands started to shake, but I just gripped my books tighter and tried to ignore the tightening sensation in my chest.

"Are you alright?" Evelyn asked when I dropped down into my seat. She furrowed her eyebrows at me.

"I'm fine, just tired," I said.

"Nancy left this morning, she told me to tell you goodbye. She enjoyed meeting you."

"Likewise, I had a nice time with your family, and she gave me a lot to think about with my future and everything."

"Do you still want to head down the lawyer route? Nancy was right, things may change by the time we make it that far."

I nodded. "I think I need to look into it a little more, maybe talk to my uncle, but I don't hate the idea."

"Good. I'm glad it helped."

Evelyn smiled at me and our conversation came to a halt when Miss Reid entered the room to start school. I tried to focus, but my mind kept going back to the previous day and just how a conversation with Uncle Christopher might unfold seeing as I had not spoken to him since that day in his office. Whatever conversation I may want to have with him regarding my future would be rather awkward and I did not think I could face that.

The only person I felt like I might be able to talk to was Uncle Matthew who had kept his word to make sure no one disturbed me during the night to discuss my behaviour; Mrs Smith didn't even mention it. However, he didn't seem like the right person to be discussing a potential career as a lawyer with since I doubt he had any knowledge in that field.

Miss Reid conducted the lessons as usual, writing mathematical equations on the chalkboard and then asking us to answer them. She did, however, appear rather pleased with herself over something and I doubted it was because of her mathematics skills. Before the end of the school day, she wiped the board clean and then turned to face us.

"Alright, before you go, I have a little announcement for you all! After Miss Ealing's rather good defence of her sewing work, I thought we could try something a little different." Mrs Reid smiled. "We're going to have a debate. Yes, Miss Jacoby?"

"What's a debate?" Mildred asked from the back of the room.

"It's a formal argument. I put forward a question and then allow two people to argue for or against the question. From there, I will decide which student puts forward the winning argument." She turned to the chalkboard. "Our first topic for debate is an argument currently circulating in the news and has been for a little while. Should women be allowed the right to vote?"

Miss Reid wrote the quest across the board and then turned back to us. Evelyn looked at me and grinned, no doubt thinking the same thing I was. The topic of female suffrage and the right to vote had appeared during our luncheon with Nancy and as long as I was on the right side of the argument, I firmly believed I might have a hand at securing victory.

"Only two of you will be taking part in this debate. Miss Jacoby, you will be arguing against women's right to vote. For inspiring the idea, Miss Ealing you will be arguing for. We will be having our debate on Friday so you have plenty of time to ensure a decent argument. You are dismissed.

Evelyn looked at me. "This is perfect! You had a great argument for the handkerchief and it fits with what you want to do when you finish school!"

"Definitely. I'm excited for this, I just need to make sure my argument makes sense, arguing over a handkerchief is one thing, this is something else entirely," I said.

"Why don't I come help?"

"Would your mother let you come to mine now? We can talk through some ideas."

"I'm sure she won't mind, she likes you."

I smiled and gathered up my school supplies. Together, we walked into the cloakroom where I stuffed my things into my satchel before swinging it onto my shoulder. Outside, Evelyn spoke to her mother whilst I stood beside the car with Marsh watching on, although he made no comment about potentially having an extra passenger.

A few seconds later Evelyn came running over to me grinning, announcing that her mother had agreed to let her come to the house after school. I suppose it being schoolwork helped Evelyn's case even if she wouldn't be taking part in the debate herself. Still, at least I had someone I could work off when it came to my ideas with the debate. This argument would involve a little more work than the one about my handkerchief, especially as it was a cause I agreed with.

We climbed into the car and I bit back a smile, knowing that Mother wouldn't be able to mention what had happened the previous day with Evelyn around and she could hardly refuse to let her stay because it was school work.

Evelyn had inadvertently offered me a reason to continue to ignore what had happened. 

~~~

A/N - We are back with Chapter Nineteen! There are like 16 chapters left before this story is complete and I think we can all agree that that has come around rather quickly ... Also, we're approaching 1K reads which is awesome!

Questions! Do you think Izzy should continue to ignore the problem? Thoughts on the debate and the topic? Is Robert trying to avoid Izzy? 

Comment below!

First Published - September 14th, 2021