Chapters (50)
- Cover
- Half Title Page
- Books by Elizabeth Camden
- Title Page
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Historical Note
- Questions for Discussion
- In 2021, look for Luke Delacroix’s story in
- About the Author
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- Back Cover
His voice was achingly soft as he cradled her in his arms. Too many memories flashed through her mind to form them into a sentence. The president’s death. The fallout with Ida. Luke. All of it had been such a chaotic whirlwind of emotion, but the strangest thing was, when she looked at Nathaniel and he touched the side of her face, it was as if they communicated without words. He’d been at her side for all of it. He knew. He understood.
“I know everyone hates Ida,” she whispered, “but she adored the president, and they had a wonderful marriage. How quickly it all ended for them. Any day could be our last, but God never promised us more. Only a time to weep and a time to laugh. A time to mourn and a time to dance. I can accept that. I just don’t want to do it alone.”
He squeezed her hands and touched his forehead to hers. “Then why don’t you marry me, and we can do all those things together?”
She laughed. It was a gulpy, tearful laugh, but a real one. Nathaniel would never rival the great romantics of the age, but that was part of the reason she loved him.
“Yes, I’ll marry you,” she said with a joyful heart.
She was ready to emerge from their season of tearing down, weeping, and mourning, and step into a time to build, to laugh, and to dance.
Historical Note
Ida McKinley’s legacy in the historical record has been mixed. She was widely disliked by the president’s staff due to her obsessive dependence on her husband and reluctance to participate in traditional hostess duties. Her epileptic seizures were treated with anticonvulsive potassium bromide, a treatment that became less effective over time, leading to ever-increasing dosages. Contemporary historians believe these massive doses may have resulted in bromism, a neurological disorder that can cause anxiety, irritability, and aggression.
The few times Ida asserted herself as first lady, her actions tended to be out of step with the era. She was a supporter of female suffrage and higher education for women. As the temperance movement gathered momentum, she openly served wine and spirits in the White House. She became reclusive and spent her time knitting more than three thousand baby booties, which were donated to various charity auctions. In particular, she was interested in supporting homeless shelters for destitute women and the nascent American Red Cross.
The coast-to-coast train tour Ida took with President McKinley made her the most widely traveled first lady of her era. She also became the first presidential spouse to visit a foreign country while in office when she crossed the border into Juarez for a breakfast reception.
Following her husband’s death, Ida returned to Canton, Ohio, where she visited her husband’s grave nearly every day. She died in 1907, never having fully recovered from the depression she suffered following her husband’s death.