Master of the Game

"You’re forty-six years old!"

"I can still fly a plane, Kate. And they need all the help they can get."

There was no way Kate could dissuade him. They spent the last few days together quietly, their differences forgotten. They loved each other, and that was all that mattered.

The night before David was to leave for France, he said, "You and Brad Rogers can run the business as well as I can, maybe better."

"What if something happens to you? I couldn’t bear it."

He held her close. "Nothing will happen to me, Kate. I’ll come back to you with all kinds of medals."

He left the following morning.

David’s absence was death for Kate. It had taken her so long to win him, and now every second of her day there was the ugly, creeping fear of losing him. He was always with her. She found him in the cadence of a stranger’s voice, the sudden laughter on a quiet street, a phrase, a scent, a song. He was everywhere. She wrote him long letters every day. Whenever she received a letter from him, she reread it until it was in tatters. He was well, he wrote. The Germans had air superiority, but that would change. There were rumors that America would be helping soon. He would write again when he could. He loved her.

Don’t let anything happen to you, my darling. I’ll hate you forever if you do.

She tried to forget her loneliness and misery by plunging into work. At the beginning of the war, France and Germany had the best-equipped fighting forces in Europe, but the Allies had far greater manpower, resources and materials. Russia, with the largest army, was badly equipped and poorly commanded.

"They all need help," Kate told Brad Rogers. "They need tanks and guns and ammunition."

Brad Rogers was uncomfortable. "Kate, David doesn’t think – "

"David isn’t here, Brad. It’s up to you and me."

But Brad Rogers knew that what Kate meant was, It’s up to me.

Kate could not understand David’s attitude about manufacturing armaments. The Allies needed weapons, and Kate felt it was her patriotic duty to supply them. She conferred with the heads of half a dozen friendly nations, and within a year Kruger-Brent, Ltd., was manufacturing guns and tanks, bombs and ammunition. The company supplied trains and tanks and uniforms and guns. Kruger-Brent was rapidly becoming one of the fastest-growing conglomerates in the world. When Kate saw the most recent revenue figures, she said to Brad Rogers, "Have you seen these? David will have to admit he was mistaken."

South Africa, meanwhile, was in turmoil. The party leaders had pledged their support to the Allies and accepted responsibility for defending South Africa against Germany, but the majority of Afrikaners opposed the country’s support of Great Britain. They could not forget the past so quickly.

In Europe the war was going badly for the Allies. Fighting on the western front reached a standstill. Both sides dug in, protected by trenches that stretched across France and Belgium, and the soldiers were miserable. Rain filled the dugouts with water and mud, and rats swarmed through the vermin-infested trenches. Kate was grateful that David was fighting his war in the air.

On April 6, 1917, President Wilson declared war, and David’s prediction came true. America began to mobilize.

The first American Expeditionary Force under General John J. Pershing began landing in France on June 26, 1917. New place names became a part of everyone’s vocabulary: Saint-Mihiel…Chateau-Thierry…the Meuse-Argonne…Belleau Wood…Verdun…The Allies had become an irresistible force, and on November 11, 1918, the war was finally over. The world was safe for democracy.

David was on his way home.

When David disembarked from the troop ship in New York, Kate was there to meet him. They stood staring at each other for one eternal moment, ignoring the noise and the crowds around them, then Kate was in David’s arms. He was thinner and tired-looking, and Kate thought, Oh, God. I’ve missed him so. She had a thousand questions to ask him, but they could wait. "I’m taking you to Cedar Hill House," Kate told him. "It’s a perfect place for you to rest."

Kate had done a great deal with the house in anticipation of David’s arrival home. The large, airy living room had been furnished with twin sofas covered in old rose-and-green floral chintz. Matching down-filled armchairs were grouped around the fireplace. Over the fireplace was a Vlaminck floral canvas, and, on each side of it, dore sconces. Two sets of French doors opened out onto the veranda, which ran the entire length of the house on three sides, covered with a striped awning. The rooms were bright and airy, and the view of the harbor spectacular. Kate led David through the house, chattering away happily. He seemed strangely quiet. When they had completed the tour, Kate asked, "Do you like what I’ve done with it, darling?"

"It’s beautiful, Kate. Now, sit down. I want to talk to you."

She had a sudden sinking feeling. "Is anything wrong?"

"We seem to have become a munitions supplier for half the world."

"Wait until you look at the books," Kate began. "Our profit has – "

"I’m talking about something else. As I recall, our profit was pretty good before I left. I thought we agreed we wouldn’t get involved in manufacturing war supplies."

Kate felt an anger rising in her. "You agreed. I didn’t." She fought to control it. "Times change, David. We have to change with them."

He looked at her and asked quietly, "Have you changed?"

Lying in bed that night, Kate asked herself whether it was she who had changed, or David. Had she become stronger, or had David become weaker? She thought about his argument against manufacturing armaments. It was a weak argument. After all, someone was going to supply the merchandise to the Allies, and there was an enormous profit in it. What had happened to David’s business sense? She had always looked up to him as one of the cleverest men she knew. But now, she felt that she was more capable of running the business than David. She spent a sleepless night.