An hour later Joshua Bolt ascended the stairs looking quite dapper in his brown suit, polished boots and white linen shirt. He knocked at Kate's door and waited patiently for her to answer. Neither one of them was prepared for the impression their appearance would make on the other.

     Katie opened the door. He'd never seen Kate made up before. Lottie had done an expert job. Her golden hair was a mass of soft curls pulled back at her temples with white ribbon and sprinkled with small yellow flowers. Josh also noticed an uncharacteristic trace of pink rouge on her lips. These touches and Kate's new blue dress made her look like Cinderella at the ball. . He whistled his appreciation.

     Kate smiled, "Thank-you, sir. You look mighty handsome yourself."

     Josh grinned, "If you're going to write about me in your article, I want to be sure you describe me in my best."

     Kate moved out into the hall and closed her door. "If I describe you like this, everyone back east is going to think all of the men are as citified as Aaron Stempel."

     Josh's eyes narrowed slightly, "Are you saying I'm not as sophisticated as Stempel?"

     The girl was surprised by the sudden swing their conversation. "No, of course not. You're one of the most wonderful, sophisticated, intelligent men I know. Now, would you please take me to the party before they all think I've gone back to Chicago."

     Josh's frown disappeared when Kate rose up on her toes and kissed him gently on the cheek.

     "You are incredibly handsome for a Squid."

     The young man shook his head, with a smile. "You and I need to have a long talk about a few things before too long."

     He took her hand in his and walked her down the stairs to the crowd waiting below.

     Jason was standing at the bottom of the steps watching for them. As soon they were in sight he announced: "Ladies and gentlemen, may I present Miss Kaitlyn Macready, the newest arrival to Seattle and part owner of Bridal Veil Mountain."

     The group welcomed her with applause while trying to understand how this girl could own part of the mountain. Jason explained the circumstances briefly then called for music. Barney made the yellowed piano keys sing out and soon everyone was spinning happily around the room.

     Katie never found the time to sit. Every logger there asked for a dance and received one. The Bolt brothers beamed with pride as they watched their girl whirl around the floor. Her hair shone, her eyes sparkled, her cheeks were pink and her laughter brightened the room.

      As the evening progressed, Kate shared a jig with Clancey, a waltz with Jason, a reel with Jeremy and several dances with Aaron Stempel. Each dance Kate shared with Aaron made Josh's stomach muscles tense. Though he tried to tell himself it wasn't true, he still believed that Stempel's friendship with Kate couldn't be anything but a ploy.

     After one of their dances, Aaron fell wearily into a chair at a table with Josh, Jason and Lottie.

     "That's quite some young lady, Bolt." Aaron wiped his damp brow as Kate sailed off with the Reverend.

     "We think so," Josh answered shortly. The icy tone in his voice made Aaron take a closer look at him.

     "Kate, told me that she was only thirteen when she saw you last."

     "That's right," Jason interjected.

     "Well, she's not thirteen any more," he said pointedly.

     "What is that supposed to mean?" Josh's question was more like a challenge. Aaron started to explain, but one look at the fire in those blue eyes was enough to make him drop the subject.

     "I think I'll have another drink."

     Josh started to pursue the man to the bar, but Jason placed a hand on his brother's shoulder.

     "Easy, Josh. Aaron didn't mean anything. Let it alone."

     When the music stopped Candy and Jeremy joined them at the table.

     "This is a wonderful party, Lottie. I hope Kate's having as good a time as we are." Candy laughed.

     "She seems to be," Lottie grinned. Kate was thanking the Reverend for their spin around the floor when she spotted Aaron at the bar. She headed right for him and asked him for another dance. The man seemed reluctant but finally gave in. As Aaron took her by the hand, Josh was about ready to explode.

     Candy noticed his reaction and prodded him a little.

     "Josh, have you danced with Katie yet?"

     "No," he snapped. The surprise in Candy's eyes caused him to regret his tone immediately.

     "I'm sorry, Candy. I haven't had a chance to dance with her."

     "Why don't you cut in on Aaron?" Jeremy suggested. "He's had his turn already."

     Lottie chimed in, "The party's not going to last too much longer."

     Josh sat quietly watching the dancers. Kate and Stempel were involved in a deep discussion of some sort. Aaron leaned closer to Kate and whispered something to her, which made her toss back her head and laugh.

      Josh's patience snapped. He stood up, crossed over to the couple and tapped Stempel on the shoulder.

     "What is it, Bolt?" Stempel asked without turning.

     "I'd like to dance with Katie." Josh answered shortly.

     Stempel was about to tell him to forget it when Kate dropped her arms and extended them to Josh with a smile.

     "I thought you'd never ask, Mr. Bolt." Aaron nodded to her politely as Josh slipped his arm around her waist and waltzed her as far away from Stempel as he possibly could.

     "I'm having such a wonderful time, Josh. Thank-you for being a part of all this."

     "You're welcome," he said while keeping his eye on Stempel.

     "Yoo hoo!" Kate called to him. "I thought you wanted to dance with me. Who are you looking at?"

     "No one." He looked down at her as if for the first time. "I've been waiting for a chance to dance with you all night. It's tough getting next to the most popular girl in Seattle."

     Kate laughed, "Well, I may be that for the moment, but tomorrow I'll be plain old Kate What's-her-name. I'll bet half the people in here will forget why we even had this party. It will be yesterday's news."

     Josh smiled at her matter-of-fact assessment of fame.

     "Doesn't that bother you?"

     "Heck, no! I like living in the here and now. The future is one big adventure waiting to happen and the past is...past."

     "You're quite the philosopher aren't you?"

      "Not like Papa was, but after talking things over with Aaron, I may be an editor very soon!"

     Kate wanted to share her excitement with someone and Josh seemed to be the most logical choice. Unfortunately, she had no idea of the type of thoughts Josh was harboring and so she continued on, blissfully unaware of the change in his expression.

     "Aaron is so practical! He's given me such good advice about payrolls and budgets and books. I don't know the first thing about that aspect of running a paper. He said he'd be more than happy to teach me everything I need to know. Josh, he thinks we can get the paper going by early September, isn't that great?"

     Josh stopped dancing and took her by the elbow. "Come outside with me, Katie. I need to talk to you."

     Kate's smile disappeared, "Josh, if you want to talk about Aaron, I don't really want to hear it."

     Josh nudged her toward the door saying softly, "We're going to talk right now."

     Kate bristled, "You're not giving me a choice?"

     "No," Josh steered the girl out the front door and around to the side of the saloon where they could be alone. If there hadn't been so many people around Kate would have resisted, but she didn't want to spoil the party so she contained herself until they got around the corner.

     "What is the matter with you? Have you lost your mind?" she demanded as she freed herself from his grasp.

     "It's not my mind I'm worried about," Josh replied.

     Kate shook her head and started to return to the dance, but Josh stood in her way.

     "Listen, Katie, I want to warn you of something."

     "What?" She glared at him angrily.

     " Aaron Stempel is trouble. If you get involved with him it will be the biggest mistake of your life. He's conniving, money-hungry, sneaky and self-centered." Josh could tell he wasn't making an impression on her. "Didn't your father teach you that you shouldn't call men by their first name the day after you meet them?"

     "Is that what's bothering you? You drag me out here because I've made a friend of Aaron Stempel and call him by his first name?"

     "No, that's not what I..." he never finished. Kate was livid.

     "Just who do you think you are to tell a person who she should talk to? If I want to call Aaron "Aaron" then I will, with or without your approval and whenever I so choose! And another thing, if I want to continue discussing this paper with him I'm going to do just that. I've done nothing wrong, Josh and I don't intend to. If you will get out of my way, I'm going back to the party."

     Kate stepped around him, but he reached out and held her by the wrist.

     "I'm not through."

     "Oh, yes you are." In one swift twist of her arm, she broke his hold.

     Aaron's voice interrupted them at that moment. "Katie? Are you all right?"

     Kate glared at Joshua but answered as calmly as she could.

     "I'm fine, Aaron. I'll be right there."

     "Good. We have a dance to finish." He waited for her at a distance.

     Kate turned back to Josh and spoke to him in a tone that could have cut through stone.

     "I don't understand why you're acting this way, Joshua Bolt. I don't even care to know the reason. Now, I'm warning you, never talk to me this way again. A decade changes a girl into a woman, Mr. Bolt whether or not you've noticed any changes in yourself." With that she returned to Aaron and left Josh to stomp off toward his cabin.

      Stempel watched the last part of this exchange with interest. Although he did not know why they were arguing, it was obvious that Joshua had blundered in a major way.

      Kate approached Aaron with a smile on her face but a troubled expression in her eyes.

      "Is everything all right?" he asked.

      "Yes," Aaron cleared his throat and she sighed. "No, not really."

     "Can I help?"

     "Things will straighten themselves out sooner or later," she said, more casually than she felt.

     Lottie had seen Josh take Kate outside and now watched as Aaron brought her back in. The expression on Kate's face told her everything.

     "Oh, Josh!" Lottie whispered. She crossed over to Jason to tell to tell him what had happened. He sighed and looked up to the heavens, silently asking for the wisdom to straighten out yet another mess.