Luke burst into laughter as he reached out to close Caroline’s bag. “I’ve got plenty of money. I just wanted to see what Mr. Sunshine would say.”
Gray’s ire faded. Luke had always known how to get beneath his skin, and losing a game of jacks to a pair of waifs wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
He nodded a polite greeting to Lieutenant Ransom, then pulled Luke aside. “Let’s go for a walk,” he said casually. He needed to impart some important information and didn’t want Caroline or Luke’s old college friend in on the conversation.
Their footsteps thudded on the wharf as they walked toward the customs house.
“Luke, I want you to forget what happened four years ago. It was an unfortunate incident, but it shouldn’t cripple you for the rest of your life.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“Perhaps, but it’s also true. Neither Dad nor I blamed you for what happened with the Magruders.”
Luke chewed on a toothpick as he glowered out at the horizon. “I really hate Clyde Magruder,” he said. “I heard he got his children’s nanny pregnant, then accused her of theft so she would run away before his wife found out. He’s a vile piece of work.”
That went without saying. The Magruders were their biggest rival in the food industry and wealthy beyond all imagination. Clyde could have paid the nanny off, but a pregnant mistress could be a problem in his pending run for Congress in November. All the Magruders were mean, underhanded men of business, but Clyde plastered it over with a sheen of oily charm.
“Don’t worry about Clyde Magruder,” Gray said. “Just go to Cuba and get those contracts finalized.”
“Ialwaysworry about the Magruders,” Luke said tightly, but then a hint of mischief flashed across his face. He lowered his voice and spoke conspiratorially. “Look, I think I’ve found a way to finally get the upper hand on them.”
“How about landing those Cuban contracts? That would be a start.”
Luke tossed the toothpick away and straightened. “Yeah, I can do that, but I’ve still got a plan for the Magruders. I’ll let you know about it once I get back.” He glanced over his shoulder at Caroline and Philip Ransom, who were tossing breadcrumbs to the ducks. “You’re not off base when you say I’ve been a little shiftless, but you’re dead wrong about Caroline. You have no idea what she’s been up against inside the White House because you’ve never asked her about it, you just keep grousing about the president.”
Gray gave a curt nod of acknowledgment as they headed back to have a farewell breakfast at one of the port taverns. Both Caroline and Luke mercilessly teased Philip over his dreary job cataloging maps in the basement of the War Department.
“The moment you send up a distress call, we shall race to the rescue,” Caroline assured Philip. “You’re starting to look pale. Doesn’t he look pale, Luke? We must devise a way to liberate him from the dungeon.”
Philip was no match for Caroline, blushing furiously at her teasing. “It’s where the cartography division is. I’m destined for the life of an underground mole.”
“Meanwhile I’m off to Cuba for the rum, cigars, and tropical sunsets,” Luke quipped. “I think I got the better deal.”
They escorted Luke to the gangway to say their final farewells. Caroline’s tight corset didn’t stop her from leaping into Luke’s arms for an embrace. He lifted her from the ground and twirled her in a circle, then gave a back-pounding hug to hisold college roommate. Gray managed a smile and held out his hand, but Luke knocked it aside and gave him a solid embrace instead. Gray returned it.
Philip needed to return to his dull job in the cartography office, but Gray and Caroline stayed to wave the ship off. Even after the steamship gave two long blasts of its horn as it pulled out of port, he and Caroline remained to watch it sail toward the horizon.
Luke’s parting words lingered in Gray’s mind. It was true that whenever Caroline’s new job came up, he grumbled about the McKinley administration instead of inquiring about her actual work, and he needed to do better. Once the ship was out to sea, he escorted his sister back to their carriage and began driving her to the White House.
“What is on your schedule for today?” he asked as they turned onto K Street.
“A women’s group from Indiana is visiting to ask the first lady to endorse a school for orphans. Then I will host a tea for them, since Mrs. McKinley isn’t comfortable with such duties. After the tea, I’ll open and sort through her mail. The president is very protective of his wife and asked me to screen all her mail so she sees nothing upsetting. Then she and I will visit the Naval Hospital on Ninth Street so she may welcome newly arrived servicemen from the Philippines.”
Normally at this point Gray would interrupt to vent over the American invasion in the Philippines, but he bit his tongue, for visiting the hospital was admirable work.
“The seating chart for the Supreme Court dinner needs to be decided today,” she continued. “We also need to finalize plans for a trip to Baltimore so the first lady may visit a lace-making factory. Given her precarious health, a trip like that requires a lot of planning.”
As Caroline continued outlining her day, Gray was forced to conclude that Luke was right and he was wrong. He drew thecarriage to a halt before the White House, and Caroline sprang to the ground with an abundance of energy. He tossed the reins over a hitching post so he could intercept her before she got far.
He opened his mouth to speak but was struck unexpectedly mute. He wasn’t good at compliments, and where Caroline was concerned, he’d always been stingy with them.
He clasped her hands and met her eyes. “Dad would be proud of you,” he managed to stammer. “I am too.”
Her blue eyes grew wide, and she looked unexpectedly moved. “Thank you for that,” she said. “I know your political leanings, and I know this isn’t what you would have wished for me—”
“Shh,” he said. “You’re doing good work. And you’re making your own way in life. That’s all I could ever ask for.”
She kissed him on the cheek, then turned to walk into the north entrance of the building. As he walked back to the carriage, he gazed at the shockingly blue sky overhead.
