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I still won't agree with you, she laughed.

Maybe not, but at least you'll have something else to think about, other than politics. She smiled and followed him back to the house, but he was too tired to make love to her that night and it had unsettled him to go back to San Francisco. Just being there always reminded him of Crystal.

But she was far from his mind the next day, as they water-skiied on the lake, and had dinner with friends of the Barclays. And the day after that, everyone was shocked at the news from Korea. It was called a police action by the government, but it sounded more like a war to Spencer. Young men were being drafted instantly and the reserves were being called up. And when he heard the news, he suddenly realized what it meant for him, as he turned to his wife, and she was horrified when he told her.

You did what Her brown eyes were huge in her face and it was obvious that she was on the verge of tears.

I thought it wouldn't make any difference, and I wanted to keep my commission. He had stayed in the reserves, and now the reserves were being called up. In moments, he could be on his way to Korea.

Can you give up your commission now?

It's too late for that. And it was later than he knew. The telegram calling him back into the armed forces was already waiting for him at his office. George Montgomery called him that afternoon, and Spencer told Elizabeth with somber eyes. He wasn't afraid to go. In an odd way, fee wanted to, but he was desperately sorry for her. They had only been married for two weeks, and he was leaving for Korea. He had been told to report to Fort Ord in Monterey, and he had two days to get there. Elizabeth was in shock, and Justice Barclay was serious when he heard the news.

Do you want me to try and get you out of it, Son?

No, sir. Thank you. I served in the Pacific before. It wouldn't be right to shirk my duty. He hall strong feelings about that kind of thing, but Elizabeth fought him tooth and nail that night. They had just gotten married and she didn't want to lose him. But Spencer was firm. I'm sure it will be over soon, sweetheart. It's not a war, it's a police action.

That's the same thing! She wailed. Why won't you let Daddy fix it for you? She was furious with him, and she had implored her father to help her, but he wouldn't do it unless Spencer asked him to. And in truth, he admired him for what he was doing. He was only sorry for his daughter. She was barely out of her wedding dress, and he was going off to war. It seemed damn unfair, even to him, but the only good that might come of it, in his mind, was that as long as Spencer would be away anyway, he wanted her to go back to Vassar. She only had one year left, and it would keep her busy while Spencer was in Korea. He made the necessary phone calls to Vassar himself the next day and she was even more upset when he told her it was all arranged for her. Elizabeth sobbed in her room at the cruelty of the fates. In a matter of days everything she wanted had slipped through her fingers. She had married him, and now he was going off to war, and she was going back to school, as though nothing had happened, as though their wedding had never taken place at all. Her father wouldn't even let her live in New York and stay in Spencer's apartment.

Spencer, I don't want you to go.

Darling, I have to. He made love to her tenderly, and wished secretly that she weren't always so careful. He would have liked to leave her with a baby. It would give her something to think about and look forward to, and it would give him something even more meaningful to come home to. But she always used her diaphragm, and at the crucial time of month, forced him to use precautions too. She never took risks, but he didn't argue with her now. They had enough on their minds. He had to report to Fort Ord, and she was going back to Washington with her parents in a few days. Can't I at least stay with you in Monterey? They won't even let me see you. There's no point. Go back with your mom and dad, and relax a little before you go back to school, and before you know it, I'll be home. And you can always go to New York and stay at the apartment on weekends. It was like a nightmare for her, and he was desperately sorry in a way, and in another way he was anxious to go. He had enjoyed the camaraderie of war in some ways, and the past year at his desk on Wall Street had been secretly boring. Not that he would have admitted it to anyone, and not to her, but the thought of going to Korea was exciting to him.

She drove to Monterey with him, and after a long tearful good-bye, she went back to the lake to be with her parents. She was flying back to Washington in two days. And by then, Spencer was up to his neck in a refresher course in combat training. He didn't even have a chance to call her before she left, and as Elizabeth sat between her parents on the trip east, she cried bitter tears for her husband. Her mother patted her hand sympathetically and handed her a fresh supply of hankies, as her father slept most of the way. He was tired and he had a lot of work waiting for him when he got back. For all of them, it was going to be a very long summer. Elizabeth only hoped that Korea wasn't going to be a long war. She wanted to start her life with her husband.

Spencer was at Ford Ord for seven weeks, going over obstacles and being trained in mock maneuvers. It seemed amazing to him that in five years he had forgotten so much, but as the weeks dragged on, he felt taut and healthy again and his body seemed to remember more than his mind did. He fell into his bunk exhausted every night, too tired to move or talk or eat, or even call his wife. He had to make an effort to call her every few days just so she wouldn't be too worried. But Elizabeth complained more than she was worried. She was angry about him being away, when he could have been at home, going to parties. This wasn't how she'd envisioned spending the early days of their marriage. But who could have known that the war in Korea would come along to change everything. In an odd way, it was a reprieve for him, but a reprieve that he hadn't thought he wanted. He was sure when he married her, and yet now sometimes, when he called, he felt as though he were talking to a stranger. She told him about parties she went to with her parents' friends, and she had been to dinner at the White House with the Trumans. It was an odd time for Elizabeth, she was married, and yet it seemed like she wasn't. She had gone to Virginia to stay with friends, and the following week her mother was going to take her back to Vassar.

I miss you so much, sweetheart. She sounded younger than she had before, and he smiled.

I miss you too. I'll be home soon. But neither of them knew when. It could be months or years, and just thinking of it depressed her. She didn't want to go back to Vassar again, didn't want him to go away, and more than once she reproached him for staying in the reserves, but it was too late now. The damage was done, he was back in the army.

They gave him two weeks leave before shipping out, but they told him he had to stay within two hundred miles, in case they decided to ship him out sooner. He almost hated to tell Elizabeth about it, because she'd want to come out, and he didn't think it was worth it. By then, she had to be back at school within a few days, and it would just upset them both saying their good-byes again, and if they called him back early, she would be bitterly disappointed. He told her about his leave finally, and she agreed with him, it seemed pointless to come out, with the risk that he might have to leave her at any moment. She suggested that he stay at the house in San Francisco instead, and with a thoughtful look he nodded.

Are you sure your parents wouldn't mind? He didn't want to impose even if the house was unoccupied. He didn't want them to think he was taking advantage.

Don't be stupid, you're family now. I'll ask Mother if you like, but I know she'll think it's fine. And when Elizabeth did ask her, Priscilla Barclay was quick to come to the phone herself and urge Spencer to stay there. There was a caretaker, and an old Chinese woman who had worked for them for years, occupying the house in the Barclays' absence.

Just make yourself at home. She felt terrible that he was being sent away, and even more so for her daughter's sake. Elizabeth had been miserable since leaving Spencer in California. It would be a relief to send her back to school. At least there she'd have something to do while she waited for her husband to come home from Korea.

Spencer drove to the city in a rented car, and moved into one of the elegant guest rooms. He had two weeks to himself and nothing much to do, but it was a relief to get away from the men he'd been living with, and the world of combat boots and dog tags. He was concerned about what he'd heard of the action in Korea. It sounded like an ugly little war, and he wasn't looking forward to going back to the Pacific. He was nine years older than he'd been the first time, and at thirty-one, he was a lot less anxious to be daring and brave. He had too much to live for now, and a hero's death in a strange land held little appeal for him, yet there were times when it was exciting to be free again. He had called the law firm where he worked when he got the news, and all of the senior partners had been very kind, and wished him well, and told him they'd be waiting for him, and so would his job, when it was over. But he would have to rethink all that one day too. Having a breather from it now, he was no longer quite as sure that he wanted to go back to Wall Street. He was still a lot more interested in criminal work, and there was certainly no hope of it there. But he'd have to talk to Elizabeth about it anyway, before he did anything drastic. And he suspected she would want him to go back to the same firm on Wall Street.

Spencer took a long walk around town, on his first afternoon in San Francisco. It was a warm August afternoon, and Crystal turned nineteen that day. She was sharing a small birthday cake at the restaurant with her friends, and Harry gave her the night off, and she bought a bottle of champagne to share with Mrs. Castagna. She had moved into one of the better rooms recently, when the man who sold insurance got drafted and was sent to Korea, It was a little larger and there was a window that looked over a tiny comer of someone's garden. But otherwise, nothing much had changed. She was doing well singing at Harry's restaurant, and she'd gotten several favorable write-ups in the papers. She'd even sung at several very fancy parties.

Boyd and Hiroko had come to see her twice, with little Jane, when Hiroko came to see Dr. Yoshikawa. And their new baby had been born a month before, but this time there had been no one to help her. The baby had been breech, and he had died before Boyd could get anyone to help her. He had had to go all the way to a midwife in Calistoga, and left Hiroko alone with Jane. It was lucky the midwife had agreed to come, he hadn't told her his wife was Japanese, and she had saved her life. But she was still in bed a month later, and Crystal had promised her she would come to visit, but she dreaded going back to the valley, even to see her friend. It was just too painful for her. She knew that Tom was still carrying on with Boyd's sister, but Hiroko's last letter said that he had reenlisted to go to Korea. Boyd had been called back, too, but he had been suffering from asthma for the past few years, and this time they had refused to take him, which was just as well. It would have been too hard on Hiroko if he'd left her alone among still hostile neighbors. Five years after the war, things were still the same. Their hatred of her hadn't dimmed. Their memories were long and their hearts cold, especially now, with the hostilities in Korea. To them it was all the same thing, Korean, Japanese, most of them didn't know the difference.

Crystal was lying on her bed, after she left Mrs. Castagna, and feeling happy after two glasses of champagne as she thought about her life. She wondered where Spencer was, if he had reenlisted too. Not that it mattered. He was gone from her life. He no longer existed. Except in her heart where he had always lived. And she couldn't help wondering if he was happily married. She tried not to let herself think of him now, but it was never easy, and with the champagne, he crept back into her mind and she let herself think of him, like a kind of birthday present.

It was hot in her room that night, and she decided to go for a walk in North Beach. There were people sitting in restaurants, and standing around the sidewalks talking in Italian. There were children scurrying past, chasing each other, and fleeing their mothers in the warm night air, and for a moment she was reminded of her own childhood, and being teased by Jared. She was wearing jeans and an old shirt, and her cowboy boots, and her long hair hung down her back in a single braid as she walked to the corner store to buy an ice-cream cone.

Happy birthday, she muttered to herself, and then walked slowly back toward Mrs. Castagna's. The ice cream was dripping messily as she fought not to lose what was left, and looked like a child herself, leaning into the street as it dripped on her cowboy boots and she grinned at a little girl watching her. But what she didn't see was the tall, dark-haired soldier watching her from the distance. He had been lonely in the empty house and he had walked for miles that night, thinking of her and his wife, and tempted for the first time in a long time to go back and see Crystal. But he had satisfied himself with walking past the house where he knew she had once lived, when he had seen her just after Thanksgiving. He had assumed she'd be at work, and she should have been, and his heart raced the moment he saw her. It was like seeing a dream again, the girl in the blue jeans and the cowboy boots, standing over the gutter, and eating an ice cream, and for a moment he wasn't sure if he should approach her. She looked like a little girl as he stared at her, and then, as though she sensed him watching her, she turned, and froze as the ice cream fell from her hand. She straightened up and stared at him and then hurried back to Mrs. Castagna's, but he reached the front steps before she did.

Crystal, wait ' He didn't know what he was going to say to her, but it was too late now. He knew he had to see her.

Spencer, don't ' She turned to look at him with all the longing she had felt and he knew with absolute certainty how wrong he had been to leave her. Without saying a word, he reached out and touched her hand, and Crystal wanted to resist him but she couldn't. Crystal ' please ' He was begging her. He only knew that he had to talk to her, even for a minute, just to see her, and hold her, and be near her. She looked at him, and they both knew that it was all still there, just exactly where they had left it, only more so. He said not a word to her but pulled her into his arms and held her, and this time, she didn't fight him.