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 his old 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 the carriage 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.”