Samuel Grey was pacing the floor. He was dressed up in his one and only suit, ready to go. But the young women he shared his house with were not. Actually, Charity was. She was wearing a jean
skirt and western style blouse, her hair pulled back into a ponytail. She was helping her young friend, Ceara, put the finishing touches onto her own hairdo and outfit.

This was her first party in her new world, and she asked the other woman for what must have been the 50th time, "Charity, are you sure I look all right? I don't want to embarrass you or Sam somehow. It's enough I'm going to be as tongue tied as a songbird with laryngitis the whole time I'm there." She was, of course, nervous about not knowing anyone else there besides the two she worked and lived with. She peered into the mirror, trying not to bite her nails.

"You look lovely," Charity assured her as she added a sprig of flowers into the girl's lovely red hair. "Sam and I are going to have to beat them off with a stick. Speaking of Sam, I've heard him walk
past the door at least ten times now, trying to get up the courage to tell us to hurry up. So, let's go!"

The relief on the farmer's face was obvious when he saw them finally emerge, and they were shortly on their way to the party. Ceara was riding Danu, of course, whose bridle had been adorned with little ribbons to get the mare into the party mood too (as Ceara had said, doing it up herself), and the horse certainly seemed to be, tossing her head and whinnying happily as her young mistress sat her sidesaddle expertly.

Charity and Samuel were in a little buggy, the back of it filled with food for the festivities. Over the months on the farm, the girls had finally figured out the vagrancies of the wood stove, and together, they could whip out some fairly decent meals. The buggy was pulled by a matched set of chestnut mares, both with full blazes and four white stockings. As they approached the town of Edan, the sound of music could be heard.

They pulled up to the barn, and had just left the horses and buggy in the care of the groom when Ceara turned around, glanced toward the stage, which was obviously where the rehearsals were taking place. She noticed a tall, thin man with long hair holding a fiddle; that must be Daniel Hagman, she thought, having heard him mentioned as part of the entertainment. But the man he was talking to was the one that held the young woman's attention; he was even taller, solidly built, and had black curly hair. It was just as well he didn't turn around, as he laughed over something Dan had said, because if he had he would certainly have caught Ceara staring at him.

"Hey, Sam! Look, it's Patrick Harper. We haven't seen him since he took the mounts for the army back to the fort." At the sound of his name, Pat turned his head, and seeing Charity, smiled broadly.
It was then he noticed the pretty little red head standing with her.

The two sets of eyes locked for a moment, then Ceara blushed and looked down; she hadn't even been aware she'd been staring at the man! Next thing she knew, there were footsteps coming over to them, and she heard a pleasant Irish voice say, "Miss Charity, Sam, it's grand to see you again, so it is! And who might this lovely young lady be? I don't remember her being there last time I visited. I'd certainly have noticed if she had been." Pat Harper, of course, was not as shy as Ceara, fortunately for them.

"She came riding into our lives one day," Charity beamed. "Patrick Harper, meet Ceara Nuala O'Malley. Ceara, this is Pat. Who from his honey coated tongue has spent a great deal of time kissing the blarney stone."

He grinned at the older woman as if in silent admittance of this fact, and then focused on the teenager before him, as he said softly, "Miss O'Malley, it's a definite pleasure to make your acquaintance, so it is. I live and work over at the fort, with that man you see on the stage, Daniel Hagman, and Richard Sharpe; we all came to Edan together, and we've been settling in fairly well. And yourself?"

His calm voice and gentle manner made it impossible to be too nervous around him to at least answer his question, and she raised her eyes slowly as she replied, "I arrived here with my horse, Danu; Charity and Sam were the first people I ran into, and they were kind enough to give me a home and a job, since I'm pretty experienced with horses."

She could not have said anything to make the big Irishman's eyes light up more, as his smile got a little bigger. He looked into her eyes and, still keeping it casual so as not to frighten her, he smiled, "Well, I hope to see you on my next trip over there then, so I do." He was already inventing reasons in his sharp mind to go over there, even as he spoke innocently to his real reason for doing so.

"If you are needing any more horses, we have some good ones trained and ready to go now," Charity said. "We've been busy. Say, why don't you take Ceara around and introduce her to everyone? You know more people than I do anyway. I'm going to go help Sam carry all the
food we brought with us to the tables." She gave him a wink, and then Ceara a quick hug, whispering in her ear to have fun, but not too much fun.

The younger woman blushed deeply, both at the prospect of being shown around by Pat and at what her friend had said, but the delighted Irishman smiled, "It'd be my honest pleasure, Miss Charity!
Miss O'Malley?"

He extended an arm to her gallantly, and as she took it, she smiled shyly, "Please....call me Ceara."

This of course prompted him to grin, "I will, if you'll call me Pat or Patrick."

"Deal....Pat." And the happy looking couple strolled off to start Ceara's introductions to the rest of the partygoers. For some reason, even though they'd just met, she had the strongest feeling that she could not have been safer with anyone else in Edan, when it came to her welfare.