When the sun went down, they lit the lanterns and it was time to dance. Nina partnered first with Hector, but they were allowed only one dance before she was whisked away by her cousin Gaétan. Then came Étienne Lémy’s turn, who had acted as best man to the groom. It was tradition that the bride dance a total of seven dances with friends and family before she could partner again with her groom.
Hector, therefore, sat patiently and watched Nina twirl around while the guests made toasts to their health. Seven toasts were necessary; that, too, was tradition.
“I shall have to become used to this new outlook of yours,” Étienne said as they held their glasses up for the seventh toast. “You look as happy as a clam.”
“I would think clams cannot be happy, since they are mollusks who spend their days filtering water,” Hector replied.
“It strikes me that your smile resembles one of those simple mollusks, placidly sitting on the ocean floor.”
“I look forward to being a placid man.”
Étienne chuckled at that. Then Nina came to clasp Hector’s hand, and he let her lead him to another dance. It was a long day, but they did not proceed to their room until the moon was high in the sky, and then only after the guests had made half a dozen jokes about the couple because it would not have been a wedding in Montipouret if the young men had not launched into a series of colorful double entendres.
When they reached their room, Nina walked slowly around it, humming and running her hands over the wheat sheaves the younger girls had used to decorate the chamber.
“We have to kiss like this,” she said, holding one of the sheaves between her hands.
He ran a hand down her neck and kissed her deeply, the wheat rustling as she pressed it against his chest and stood on her tiptoes to better reach him. She stayed there, stayed close, her breath hot against his neck.
She whirled away from him and set to undoing the chignon she wore, carefully removing each hairpin and the flowers, placing them upon a table, where she’d also set the sheaf of wheat, while she watched the night sky through an open window, one part coy and another part the coquette.
“Nina, I have yet to give you a wedding gift,” he told her.
She turned around, a hairpin in her hand, which she quickly tucked away. He took out a case and offered it to her. Inside, there was a necklace made of the clearest amber. A web spinner, its wings spread, was nestled inside the largest stone.
“It’s pretty,” she said.
“It’s from Iblevad. There are many of these in the jungles near Port Anselm. There are also mosquitoes—I feared I would be drained of all my blood during the nights when I was performing there.”
“I shouldn’t mind the mosquitoes if there are as many strange beetles as they say there are,” Nina replied, her voice thick with delight. “We shall have to go there one day.”
“It’s far,” he mused. “I don’t know, how do you fare on a boat? Do you get seasick?”
“I fare fine on a skiff and have gone downriver many times, it’s the way one is supposed to travel around here,” she replied. “I would think a large ship would be no trouble.”
Nina stood before a full-length mirror, admiring the necklace as she held it against her skin. Gently he took it from her and placed it around her neck, securing the clasp. He slid his hand down her shoulders.
“It’s a bit different, a skiff and a boat. It can get somewhat monotonous, and the cabins are cramped,” he declared.
“As long as I’m with you, I’m sure I’ll be entertained.”
“I hope you mean that, since we are boarding a ship to Port Anselm tomorrow.”
She looked up at him in the mirror. “You said we could not honeymoon except for a couple of days in Bosegnan, at that summer house owned by Étienne’s wife. You said that you had business in the city.”
“I lied.”
“You are terrible. I did not bring more than a couple of new dresses and you know it is bad luck to wear old clothes during a honeymoon,” she said, but her eyes were merry.
“I’ll buy you more clothes, three hundred gowns if you wish it. It’s not as if you have a full trousseau, anyway.”
She dipped her head, blushing, but then she raised an eyebrow at him, her eyes filled with mischief. “I jest. I don’t need more than a couple of dresses,” she said.
“I’ll save a lot of money, then. And here I was told this business of having a wife was a great expense.”
Nina walked a few paces, turned her back toward Hector, and proceeded to take out the rest of the pins from her hair. He saw her from behind and was mesmerized. When she spoke, he had to ask her to repeat herself.
“I asked how long we’ll be gone,” she said.
“A couple of months. We can’t possibly see anything in less than that. It is a whole continent, and there is Port Anselm, but also Yehenn and Carivatoo.”
“You performed there?”
“Everywhere.”
“And now that we are going back, you won’t do any shows?”
“It’s not a business trip. But if you like, I’ll make mirrors spin for you.”
“Only if you show me how to do it. I don’t think I understand the whole levitation trick where you are able to fly on them.”
She undid the buttons of her dress, shedding the satin shell, until she stood only in her white linen chemise. Then she ran a hand through her hair, undoing a couple of knots with the motion.
He was struck with the incongruity of it all, wondering how he had arrived at this precious moment. So securely she had nestled in his heart, it was impossible to map his trajectory.
“How did I ever find you?” he asked as he moved to her side.
“You didn’t. I found you. At the library of the De Villiers, at the party of the Haduiers, and that night I went to Boniface,” she said lightly.
He thought that truly it had been so, but that he had also been drifting toward her since the beginning, magnetized, a compass that had spun wildly and then gently settled upon a true north. Not love at first sight, because those fancies were best left for books and songs, but she had extended her hand and invited him to follow her into a dance, and he had found after a few steps that though he had never danced it before, he did not want to stop.
“Keep finding me, then,” he said.
One of her hands was resting on the windowsill and she was looking outside, her head tilted in the direction of the musicians who were still playing their merry tunes.
He knew that in the years to come, even when they were old and gray and their spines were bent by the weight of time, he would remember her as she was in that moment, with a couple of stray yellow flowers in her hair, her lips parted.
He stood still, holding the moment against his heart.
Then she turned her head and smiled at him.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to my agent, Eddie Schneider, to Quressa Robinson who first acquired this book, and to Kelly Lonesome and her team who arranged for this new edition. Thanks also to Orrin Grey, who read an early version of the manuscript and offered corrections. And finally, thanks to my husband. It’s all for you, babe.
Discussion Questions