The Envelope: Epilogue
Life continues as it has since the Hatter's arrival and hopefully always will. There is a warm welcome waiting for them when they arrive, mostly clean, for tea with her mother and sister. There is a general uproar over James' foolhardy stunt and then a shocked silence when the Hatter announces - in perfectly comprehensible English to all present - their engagement.
The wedding follows a mere month later. It is a small event, limited to only close family and friends… and a special guest of Lady Ascot's. It thrills Alice to see the woman smile again, especially from under her Hightopp hat.
On the morning of the day in question, as Alice paces in the parlor waiting for the Hatter to exit the house (keeping to the tradition of not seeing the bride before the ceremony on the day of the wedding), she discovers a most unanticipated gift. There, in the far corner of the study, crouching in the shadows, is something both she and the Hatter had long given up hope of ever seeing again. She collects it and glances around the room, wondering where it had come from…
Her gaze alights on the looking glass over the mantle above the fireplace.
"Thank you," she says. And perhaps it is merely her fanciful imagination that makes her see in its surface the figure of a woman in white, her crown glistening as she bows in response. A short hour later, when the priest concludes the ceremony, Alice holds up one finger to pause the proceedings. She then fetches the object from its hiding place among the pews in the chapel and presents it to her husband.
Beaming, he tilts his head toward her and Alice places his old top hat upon his head.
Lost… and found.
The kiss that follows is understandably spectacular. And the subsequent night they spend together even more so. The next morning, when Alice catches him talking to someone in the looking glass in the parlor, she merely steps up next to him, wraps her arm around his waist… and joins in the conversation.
*~*~*~* The End *~*~*~*