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“I have never seen you here,” the man said.
“It is my first time. I rarely come to such events.”
“You should come more often,” he added, lifting his brow suggestively.
This caused Margaret to color, but the dance continued. She found that she was quite winded by the end of it, and when the music ceased, everyone clapped their hands jubilantly.
“Shall we have another?” the man asked.
That was when John approached behind Margaret. “She has a new partner for the next dance.”
Margaret turned and colored yet again! The other man bowed his head and fled with a sour expression upon his face, and John came in close. Margaret said, “I think that you disappointed that man.”
“I disappoint every man by standing here before you. You are the most beautiful woman in the room.”
“Do not say such things. It is not true.”
“It is absolutely the truth. I will vouch my life on it.”
The music started up again, but this time, it was a slow waltz. John brought a hand to Margaret’s lower back and then took her hand in his own. “How utterly scandalous,” Margaret said.
“Not in the slightest. Is it wrong for a man to dance closely with the woman that he loves?”
Oh, Margaret wished to rest her head upon John’s shoulder. How delicious that would feel. But to do that in public would be beyond scandalous. As the waltz continued, Margaret’s dream-like state returned. She was utterly transported. Would this be the way that they would dance with one another on their wedding day?
“I suspect that you planned all of this,” Margaret said playfully.
“Explain.”
“You organized the dance, hired the musicians, then told Jane to bring me. I would not put it past you.”
John smiled warmly. “You know me all too well, I suppose.”
“Of course, I am only teasing. I do not suspect that you did such a thing.”
“No, but it makes me sad that I did not.”
They continued to dance, and Margaret looked all around, noting the romance and love in the air. Several couples danced with equal affection to theirs, and Margaret found this atmosphere remarkably comforting and refreshing. “So, this must be what it is like when couples get to choose one another,” she said.
“Choose one another?”
“I merely mean… when people get to choose whom they are in love with, whom they wish to dance with.”
John nodded knowingly. “Yes, this is what it is like. I am sure that you rarely see it.”
Margaret’s heart became heavy. “No, I fear that I have not. Unfortunately, in society, you are not allowed to see such things because it puts certain notions in your head.”
“Such as… being able to fall in love with whomever you choose.”
“Precisely.”
John had a pained expression upon his face. “This is what you should have been seeing all along. Your father prevented it, as did society.”
John spoke the truth. Margaret had been sheltered from seeing such freedom, and now that it was all around her, it could not be denied.
“Where has Jane gone?” Margaret asked, looking all around.
John was the one to spot her. “She is dancing over there.”
