It seems like winter only just ended, and here it is again. Snow coats the ground, wind chills the bone, and life in the Seam gets that much harder. There’s only so much hunting to be done in winter. But there a few small joys that even the poorer folks can take advantage of: snowball fights, sledding, and ice skating.
Now that the districts are free and the fence is gone, Gale is free to bypass the small pond that most of the town goes to for their skating time. Instead, he takes his younger siblings out through the woods, leading them toward the lake Katniss had shown him years ago. Rory had come out with him once, before the war, but Vick and Posy had been too small at the time. Now that they’re older, and Gale is on vacation to visit family - a rare thing, these days - it’s about time they gave it a go.
They’ve all got skates, brand new from District Two, and once they get there they all have to sit down to tie them on with a little help from their eldest brother. Rory picks it up again with relative ease, but Vick stumbles a bit, and Posy - Posy’s never learned, so she has to lean heavily on Gale and hold his hand as they take a few hesitant steps. Before long, though, she’s gliding and laughing along with her brothers, having a great time. And Gale… Gale’s just glad to see them again, healthy and happy, at that.
The districts free and the fence gone-- Madge had never been happier. She had survived the war against all odds and was slowly getting back to life. And with such a beautiful, snowy day- she knew exactly how she was going to spend it. Madge made her way through the forest, to the lake that Katniss told her about a while back. She'd rather not feel crowded with the rest of the town at the usual pond.
She didn't expect to see him there. Pausing by the edge of the trees, Madge watched them quietly. It had been a while (a long while) since she'd seen him, and part of her wanted to turn and go to the crowded pond rather than intrude on his family time. Did he even know she was alive? Would he care?
"Mind if I join?"
She said it before she realized she was speaking up and it was too late to turn back now.
Only Gale and Rory heard the question, the younger Hawthornes being too caught up in the fun, and together they turned with matching expressions of surprise until they landed on the girl by the trees. Rory grinned when he saw her, but Gale’s eyes narrowed immediately in a mix of surprise and suspicion. It looked like… but it couldn’t be. They’d told him she died with her family, in the bombings. She’d been one of the ones he hadn’t been able to save. It was entirely possible, too, that there were plenty of other girls with the same blonde hair of the townies that he hadn’t taken much notice of.
But Rory answered that question for him.
“Sure, Madge, c’mon! It’s Posy’s first time,” the boy told her cheerfully before skating out to join Vick and Posy and share news of their visitor. Gale’s eyes stayed locked on her, wanting to believe but finding it difficult, after so many years of believing she was gone. Did Katniss even know, he wondered? She’d been told the same thing as he had.
“Undersee,” he said, the name feeling familiar and somehow alien all at once. It had been a while since it last passed his lips, and it was still hard to believe it’s really her, out there. Madge Undersee, the mayor’s daughter. Alive.
The look on his face said it all. Of course he hadn't been told. She wasn't sure many had been, it was easier that way. Her parents hadn't survived, after all. Why would she have?
Madge watched Gale, eyes locked with his, unwavering. She didn't look away until Rory spoke. Glancing at him, she smiled brightly and nodded. "Is it?" she replied cheerfully as she started towards them. She paused only to take a seat and put her skates on. "She's doing so well for her first time, too!"
Her tongue wet her lips anxiously as she finally glanced back up at Gale. "Hey," she offered shortly with a small smile. "Sorry if I'm intruding."
By the time she got her skates on, Posy had noticed and made her way over with a happy squeal. Immediately, she launched into the dramatic tale of her difficulty with the ice and how she’d overcome it, Vick nodding along and Rory interjecting with a teasing comment here or there.
Gale, for his part, was still having trouble believing it, especially seeing the way his brothers and sister responded to Madge’s presence. When did they get so close? Why didn’t any of them tell him? It was common knowledge back before the revolution that the two of them hadn’t always gotten on well, but he’d never hated her, or wished her dead. The guilt from not saving her with the rest of the District had hung over his head like a cloud since that day.
There was a part of him that wanted to snap at her, to lash out in anger for being left out of the loop, to tell her to go away and leave them alone. This was supposed to be time alone with his siblings, and yet, watching them together, Gale couldn’t bring himself to do any of that. He wasn’t sure what to make of it, but they all had some mind of friendship that none of them had bothered to tell him about. So instead, he just gave the smallest shake of his head and skated up behind Posy while she wasn’t paying attention, grabbing her from behind and lifting her into the air in a spin, making sure to keep a safe distance from Madge and their brothers so no one got hurt. The little girl shrieked in delight, the boys laughing.
Madge's apology was cut short as Posy made her way over. She listened enthusiastically to the tale, laughing and adding her own comments when able. Pushing her hair from her face and over her shoulder, she glanced up as Gale approached... And laughed with them as he spun Posy in the air.
She felt guilty that she hadn't told him-- that she hadn't really told anyone that wasn't around. She'd spent so long recovering and just as long trying to rebuild her life without her family.
Madge stood up, smiling at the siblings. Perhaps she'd been a little jealous, that they still had their family. She had nothing, really. Her father had stayed with her mother during the bombings, they weren't able to get out fast enough... she should have been with them, she shouldn't have left. What did she have left here, anyways? The Hawthorne's had been kind enough to help her when she returned home after the war. It was nice to spend time with them, to remember that she wasn't alone...
She hardly realized she was staring off into space, the smile fading from her lips, until she snapped back to reality and cleared her throat.
By the time Madge remembered the here and now, Posy had wriggled enough in his arms that Gale had to let her down. Once her feet had touched the ground again, she’d immediately raced back out on the ice, Vick hot on her heels with Rory following at a more leisurely pace. The boy cast a significant glance at the two left behind, obviously expecting some sort of fallout from the lack of communication. One sharp look from Gale and he took off without looking back.
Turning back to Madge, he found himself still having trouble believing that it was really her. It was hard to believe that, even with their differences, she would go so long letting him believe that she and her family were all dead, lost to flames along with the rest of District Twelve. Not even Katniss had mentioned her, on the rare occasions that they talked, but then, she still blamed Gale for the bombs that had killed Prim, and what remained of their friendship was a fractured, torn up mess that may never be fixed. At what point would she even have had the chance to mention the mayor’s daughter?
Even more upsetting was that his family hadn’t mentioned it, when they were so obviously used to her presence. His mother and Rory, at least, had known what it was like between the two of them - tense, and a bit uncivil on Gale’s part, but neither wishing bad on the other, and Hazel had even told him about the morphling. Why not this?
Turning to look at her, he felt the guilt from the night of the bombings well up inside of him again, alongside another wave of anger. How could they let him live with that? His expression was carefully neutral, determined not to let any of it out as he spoke.
“Didn’t know you’d taken to hanging out with my family, Undersee.”
Madge looked over at him, matching that careful, neutral expression. Did the air suddenly become thinner? Why was it suddenly harder to breathe? And why did she feel so bad about not really telling him she was alive?
"They were kind enough to help me out when I found my way back to 12," she offered quietly. "I owe them a lot..."
Glancing away from him and towards his siblings, she pressed her lips together. "I keep to myself mostly anymore... After..." she trailed off and looked back at him. "Everything."
Following her lead, he looked out at his little brothers and sister, watching them play happily, the youngest none the wiser of Gale's growing irritation. Rory would glance back at them now and then as if he was waiting for the metaphorical shoe to drop. Knowing Gale, especially when it came to the mayor's daughter, it would at any time.
"They never told me," he said unnecessarily, keeping his annoyance about that in check for now. None of that was directed at Madge just yet, though he was using it to distract him from the guilt of not rescuing her with the rest of the District. He wouldn't press her to say it, either; he didn't need the reminder of what happened any more than she did. It was still seared in his mind - the ashes, the flames, the screams - and the faces of all the people he hadn't been able to save.
After a long, pregnant pause, Gale finally said, "I'm glad someone could help you." Even if he'd failed, he added silently, a dark part of his mind grinding it into the still-healing wound like salt.
Of course they never told him. Madge wasn't necessarily surprised by that-- she hadn't explicitly told them that they should or shouldn't... But she had also been holed away on her own for the most part. Coming back to town was hard enough, but to walk around what had been the ruins of their district and be forced to remember what she had narrowly escaped...
Well- she didn't want to dwell on that just now. And the pause was enough to drive her insane, though she hardly wanted to be the first to say anything. When he finally spoke again, she let out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "Thank you."
What else could she say to that? The smile she offered him was reserved, but sincere. "And I'm glad that you and your family are well."
There wasn't much he could say to that. They were happy and comfortable, for once not worrying about money or where their next meal will come from, and that was all Gale needed to be satisfied. He'd missed them, of course, but District Twelve didn't feel like home anymore, not outside of the Hawthorne household. There was too much history here, and too many of his failures haunting the dusty roads.
"How did you find the lake?" Gale asked suddenly, glancing back at Madge. The lake was far enough back in the woods that if someone wasn't familiar with the trails, they probably wouldn't be able to find it unless they were incredibly lucky. And Madge, being the mayor's daughter, was not known for tromping around in the woods beyond the fence. "Not many people know it's out here."
"Katniss," Madge answered almost immediately... And just as immediately, she regretted it. She wasn't sure if that would only make things tense between them...
"I mean... a long time ago, before everything... she told me about it."
And, perhaps, more recently she'd been shown. That, however, was neither here nor there.
He nodded. Hearing her name sent a pang of longing through him, longing for the friendship they’d lost, but - he should have known, really. It wasn’t like Madge and Katniss being friends wasn’t common knowledge in the district, even if Gale had never quite understood it.
“She showed me one day when we were out hunting.” That was years ago. Some days, he truly missed them, but in his heart, Gale knew it was for the best. Even if it meant Katniss would never trust him again, they’d still won the war. They’d won their freedom, and that mattered more than the childish hopes of a boy from the Seam. “I didn’t know she’d told anyone else about it. It used to be a secret.”
Madge felt a weird twist in her stomach as he told her about Katniss showing him this place. It should be obvious, really... She wasn't jealous. No. She had no reason to be jealous over something so petty. She nodded her head slowly, feeling more than a little awkward about bringing their mutual friend up in the first place.
"I was the only other- I think..."
Katniss wasn't exactly chummy with anyone but Gale and herself- maybe Peeta had been told at one point. "It was just mentioned in passing, really."
That was surprising. Katniss was always more of a "show, don't tell" kind of girl, true to the culture of the Seam. They let their actions speak for them, because words could often be misconstrued in the worst ways. It was one more thing that set them apart from the people in town.
"Impressive," Gale commented, not looking at Madge, "that you could find it all on your own."
"I wasn't eager to cross the boundaries, since being Mayor's daughter meant you had more eyes on you."
Madge debated telling him that she had been shown afterwards, that Katniss had known she was alive before Gale did... That Katniss had made the time to see her and show her the lake...
"I know you don't believe that," she quipped, having trouble hiding the bitterness in her tone. Maybe she should let him think she found it on her own. Just prove him wrong... She couldn't afford to get wrapped up in a lie just to save face in front of Gale Hawthorne, however, so she relented with a sigh. "No.... she showed me just once. When I first got back to town. I needed a spot away from everyone and asked her to show me here."
Well, then, that made more sense. After all his years of hunting without finding that lake, how could a townie find it with so little effort?
His eyes narrowed at the next comment - "When I first got back to town." Bitterness stuck to his tongue, a poison to his thoughts. It still hurt that no one had bothered to tell him about her, even after his efforts to save everyone, even after he'd run back only to be thrown back as the mayor's house took the next hit in the raid.
"Right," he said, scowling as he watched Rory chase their siblings out on the ice. "And I guess that's when you taught yourself to ice skate, too?"
"Don't be ridiculous," Madge all but snapped. "My mother taught me before she fell ill."
Her mother who was no longer around. Madge had to remind herself that even if her mother had survived, she wouldn't have received the treatment she needed. If her father had left with her, he would have become a shell of what he used to be.
"I can leave if I'm bothering you that much," she murmured, glaring over at him.
He winced, ducking his head so Madge wouldn't see. Silently, he cursed his stubbornness, his own refusal to treat her the same way he would someone who hadn't been lucky enough to be born in her station. The fact of the matter was that regardless of who she was before, it was taken from her by the war, just as so much was taken from Gale himself or anyone else in District Twelve.
"I'm sorry," he said finally, voice tight and quiet in the brisk winter air. "I didn't know."
Madge wasn't going to let him get away with what he'd suggested that easily. She was angry and hurt and riled up now. "I'm just the perfect Mayor's daughter that had it easy."
But the anger and hurt died down, slowly, and as riled up as she was? She couldn't hold it against him too much. She'd just go ahead and leave it at that, arms crossed in front of her chest.
Jaw clenched in annoyance, Gale had to bite back the retort that automatically came to his tongue. He knew he deserved that response, that he’d more than earned it. He should have known better.
There wasn’t much he could say to that - nothing that wouldn’t make it worse, anyway, and if he did, the kids would give him hell for it. So finally, he rose and stepped back onto the ice.
“You didn’t have to come back to District Twelve, Undersee,” he said quietly, finally looking at her again. This time, there was a guilt in his eyes that maybe his words hadn’t gotten across. He still bore the burden of his failure, still counted himself as the other reason Madge had no one left, and had to latch on to someone else’s family to keep going. His mother was too loving to turn the girl away, Gale knew, and he couldn’t fault her for doing what she did best. “There are plenty of other places you could have gone, and you wouldn’t have been alone.”
"District Twelve is my home," Madge snapped. Not come back to the district? What was he thinking even suggesting that? Sure, being there hurt with the reminders of what had happened... she constantly faced her past in this present.
"Is that what you think? That I could go anywhere and live without even stepping foot in District 12 again? That I don't have to be here and why the hell would I come back? Really, what Townie would want to return to this place if they had the choice, right? Am I right?"
Her voice was rising and her face red with anger, but at this point she hardly cared. She knew she should save face for his siblings, the kids that cared so much for her and helped her get back on her feet. The exact opposite of everything that was going on with Gale.
“If you had to be a townie to want to leave this place behind, then I would still live here with my family,” he snapped right back, anger boiling up to the surface. That wasn’t what he meant at all - but coming from him, of course it would sound that way. He hadn’t ever given her reason to believe otherwise.
He’d tried. He’d tried to come home for good, but between Katniss and feeling surrounded by his failure to save everyone, Gale simply couldn’t do it. He’d felt stifled, and the nightmares of the bombs and the war had only become more manageable after he’d left. Every time he visited, they returned full force, ready to tear him apart in an instant if he let them. There was a reason he kept his visits short.
Madge bit her tongue, glaring at him but refraining from retorting. She knew coming back here couldn't be easy for him, it was hard for everyone... But especially those who were directly involved.
Instead, she offered a quiet apology. "I'm sorry..."
But left it at that. She had been out of line, sure, but so had he. Feeling eyes on her, she softened her glare into something more neutral until she could pin point who it was. Posy.
Giving the girl her brightest smile, Madge hoisted herself up and onto the ice. After all, she had come here to skate, not argue with one Gale Hawthorne.
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Gale
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Now that the districts are free and the fence is gone, Gale is free to bypass the small pond that most of the town goes to for their skating time. Instead, he takes his younger siblings out through the woods, leading them toward the lake Katniss had shown him years ago. Rory had come out with him once, before the war, but Vick and Posy had been too small at the time. Now that they’re older, and Gale is on vacation to visit family - a rare thing, these days - it’s about time they gave it a go.
They’ve all got skates, brand new from District Two, and once they get there they all have to sit down to tie them on with a little help from their eldest brother. Rory picks it up again with relative ease, but Vick stumbles a bit, and Posy - Posy’s never learned, so she has to lean heavily on Gale and hold his hand as they take a few hesitant steps. Before long, though, she’s gliding and laughing along with her brothers, having a great time. And Gale… Gale’s just glad to see them again, healthy and happy, at that.
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She didn't expect to see him there. Pausing by the edge of the trees, Madge watched them quietly. It had been a while (a long while) since she'd seen him, and part of her wanted to turn and go to the crowded pond rather than intrude on his family time. Did he even know she was alive? Would he care?
"Mind if I join?"
She said it before she realized she was speaking up and it was too late to turn back now.
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But Rory answered that question for him.
“Sure, Madge, c’mon! It’s Posy’s first time,” the boy told her cheerfully before skating out to join Vick and Posy and share news of their visitor. Gale’s eyes stayed locked on her, wanting to believe but finding it difficult, after so many years of believing she was gone. Did Katniss even know, he wondered? She’d been told the same thing as he had.
“Undersee,” he said, the name feeling familiar and somehow alien all at once. It had been a while since it last passed his lips, and it was still hard to believe it’s really her, out there. Madge Undersee, the mayor’s daughter. Alive.
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Madge watched Gale, eyes locked with his, unwavering. She didn't look away until Rory spoke. Glancing at him, she smiled brightly and nodded. "Is it?" she replied cheerfully as she started towards them. She paused only to take a seat and put her skates on. "She's doing so well for her first time, too!"
Her tongue wet her lips anxiously as she finally glanced back up at Gale. "Hey," she offered shortly with a small smile. "Sorry if I'm intruding."
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Gale, for his part, was still having trouble believing it, especially seeing the way his brothers and sister responded to Madge’s presence. When did they get so close? Why didn’t any of them tell him? It was common knowledge back before the revolution that the two of them hadn’t always gotten on well, but he’d never hated her, or wished her dead. The guilt from not saving her with the rest of the District had hung over his head like a cloud since that day.
There was a part of him that wanted to snap at her, to lash out in anger for being left out of the loop, to tell her to go away and leave them alone. This was supposed to be time alone with his siblings, and yet, watching them together, Gale couldn’t bring himself to do any of that. He wasn’t sure what to make of it, but they all had some mind of friendship that none of them had bothered to tell him about. So instead, he just gave the smallest shake of his head and skated up behind Posy while she wasn’t paying attention, grabbing her from behind and lifting her into the air in a spin, making sure to keep a safe distance from Madge and their brothers so no one got hurt. The little girl shrieked in delight, the boys laughing.
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She felt guilty that she hadn't told him-- that she hadn't really told anyone that wasn't around. She'd spent so long recovering and just as long trying to rebuild her life without her family.
Madge stood up, smiling at the siblings. Perhaps she'd been a little jealous, that they still had their family. She had nothing, really. Her father had stayed with her mother during the bombings, they weren't able to get out fast enough... she should have been with them, she shouldn't have left. What did she have left here, anyways? The Hawthorne's had been kind enough to help her when she returned home after the war. It was nice to spend time with them, to remember that she wasn't alone...
She hardly realized she was staring off into space, the smile fading from her lips, until she snapped back to reality and cleared her throat.
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Turning back to Madge, he found himself still having trouble believing that it was really her. It was hard to believe that, even with their differences, she would go so long letting him believe that she and her family were all dead, lost to flames along with the rest of District Twelve. Not even Katniss had mentioned her, on the rare occasions that they talked, but then, she still blamed Gale for the bombs that had killed Prim, and what remained of their friendship was a fractured, torn up mess that may never be fixed. At what point would she even have had the chance to mention the mayor’s daughter?
Even more upsetting was that his family hadn’t mentioned it, when they were so obviously used to her presence. His mother and Rory, at least, had known what it was like between the two of them - tense, and a bit uncivil on Gale’s part, but neither wishing bad on the other, and Hazel had even told him about the morphling. Why not this?
Turning to look at her, he felt the guilt from the night of the bombings well up inside of him again, alongside another wave of anger. How could they let him live with that? His expression was carefully neutral, determined not to let any of it out as he spoke.
“Didn’t know you’d taken to hanging out with my family, Undersee.”
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"They were kind enough to help me out when I found my way back to 12," she offered quietly. "I owe them a lot..."
Glancing away from him and towards his siblings, she pressed her lips together. "I keep to myself mostly anymore... After..." she trailed off and looked back at him. "Everything."
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"They never told me," he said unnecessarily, keeping his annoyance about that in check for now. None of that was directed at Madge just yet, though he was using it to distract him from the guilt of not rescuing her with the rest of the District. He wouldn't press her to say it, either; he didn't need the reminder of what happened any more than she did. It was still seared in his mind - the ashes, the flames, the screams - and the faces of all the people he hadn't been able to save.
After a long, pregnant pause, Gale finally said, "I'm glad someone could help you." Even if he'd failed, he added silently, a dark part of his mind grinding it into the still-healing wound like salt.
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Well- she didn't want to dwell on that just now. And the pause was enough to drive her insane, though she hardly wanted to be the first to say anything. When he finally spoke again, she let out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "Thank you."
What else could she say to that? The smile she offered him was reserved, but sincere. "And I'm glad that you and your family are well."
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"How did you find the lake?" Gale asked suddenly, glancing back at Madge. The lake was far enough back in the woods that if someone wasn't familiar with the trails, they probably wouldn't be able to find it unless they were incredibly lucky. And Madge, being the mayor's daughter, was not known for tromping around in the woods beyond the fence. "Not many people know it's out here."
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"I mean... a long time ago, before everything... she told me about it."
And, perhaps, more recently she'd been shown. That, however, was neither here nor there.
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“She showed me one day when we were out hunting.” That was years ago. Some days, he truly missed them, but in his heart, Gale knew it was for the best. Even if it meant Katniss would never trust him again, they’d still won the war. They’d won their freedom, and that mattered more than the childish hopes of a boy from the Seam. “I didn’t know she’d told anyone else about it. It used to be a secret.”
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"I was the only other- I think..."
Katniss wasn't exactly chummy with anyone but Gale and herself- maybe Peeta had been told at one point. "It was just mentioned in passing, really."
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That was surprising. Katniss was always more of a "show, don't tell" kind of girl, true to the culture of the Seam. They let their actions speak for them, because words could often be misconstrued in the worst ways. It was one more thing that set them apart from the people in town.
"Impressive," Gale commented, not looking at Madge, "that you could find it all on your own."
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Madge debated telling him that she had been shown afterwards, that Katniss had known she was alive before Gale did... That Katniss had made the time to see her and show her the lake...
"I know you don't believe that," she quipped, having trouble hiding the bitterness in her tone. Maybe she should let him think she found it on her own. Just prove him wrong... She couldn't afford to get wrapped up in a lie just to save face in front of Gale Hawthorne, however, so she relented with a sigh. "No.... she showed me just once. When I first got back to town. I needed a spot away from everyone and asked her to show me here."
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Well, then, that made more sense. After all his years of hunting without finding that lake, how could a townie find it with so little effort?
His eyes narrowed at the next comment - "When I first got back to town." Bitterness stuck to his tongue, a poison to his thoughts. It still hurt that no one had bothered to tell him about her, even after his efforts to save everyone, even after he'd run back only to be thrown back as the mayor's house took the next hit in the raid.
"Right," he said, scowling as he watched Rory chase their siblings out on the ice. "And I guess that's when you taught yourself to ice skate, too?"
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Her mother who was no longer around. Madge had to remind herself that even if her mother had survived, she wouldn't have received the treatment she needed. If her father had left with her, he would have become a shell of what he used to be.
"I can leave if I'm bothering you that much," she murmured, glaring over at him.
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"I'm sorry," he said finally, voice tight and quiet in the brisk winter air. "I didn't know."
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Madge wasn't going to let him get away with what he'd suggested that easily. She was angry and hurt and riled up now. "I'm just the perfect Mayor's daughter that had it easy."
But the anger and hurt died down, slowly, and as riled up as she was? She couldn't hold it against him too much. She'd just go ahead and leave it at that, arms crossed in front of her chest.
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There wasn’t much he could say to that - nothing that wouldn’t make it worse, anyway, and if he did, the kids would give him hell for it. So finally, he rose and stepped back onto the ice.
“You didn’t have to come back to District Twelve, Undersee,” he said quietly, finally looking at her again. This time, there was a guilt in his eyes that maybe his words hadn’t gotten across. He still bore the burden of his failure, still counted himself as the other reason Madge had no one left, and had to latch on to someone else’s family to keep going. His mother was too loving to turn the girl away, Gale knew, and he couldn’t fault her for doing what she did best. “There are plenty of other places you could have gone, and you wouldn’t have been alone.”
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"Is that what you think? That I could go anywhere and live without even stepping foot in District 12 again? That I don't have to be here and why the hell would I come back? Really, what Townie would want to return to this place if they had the choice, right? Am I right?"
Her voice was rising and her face red with anger, but at this point she hardly cared. She knew she should save face for his siblings, the kids that cared so much for her and helped her get back on her feet. The exact opposite of everything that was going on with Gale.
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He’d tried. He’d tried to come home for good, but between Katniss and feeling surrounded by his failure to save everyone, Gale simply couldn’t do it. He’d felt stifled, and the nightmares of the bombs and the war had only become more manageable after he’d left. Every time he visited, they returned full force, ready to tear him apart in an instant if he let them. There was a reason he kept his visits short.
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Instead, she offered a quiet apology. "I'm sorry..."
But left it at that. She had been out of line, sure, but so had he. Feeling eyes on her, she softened her glare into something more neutral until she could pin point who it was. Posy.
Giving the girl her brightest smile, Madge hoisted herself up and onto the ice. After all, she had come here to skate, not argue with one Gale Hawthorne.
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