Satisfied
Peggy had heard more absurd things in her life. However, for some reason, those words did not seem unrealistic coming out of John's mouth.
"Wow." Was all Peggy could say.
"At least your sailor dream seems pretty reasonable now." He looked down.
"Are you joking? That is an amazing goal." Peggy said.
"It is?"
"It is."
He gives her a heartfelt smile.
"Thank you."
"Would you like to dance again?"
"Of course!" He answered.
The two joined hands as he led her to the dance floor.
•••
That night, Peggy was exhausted. But instead of going to sleep, she and Eliza snuck into Angelica's room to talk of the ball.
"Alexander was a wonderful dancer!" Eliza smiled with a dreamy expression on her face.
Angelica and Peggy smiled, but Angelica's smile seemed forced and strained. Peggy wondered what that was about. She made a mental note to ask her later.
"What was going on between you and that John Laurens man?" Eliza looked at Peggy with a mischievous sparkle in her eye. "I must say, I have not seen that many sparks fly since starting our fire during Christmas!"
Peggy blushed. "It was nothing. We were simply two good friends having fun at a party."
Angelica laughed. "Yes, and I am going to marry Aaron Burr!"
The girls all laughed.
"It's true I tell you. John simply wanted to get to know me better."
"Mmhmm." Angelica smirked, but dropped the subject.
"How was your night, Angelica?" Eliza asked.
Angelica became stiff, but relaxed almost immediately. It was hard to tell if anything happened at all.
"Fine." Was all she said.
"Is something wrong?" Eliza asked.
"No, no. Nothing is wrong."
Peggy and Eliza looked at each other. Something was clearly the matter.
"I danced with some men. Lafayette has some wonderful dance moves, I feel like that is the French in him-"
"Angelia, something happened. What is it?"
"Nothing, Betsy! I'm just rather tired. Perhaps we should all go to bed."
Peggy wanted to sleep more than anything, but now she couldn't. Not when her sister was upset.
Eliza yawned.
"Yes, to bed with you. I had such a grand time!"
They said goodnight and "I love you", and went to bed.
•••
The next morning, Peggy had wandered outside to walk in the snow. She was greeted by none other than John Laurens himself.
"John! This is a pleasant surprise." She smiled.
The solider returned the smile. "I am glad you are pleased to see me, but I'm afraid I must leave tomorrow to fight in the revolution. I just wanted to say goodbye, and to make sure I wrote down the correct address so I can send you letters."
Peggy's blushing became more profound.
"As soon as summer begins we are to being fighting again." John informed her.
Peggy became worried. "You will be careful, yes? Do not do anything reckless."
Laurens chuckled. "I'll try my best."
Peggy sighed. "I guess we are saying goodbye for quite some time now."
"I suppose we are."
"You will write?"
"I told you I would, didn't I? Just be careful. Some of that information is rather valuable."
All of a sudden Peggy realized how hard it would be to keep this man from doing anything reckless.
"Shall we take a walk?" He offered.
"Of course." She took his arm, and as she did so, heard a soft giggle from behind her.
"Did you hear that?" John asked.
"Most likely the wind." She offered, though she highly doubted it.
They started to walk, talking about nothing in particular when they heard the noise again. This time they both looked behind them.
"Did you see that?" John asked.
Peggy nodded. She had indeed seen the flash of pink before it darted behind a nearby tree.
"Follow my lead." She whispered.
John smiled and nodded.
"Oh John, tell me more about this girl you met in South Carolina!" Peggy did in a very loud and fake voice.
"Oh, she is truly something else, Peggy. I miss her dearly. " John replied in an equally loud and fake voice.
"Tell me again, what was her name?" Peggy silently hoped John could think on his feet.
"Ah, her name is... Christine! Yes." He said. Peggy liked the sound of that name.
"What a beautiful name!"
"Shall we continue our walk then?"
"But of course."
They continued to walk. "What was that?" He asked her.
"My sisters think we have something a little more than friendship." She pretended to drop her bag and picked it up, along with a fistful of snow.
John laughed. "What a thought. You are rather beautiful though, I must say."
"Charming young man you are."
Peggy looked behind her. Her sisters were in a bush. At the right moment....
BLAM! She threw the snowball as hard as she could.
"AHH!" She heard a feminine scream.
"Peggy!" Her sisters abandoned their hiding spot.
Peggy and Laurens laughed very hard.
"You really threw that!" He said.
"Peggy does not mess around." Angelica groaned as she wiped snow from her ear.
"I've noticed."
Peggy laughed. "You girls will fall for anything you want to hear. John and I are friends. Okay?"
"Alright."
Peggy knew the girls believe her. "I shall see you at the house."
Not two seconds after she had turned around did she feel something cold and wet on the back of her neck.
"ACK!" She screeched in a very unladylike way.
She turned around. Angelica stood with a slight smile on her face, and Eliza was blushing and covered her mouth with her hands.
"Who was it?!" Peggy yelled as she scooped up some more snow. "Who?!"
Angelica laughed. "Me!"
Peggy gave an evil smile. She aimed-
"EEP!"
She turned around. There was John Laurens, blushing slightly, but showed no sign of regret.
Eliza, seeing her younger sister in a tight spot, threw a snowball at Angelica, who was right next to her and unsuspecting.
"Eliza!" Angelica screeched.
Eliza giggled guiltily.
Peggy wasn't sure who threw the next snowball, or the snowball after that, but she knew snowball fights were not ladylike at all. She also knew the rest of her day was occupied, because she was in a snowball fight, and intended to win.