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Prologue

Drumnadrochit, February 28, 1942

Agnes Màiri Grant,

Infant daughter of Angus and Màiri Grant

January 14th, 1942

…

Capt. Angus Duncan Grant,

Beloved husband of Màiri

April 2nd, 1909 – January, 1942

The headstone was modest and hewn of black granite, granite being one of the few things never in short supply in Glenurquhart, even during the present difficulty.

Màiri visited the tiny swell of earth that covered her daughter’s coffin every day, watching as it flattened. Archie the Stonecutter had said it might be months before they could put up the stone with the frost so hard upon them, but the coffin was so small the leveling was accomplished in just a few weeks.

No sooner was the stone up than Màiri got the telegram about Angus and had Archie take it away again. Archie had wanted to wait until the date of death was verified, but Màiri needed it done then, to have a place to mourn them both at once, and Archie could not say no. He chiseled Angus’s name beneath his daughter’s and left some room to add the day of the month when they learned it. An addition for an absence, because Angus—unlike the wee bairn—was not beneath it and almost certainly never would be.

There were just the two of them in the churchyard when Archie returned the headstone. He was a strong man, heaving a piece of granite around like that.

A shadow flashed over her, and she looked up. A single crow circled high above the graves, seeming never to move its wings.

One Crow for sorrow,

It was joined by another, and then two more.

Two Crows for mirth,

Three Crows for a wedding,

Four Crows for a birth

Archie removed his hat and twisted it in his hands.

“If there’s anything Morag and I can do, anything at all…”

Màiri tried to smile, and succeeded only in producing a half-choked sob. She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and pressed it to her mouth.

Archie paused as though he wanted to say more. Eventually he replaced his hat and said, “Well then. I’ll be off.” He nodded firmly and trudged back to his van.

It was Willie the Postie who had delivered the telegram, on Valentine’s Day no less, a month to the day after the birth. Màiri had been pulling a pint behind the bar when Anna came, ashen-faced, whispering that Willie was on the doorstep, and would not come inside. Willie was a regular, so Màiri knew from that very moment, before she even approached the door and saw his face. His hooded eyes stared into hers, and then drifted down to the envelope in his hands. He turned it a couple of times, as though wondering whether to give it to her, whether not giving it to her would make the thing it contained not true. The wind caught it a couple of times, flicking it this way and that. When he finally handed it to her, he held it as gently as a new-hatched chick. She opened it, turned it right side up, and let her eyes scan the purple date stamp—February 14th, 1942—added by Willie himself not half an hour before, and then

MRS MAIRI GRANT 6 HIGH ROAD DRUM INVERNESSHIRE

DEEPLY REGRET TO INFORM THAT YOUR HUSBAND CAPTN ANGUS D GRANT SEAFORTH HRS 4TH BTN 179994 IS MISSING PRESUMED KILLED ON WAR SERVICE JAN 1 1942 LETTER WITH DETAILS TO FOLLOW

She took in only three things: Angus, killed, the date. And they were enough.

“I’m sorry, Màiri,” Willie said in a near-whisper. “Especially so soon after…” His voice trailed off. He blinked, and his eyes drifted down, pausing briefly on her belly before coming to rest again on his hands.

She could not reply. She closed the door quietly, walked past the hushed locals, and into the kitchen. There she leaned against the wall, clutching her empty womb with one hand and the piece of paper that had brought Angus’s death in the other. For it did seem as though it was the paper that brought his death rather than simply the news of it. He had been dead for more than six weeks, and she hadn’t known.

In the time between the arrival of the telegram and the return of the headstone with Angus’s name on it, Màiri had begun to blame Willie. Why had he chosen to hand her the telegram? She had seen his hesitation. She would have been complicit in what, at worst, would have been a lie of omission, especially if it meant she could believe that Angus was still out there somewhere. Even if he was doing things she couldn’t comprehend, things that might change him in the terrible ways the men who had already been sent home had been changed, she could believe he was alive and therefore fixable, for surely there was nothing she couldn’t love him through once he came home.

They had lied to her about the baby, and she had let them.

Since she had first felt the baby quicken, she was keenly aware of its every movement. For months, she had watched in wonderment as little braes poked up from her belly, pushing their way across—an elbow, or perhaps a knee—a subterranean force that constantly rearranged the landscape of her flesh. Was it a boy, or a wee girl? Whichever it was, it already had strong opinions. She remembered the moment it occurred to her that it had been hours since she felt it, on Hogmanay, of all days. At midnight, precisely when Ian Mackintosh struck in his pipes to form the first chord of “Auld Lang Syne” and seconds before corresponding shots rang out from the doorway of Donnie Maclean, Màiri began poking her belly, trying to wake it, for they said that unborn babes slept. She yelled at it, screamed at it, and finally, realizing, wrapped her arms around it and wept. Thirteen days later, her pains started.

Her memories of the birth were vague, for the midwife had given her bitter tea mixed with white powder, and the doctor held ether over her nose and mouth at regular intervals, putting her under completely at the end. They told her the baby had lived a few minutes, long enough to be baptized. Their lie became her lie, and that was what went on the headstone. In truth, she’d probably lost both child and husband on the same date.

The promised letter never arrived. Where had he died? How had he died? Without the dreaded details, she had only her imagination—her terrible imagination—and while she wished she couldn’t fathom what his last moments might have been, she could, with distinct and agonizing precision, in a million different ways. Please God that they were moments indeed, and not hours or days.

The murder of crows descended in a noisy fluster, settling in a row on the stone wall, huddling into themselves, their blue-black feathers puffed and theirs heads tucked in as though they’d pulled up their coat collars. They stared accusingly, miserably, but without their usual commentary. Màiri counted them twice.

Seven for a secret, never to be told.

She knew then that she would never know the details, would never know what had happened.

A bone-chilling wind stirred the fallen leaves until they formed cyclones that danced among the graves. Màiri crouched and fingered the names of her child and husband in the black stone.

Agnes.

Angus.

A third of the stone was still blank, at the bottom. There was room for one more name, one more set of dates, and these would be accurate.

She stood without taking her eyes off the stone. She wiped her eyes and nose on the handkerchief, and kept it in her hand as she wrapped her arms around herself and walked through the black iron gate, leaving it swinging. She headed toward the inn, except when she got to the crossroad, she turned left instead of going straight.

A light snow began to fall, but despite her bare head and legs she trudged right past the Farquhars’ croft. She’d have been welcome there, as well as at the McKenzies’, where she could see the fire glowing orange through the window, but on she went, teeth chattering, hands and shins numb.

Eventually the castle rose on her left, its majestic and ruined battlements like so many broken teeth against the leaden sky. She had played within its walls as a child, and knew which rooms remained whole, where you had to watch your footing, where the best hiding places were, where the courting couples went. She and Angus had been among them.

The snow was heavier now, falling in clumps that collected and melted on her hair. Her ears were past stinging. She pulled her sleeves over her frozen hands and pinched them shut with her fingertips. Through the gatehouse, past the kiln, pushing through the long grass and scrub gorse, bracken, and thistles, straight to the Water Gate.

She paused at the top, staring at the blackness of the loch. Thousands of tiny whitecaps danced on its surface, seeming to move in the opposite direction of the water beneath them. It was said that the loch contained more water than all the other bodies of water not just in Scotland but also England and Wales combined, and it held other things as well. She had been warned away from it her entire life, for its depth came quickly, its coldness was fierce, and the Kelpie lay in wait.

She picked her way sideways down the slope, letting her icy fingers out of her sleeves to hold up the hem of her coat.

When she reached the bottom, the water lapped around the soles of her shoes. The edge of the loch looked seductively shallow, slipping over the gravel and back into itself. She took a step forward, gasping as the water flooded her shoes, so cold, so cold, and yet it had never frozen, not once in recorded history. Another step, another gasp. Bits of peat swirled in the water around her ankles, circling her legs, beckoning her forth. Another step, and this time she stumbled, suddenly knee-deep. Her wool coat floated, an absurd umbrella, first resisting and finally wicking water, pulling her deeper. She looked back at the landing, suddenly desperate. If only she had a hat, she could throw it back onto the thorny gorse. If she’d had anything that would float, maybe they’d think it was an accident and let her be buried with her daughter. Maybe they’d think the Kelpie took her. And then she remembered that the loch never gave up its dead, so she spread her arms wide and embraced it.

Chapter One

Scottish Highlands, January 14, 1945

“Oh God, make him pull over,” I said as the car slung around yet another curve in almost total darkness.

It had been nearly four hours since we’d left the naval base at Aultbea, and we’d been careening from checkpoint to checkpoint since. I truly believe those were the only times the driver used the brakes. At the last checkpoint, I was copiously sick, narrowly missing the guard’s boots. He didn’t even bother checking our papers, just lifted the red and white pole and waved us on with a look of disgust.

“Driver! Pull over,” said Ellis, who was sitting in the backseat between Hank and me.

“I’m afraid there is no ‘over,’” the driver said in a thick Highland accent, his Rs rolling magnificently. He came to a stop in the middle of the road.

It was true. There was no over. If I stepped outside the car I would be ankle deep in thorny vegetation and mud, not that it would have done any more to destroy my clothes and shoes. From head to toe I was steeped in sulfur and cordite and the stench of fear. My stockings were mere cob webs stretched around my legs, and my scarlet nails were broken and peeling. I hadn’t washed my hair since the day before we’d sailed from the shipyard in Philadelphia. I had never been in such a state.

I hung my head out the open door and gagged while Ellis rubbed my back. Wet snow collected on the back of my head.

I sat up again and pulled the door shut. “I’m sorry. I’m finished. Do you think you can take those things off the head lamps? I think it would be better if I could see what’s coming.” I was referring to the slotted metal plates our one-eyed driver had clipped onto the headlamps before we’d left the base. They limited visibility to about three feet ahead of us.

“Can’t,” he called back cheerfully. “It’s the Black-Out.” As he cranked up through the gears, my head lurched back and forth. I leaned over and cradled my head in my hands.

Ellis patted my shoulder. “We should be nearly there. Do you think fresh air would help?”

I sat up and let my head flop against the back of the torn leather seat. Ellis reached across and rolled the window down a crack. I turned my face toward the cold air and closed my eyes.

“Hank, can you please put out your cigarette?”

He didn’t answer, but a whoosh of frigid air let me know he had tossed it out the window.

“Thank you,” I said weakly.

Twenty minutes later, when the car finally came to a stop and the driver cut the engine, I was so desperate for solid ground I spilled out before the driver could get his own door open, never mind mine. I landed on my knees.

“Maddie!” Ellis said in alarm.

“I’m all right,” I said, catching my breath.

The wet snow stung my cheeks. There was a fast moving cloud cover under a nearly full moon, and by its light I first laid eyes on our unlikely destination.

I climbed to my feet and reeled away from the car, thinking I might be sick again. My legs propelled me toward the building, spinning ever faster. I crashed into the wall, then slid down until I was crouching against it.

In the distance, a sheep bleated.

                                                                                                                                                                                        . . .  

To say that I wished I wasn’t there would be a ludicrous understatement, but I’d only ever had the illusion of choice:

We have to do this, Hank had said. It’s for Ellis.

To refuse would have been tantamount to betrayal, an act of calculated cruelty. And so, because of my husband’s war with his father and their insane obsession with a mythical monster, we’d crossed the Atlantic at the very same time a real madman, a real monster, was attempting to take over the world for his own reasons of ego and pride.

I would have given anything to go back two weeks, to the beginning of the New Year’s Party, and script the whole thing differently.

Chapter Two

Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, December 31st, 1944

“Five! Four! Three! Two!”

The word “one” had already formed on our lips, but before it could slide off there was an explosion overhead. As screams rose around us, I pitched myself against Ellis, tossing champagne over both of us. He threw an arm protectively around my head and didn’t spill a drop.

When the screams petered out, I heard a tinkling overhead, like glass breaking, along with an ominous groaning. I peeked out from my position against Ellis’s chest.

“What the hell?” said Hank, without a hint of surprise. I think he was the only person in the room who hadn’t jumped.

All eyes turned upward. Thirty feet above us, a massive chandelier swung on its silver-plated chain, throwing shimmering prisms across the walls and floor. It was as if a rainbow had burst into a million pieces, which were now dancing across the marble, silks, and damask. We watched, transfixed. I glanced nervously at Ellis’s face, and then back at the ceiling.

An enormous cork landed next to General Pew, our host at what was easily the most anticipated party of the year, bouncing outrageously like a bloated mushroom. A split second later a single crystal the size of a quail’s egg fell from the sky and dropped smack into his cocktail, all but emptying it. He stared, bemused and tipsy, then calmly took out his handkerchief and dabbed his jacket.

As everyone burst into laughter, I noticed a footman in old-fashioned knee breeches perched near the top of a stepladder, pallid, motionless, struggling to contain the biggest bottle of champagne I’d ever seen. On the marble table in front of him was a structure of champagne glasses arranged so that if someone poured continuously into the top one, they would eventually all be filled. As a rush of bubbles cascaded over the sides of the bottle and into the footman’s sleeves, he stared in white-faced horror at Mrs. Pew.

Hank assessed the situation and apparently took pity on the fellow. He raised his glass, as well as his other hand, and with the flair and flourish of a ringmaster boomed, “One! Happy New Year!”

The orchestra struck up “Auld Lang Syne.” General Pew conducted with his empty glass, and Mrs. Pew beamed at his side—not only was her party a smashing success, it now had a comic anecdote that people would speak of for years.

“Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind

Should old acquaintance be forgot, and old lang syne…”

Those who knew the words sang along. I had refreshed my memory that afternoon in order to be ready for the big moment, but when cork met crystal, the lyrics were knocked straight out of my brain. By the time we got to running about slopes and picking daisies fine, I gave up and joined Ellis and Hank in la-la-la’ing our way through the rest.

They waved their glasses in solidarity with General Pew, their free arms looped around my waist. At the end, Ellis leaned in to kiss me.

Hank looked to one side, then the other, and appeared baffled. “Hmm. I seem to have misplaced my date. What have I done with her?”

“What you haven’t done is marry her,” I said, and then snorted, nearly expelling champagne through my nose. I had sipped my way through at least four glasses on an empty stomach and was feeling bold.

His mouth opened in mock offense, but even he couldn’t pretend ignorance about Violet’s growing desperation at the seemingly endless nature of their courtship.

“Did she actually leave?” he said, scanning the room a little more seriously.

“I’m not sure,” I said. “I haven’t seen her in a while.”

“Then who will give me my New Year’s kiss?” he asked, looking bereft.

“Oh, come here, you big lug.” I stood on tiptoe and planted a kiss on his cheek. “You’ve always got us. And we don’t even require a ring.”

Ellis threw us an amused side-eye and motioned to Hank that he should wipe my lipstick off his cheek.

Beyond him, the footman was still balanced on the second-to-highest rung of the stepladder. He was bent at the waist, trying to aim the bottle at the top glass, and had gone from pale to purple with the effort. His mouth was pressed into a grim line. I looked around to see if reinforcements were coming and didn’t see any.

“Ellis? I think he needs help,” I said, tilting my head in the footman’s direction.

Ellis glanced over. “You’re right,” he said, handing me his glass. “Hank? Shall we?”

“Do you really think she’s left?” Hank said wistfully, his lips hovering near the edge of his glass. “She was a vision tonight. That dress was the color of the gloaming, the sequins jealous stars in the galaxy of her night, but nothing, nothing could compare to the milky skin of her—”

“Boys! Concentrate!” I said.

Hank snapped back to life. “What?”

“Maddie thinks that man needs help,” said Ellis.

“That thing’s enormous,” I said. “I don’t think he can hold it on his own.”

“I should think not. That’s a Balthazar,” said Ellis.

“That’s not a Balthazar,” Hank said. “That’s a Nebuchadnezzar.”

The footman’s arms were quaking. He began pouring but missed. Champagne fell between the glasses, splashing onto the table and floor. His gloves and sleeves were saturated.

“Uh-oh,” said Hank.

“Uh-oh indeed,” said Ellis. “Mrs. Pew will not be pleased.”

“I rather suspect Mrs. Pew is never pleased,” Hank said.

Rivulets of sweat ran down the footman’s forehead. It was plain to see that he was going to fall forward, right onto the glasses. I looked to Mrs. Pew for help, but she had disappeared. I tried to signal the General, but he was holding court with a replenished cocktail.

I dug my elbow into Ellis’s side.

“Go!” I said urgently. “Go help him.”

“Who’s she talking about?” said Hank.

I glared at him, and then some more, until he remembered.

“Oh! Of course,” he tried to hand me his glass, but I was already holding two. He set his on the floor and yanked his lapels in a business-like manner, but before he and Ellis could mobilize, help arrived in the form of other servants bearing four smaller but still very large bottles, and three more stepladders. Mrs. Pew glided in behind them to make sure all was under control.

“Now those are Balthazars,” said Hank, with a knowing nod. He retrieved his drink from the floor and drained it.

“No. Those are Jeraboams,” said Ellis.

“I think I know my champagne,” said Hank.

“And I don’t?”

“I think you’re both wrong. Those are Ebenezers,” I said.

That stopped them.

I broke into tipsy giggles. “Ebenezer? Get it? Christmas? The holidays? Oh never mind. Someone get me another. I spilled mine.”

“Yes. On me,” said Ellis.

Hank spun around and set his glass on the tray of a passing waiter. He clapped his hands. “All right, who’s up for a snowball fight?”

We toppled outside and made snow angels right there in front of the Pews’ home and all the cars and liveried drivers that were lined up waiting for guests. I gathered one snowball and managed to land it on Ellis’s chest before screeching and running back inside.

In the vast foyer, Ellis helped brush the snow off my back and hair. Hank hung his jacket over my bare shoulders and the two of them guided me to a trio of ornate, embroidered chairs near a roaring fire. Hank, who had had the presence of mind to grab my mink stole on the way back in, shook it off and draped it over the edge of the rosewood table in front of us. Ellis went in search of hot toddies, and I peeled off my gloves, which were stained and soaked.

“God, look at me,” I said, gazing down at myself. “I’m a mess.”

My silk dress and shoes were ruined. I tried in vain to smooth out the water spots, and checked quickly to make sure I still had both earrings. The gloves were of no consequence, but I hoped the stole could be saved. If not, I’d succeeded in destroying my entire outfit.

“You’re not a mess. You’re magnificent,” said Hank.

“Well, I was,” I lamented.

I’d spent the afternoon at Salon Antoine having my hair and makeup done, and had eaten almost nothing for two days before so my dress would drape properly. It was a beautiful pomegranate-red silk, the same material as my shoes. It matched my ruby engagement ring, and all of it set off my green eyes. Ellis had given me the dress and shoes a few days earlier, and before the party I had presented myself to him like a Flamenco dancer, twirling so the skirt would take flight. He professed his delight, but I felt a familiar pang of sorrow as I tried, yet again, to imagine exactly what he was seeing. My husband was profoundly colorblind, so my ensemble must have been a combination of grays. I wondered which ones, and how many variations there were, and whether they had different depths. I couldn’t imagine a world without color.

Hank dropped into a chair, leaving one leg dangling over its arm. He pulled his bowtie open and undid his cuffs and collar. He looked like a half-drowned Clark Gable.

I shivered into his jacket, holding it closed from the inside.

Hank patted his chest and sides. He stopped suddenly and lifted an eyebrow.

“Oh!” I said, realizing what he was looking for. I retrieved the cigarette case from his inside pocket and handed it to him. He flipped it open and held it out in offering. I shook my head. He took a cigarette for himself and snapped the case shut.

 “So, how about it then?” he said, his eyes glistening playfully. “Shall we go get us a monster?”

“Sure,” I said, waving my hand. “We’ll hop on the next liner.” It was what I always said when the topic came up, which was often, and always after boatloads of booze. It was our little game.

“I think getting away would do Ellis good. He seems depressed.”

“Ellis isn’t depressed,” I said. “You just want to escape Violet’s clutches.”

“I do not,” he protested.

“You didn’t even notice when she left tonight!”

Hank cocked his head and nodded, conceding the point. “I suppose I should send flowers.”

“First thing in the morning,” I said.

He nodded. “Absolutely. At the crack of noon. Scout’s honor.”

“And I think you should marry her. You need civilizing, and I need a female friend. I have only you and Ellis.”

He clutched a hand to his heart, mortally wounded. “What are we, chopped liver?”

“Only the finest foie gras. Seriously, though. How long are you going to make her wait?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t know if I’m ready to be civilized yet. But when I am, Violet can have the honors. She can pick a mean set of china.”

As I set my drink down, I caught another glimpse of my dress and shoes. “I think maybe I need civilizing. Will you just marry her already?”

“What is this, an ambush?” He tapped the cigarette against the top of the case and put it between his lips. A servant appeared from nowhere to light it. “Mm, thanks,” he said, inhaling. “If I do marry her, Ellis and I won’t have a hope, because you girls will gang up on us.” He leaned back and let smoke drift from his mouth to his nose in a swirling white ribbon that he re-inhaled. He called this maneuver “the Irish Waterfall.”

“We won’t be able to. The distribution will be equal.”

“They’re never equal between the sexes. You already gang up on Ellis and me all by yourself.”

“I do not!”

“You’re ganging up on me right now, at this very minute, singlehandedly baiting the marriage trap. I tell you, it’s the ultimate female conspiracy. You’re all in on it. Personally, I can’t see what all the fuss is about.”

Ellis returned, followed by a waiter who set steaming crystal glasses with handles on the table in front of us. Ellis flopped into a chair.

Hank set his cigarette in an ashtray and picked up his toddy. He blew steam from the surface and took a cautious sip. “So Ellis, our darling girl here was just saying we should go on a trip,” he said. “Find us a plesiosaur.”

“Sure she was,” said Ellis.

“She was. She has it all planned out,” said Hank. “Tell him, Maddie.”

“You’re drunk,” I said, laughing.

“That is true, I will admit,” said Hank, “but I still think we should do it.” He ground the cigarette out so hard its snuffed end splayed like a spent bullet. “We’ve been talking about it for years. Let’s do it. I’m serious.”

“No you’re not,” I said.

Hank once again clasped his heart. “What’s happened to you, Maddie? Don’t tell me you’ve lost your sense of adventure. Has Violet been civilizing you in secret?”

“No, of course not. You haven’t given her the chance. But we can’t go now. Liners haven’t run since the Athenia went down.” I realized I’d made it sound like it had spontaneously sprung a leak, when in reality it had been torpedoed by a German U-boat with 1100 civilians onboard.

 “Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” said Hank, nodding sagely. He sipped the toddy again, and then peered into it accusingly. “Hmmmm. Think I prefer whiskey after all. Back in a minute. Ellis, talk to your wife. Clearly she’s picking up bad habits.” He launched himself from his chair, and for a moment looked like he might topple over. He clutched the back of Ellis’s chair while he regained his balance and finally wafted off, drifting like a butterfly.

Ellis and I sat in relative silence, within a bubble created by the chatter and laughter of other people.

He slid slowly down in his chair until it must have looked empty from behind. His eyes were glassy, and he looked a bit gray.

My own ears buzzed from the champagne. I lifted both hands to investigate my hair, and discovered the curls on one side had come undone and were clinging to my neck. Reaching further around, I realized that the diamond hair comb given to me by my mother-in-law was missing. I felt a stab of panic. It had been a gift on our wedding day, a rare moment of compassion shown me by a woman who had made no secret of not wanting me to marry her son, but was nonetheless moved to give it to me seconds before Hank walked me down the aisle.

“I think we should do it,” Ellis said.

“Sure,” I said gaily. “We’ll just hop on the next—”

“I mean it,” he said sharply.

I looked up, startled by his tone. He was grinding his jaw. I wasn’t sure exactly when it had happened, but his mood had shifted. We were no longer playing a game.

He looked at me in irritation. “What? Why shouldn’t we?”

“Because of the war,” I said gently.

“Carpe diem, and all that crap. The war is part of the adventure. God knows I’m not getting near it any other way. Neither is Hank, for that matter.” He raked a hand through his hair, leaving a swathe of it standing on end. He leaned in closer and narrowed his eyes. “You do know what they call us, don’t you?” he said. “‘FFers.’”

He and Hank were the only 4Fers in the room. I wondered if someone had slighted him when he’d gone to find drinks.

Hank took his flatfootedness in stride, as he did most things, but being given 4F status had devastated Ellis. His colorblindness had gone undetected until he tried to enlist and was rejected. He’d tried a second time at a different location, and was turned down again. Although it was clearly not his fault, he was right that people judged, and I knew how this chipped at him. It was relentless and unspoken, so he couldn’t even defend himself. His own father, a veteran of the Great War, had treated him with undisguised revulsion since hearing the news. This injustice was made all the more painful because we lived with my in-laws, who had perversely removed any chance at escape. Two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, they cut Ellis’s allowance by two thirds. My mother-in-law broke it to us in the drawing room before dinner, announcing with smug satisfaction that she was sure we’d be pleased to know that until “this terrible business was over” the money would be going toward War Bonds. Strictly speaking, that may have been where the money was going, but it was perfectly clear that the real motive was punishing Ellis. His mother was exacting revenge because he’d dared to marry me, and his father—well, we weren’t exactly sure. Either he didn’t believe that Ellis was colorblind, or he couldn’t forgive him for it. The nightmarish result was that we were forced to live under the constant, critical scrutiny of people we’d come to think of as our captors.

“You know how hard it is,” he went on, “with everyone staring at me, wondering why I’m not serving.”

“They don’t stare—”

“Don’t patronize me! You know perfectly well they do!”

His outburst caused everyone to turn and look.

Ellis waved an angry hand at them. “See?”

He glanced fiercely around. To a person, they turned away, their scandalized expressions trained elsewhere. Conversations resumed, but in dampened tones.

Ellis locked eyes with me. “I know I look perfectly healthy,” he continued, his voice under fierce control. “My own father thinks I’m a coward, for Christ’s sake. I need to prove myself. To him, to them, to me. Of all people, I thought you’d understand.”

“Darling, I do understand,” I said.

“But do you?” he asked, his mouth stretching into a bitter smile.

“Of course,” I said, and I did, although at that moment I would have said anything to calm him down. He’d been drinking hard liquor since early afternoon, and I knew things could degenerate quickly. The carefully averted faces of those around us already portended a very unpleasant beginning to the new year.

My mother-in-law, who had missed the party because of a migraine, would surely start receiving reports of our behavior by noon. I could only imagine how she’d react when she found out I’d lost the hair comb. I resolved to telephone the next day and throw myself on Mrs. Pew’s mercy. If the comb had come out in the snow, it was probably gone forever, but if it had fallen down the back of a sofa, it might turn up.

Ellis watched me closely, the fire dancing in his eyes. After a few seconds, his angry mask melted into an expression of sad relief. He leaned sideways to pat my knee and almost fell out of his chair.

“That’s my girl,” he said, struggling upright. “Always up for adventure. You’re not like the other girls, you know. There’s not an ounce of fun in them. That’s why Hank won’t marry Violet, of course. He’s holding out for another you. Only there isn’t one. I’ve got the one and only.”

“Who the whatty-what now?” said Hank, appearing from nowhere and crashing back into his chair. “Over here!” he barked, snapping his fingers above his head. A waiter set more drinks on the table in front of us. Hank turned back to Ellis. “Is she trying to marry me off again? I swear there’s an echo in here.”

“No. She’s agreed. We’re going to Scotland.”

Hank’s eyes popped open. “Really?” He looked at me for confirmation.

I didn’t think I’d agreed, per se, at least not after I realized we weren’t just joking, but since I’d managed to defuse the bomb and perhaps even save the evening, I decided to play along.

“Sure,” I said, gesturing grandly. “Why not?”

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