The Shadows by Megan Chance

Perhaps it was waiting for me. I didn’t want Patrick to know I’d lost it, to think I had been so careless with something so very important to him.
    It was all I could do to smile and laugh with Rose and Lucy. I agreed with them on the choice of pattern, though I had trouble remembering afterward what it was. A scooped yet modest neckline, puffed sleeves decorated with lace and ribbon and . . . flowers. There had been flowers. And . . . and pink. Yes, definitely pink.
    Lucy mooned about Derry the whole hour we were at the confectioner’s, sitting at a small round table with curved legs, eating ice cream with sugared violets that Lucy held between her lips and sucked upon until her mouth was delicately tinted purple. When Rose teased her about it, Lucy said, “Oh no! What will Derry think?”
    Rose said, “I imagine he’ll like licking you pink again.”
    Lucy blushed.
    I pretended I didn’t feel sick at the thought. “Rose!”
    “Don’t tell me you’d say no to him,” Rose said, dragging her spoon through her melting ice cream. “
I
wouldn’t, that’s certain. He’s gorgeous. Too bad he hasn’t a penny to his name.”
    “I’m partial to fairer coloring,” I said.
    “Well, you would say that now, wouldn’t you? But Iremember when you couldn’t tear your eyes from Bobby Sullivan. Dark hair and dark eyes. He looked like Derry, didn’t he?”
    “Derry’s eyes are blue,” I said, dipping my spoon into the ice cream, scooping up a violet. I had crunched it between my teeth before I realized they were both staring at me. “What?”
    “You noted the color of his eyes?” Lucy asked.
    “I could hardly help it,” I said. “He was holding me closer than was proper. He’s a bit of a flirt, Lucy. Even you must admit it.”
    “He flirted with you?”
    Stupid, Grace.
    “I’m certain he was just being kind, isn’t that so, Grace?” Rose provided.
    I nodded. “Yes. Yes, of course. He couldn’t let me fall to the ground, now could he?”
    “Whatever made you swoon, Grace?” Lucy’s voice was light, but I heard her suspicion.
    I opened my mouth to tell them about the glow, but what exactly was I to say? That he’d been afire like the sun? That it had been very like the dreams I’d been having? That his touch made it go away? It seemed ridiculous even to me. I settled on “I’d eaten nothing all day. I was a little light-headed.”
    “It was lucky he was there then,” Rose put in. “You could have been hurt.”
    “Yes. And he knew about Patrick. He said I must be Patrick’s girl.”
    Rose laughed. “No, did he? I imagine you liked that.”
    “He sounded just off the boat. He’s probably Catholic as well, and you know how clannish they are. I’d watch out for him, Lucy. He probably wants a dozen children and an obedient wife.”
    “Sshh.” Rose giggled. “You are so bad, Grace.”
    “I don’t care if that’s what he wants,” Lucy said, raising her chin. “I would be perfectly happy with a dozen children.”
    “Not if you’re raising them in the slums,” I countered.
    “I have money.”
    “But he doesn’t. And you’re mad if you think your mother will allow it. Or Patrick.”
    “My brother’s a romantic too.”
    “Not enough of one to marry his sister to a stableboy.”
    Lucy’s eyes narrowed. “You think you know Patrick so well. But you don’t. Why, you didn’t speak to him for three years.”
    “I know him well enough,” I said, a little more angrily than I should have. “I know what matters to him. I know how he feels about Ireland. I know he cares about oppression and poverty and want. Things you know nothing about.”
    “And neither do you,” Lucy said, pointing her spoon at me. “You think that just because your family’s fallen on hard times you know everything about being poor. But you’ve just paid a dressmaker to make a gown for your debut, and my brother is preparing to go down on his knee to save you, so don’t go all high and mighty