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Please call me Katherine. We all have more serious hostilities to be concerned about.”
    “Oh, this terrible war!” Margaret Sullivan exclaimed. “What is the point of it?”
    “Terrible is right,” snorted Jeffrey Sullivan. “I’m not sure the government has enough money to pay its bills.”
    “I, for one, am ready to do my part,” Patrick said firmly. “The time has come to put things in order. It’s gone on too long. Those Southerners—and we had too many of them at West Point—are always boasting of their military prowess. I am ready to show them that we Northerners are at least equally courageous.”
    Katherine gave him a measured look. “I only hope that medical skills have advanced faster than those of gun-making. The Minié ball will make our modern battlefields much more dangerous places than those of the past.” Three pairs of male eyebrows shot up. “The ease of reloading, for one thing,” she explained to Margaret.
    Patrick nodded approvingly. “No doubt you’re right. We’ll just have to keep them from shooting at all! Katherine, perhaps we should seal our truce by having one dance together. You know, I suppose we’re business associates. After a fashion.” Patrick shifted his feet.
    “That’s up to Edward. I am here with him.”
    Edward looked from Katherine to Patrick and back again. “We can trade partners for one dance, Patrick. Are you with Cathy or Ginny?”
    The two young women giggled and Patrick held up both hands, palm outward. “I came alone, Edward. These two young ladies befriended me in my hour of need. I just got home. Graduated three days ago. My father insisted I come. He said I would see old friends. He was right.”
    “Everyone please take note,” Jeffrey Sullivan said.
    “It’s good to see you, my friend. We’ll have to catch up later.” Edward clapped Patrick on the back and turned to Katherine. “Shall we? The first dance is being announced.” Katherine took his offered arm, and glanced sideways at Patrick as she walked by him. She felt his eyes surveying her.
    “Come, Ginny. I’ll take my first dance at home with you,” Patrick said. Ginny beamed. The two were childhood playmates and she had always loved him. She hooked her arm delightedly around his elbow and grinned at Cathy as she passed her. Cathy stuck out just the tip of her tongue.
    While dancing with Ginny, Patrick kept looking for Katherine and Edward. Ginny frowned and moved closer than the arm’s length that was considered proper for young people. She leaned up to his ear, “Patrick, do you remember the game we played hiding in the horse stable that Sunday afternoon after Mass?”
    Patrick looked at her, surprised. “I do. Very well.” He laughed. “You showed me yours and I showed you mine.”
    Ginny’s mouth trembled slightly as she said, “Well. I think we should play it again. I’m sure we have much more to show now.”
    Patrick hesitated, not sure what he was getting into. He had been warned about young ladies who cared only for his money, but he didn’t think that was Ginny’s only goal. “Ginny, we might do that. Do you mean tonight?”
    She pulled back a bit. “Well, Patrick, I’d prefer a lifetime.”
    “Ginny. Are you proposing to me?” Patrick laughed.
    “Maybe.”
    “Not until after the war. Besides, Cathy might have a better offer!”
    “She can’t fill out her corset,” Ginny sneered.
    Patrick was the center of attention most of the night. The men all wanted to know when he would report for battle and where he had been assigned. Women couldn’t resist the glamour of his Army officer’s dress uniform or the lure of his blonde hair and green eyes. They wanted to meet him, but even better, to dance with him. He basked in the attention. During a dance with Cathy, he brushed against his father and mother. “Father, thanks for insisting I come. It’s a good time!”
    “Don’t stay out late. You have to be at the office in the morning for work with your