New Beginning 696

It took me a while to figure out what set her apart from the other women at the contradance. There were at least a dozen other new people there that night. She was beautiful, of course, but there were others with long dark hair and wide dark eyes, a girl's freshness and a woman's grace. I envied them. I didn't envy her.

She looked at all her partners like a lover, I thought—though I couldn't be sure, never having had one myself-- like someone who knew every line of their faces, every gesture o...