Waltz of Her Life

Stephen then said something that unsettled her. "When we get married, are you still going to want to keep up your dancing as much as before?"

"Sure," she replied. "It's very important to me. It helps me be a better nurse, believe it or not." Sometimes married couples danced together in showcases and learned all their programs together, and performed at parties for the other students. Linda decided right then that she had to know Stephen's plans for his future dancing. Would he leave all of the dancing up to her? "What about you?"

Stephen gazed ahead at the aquarium on the other side of the restaurant. He would widen and narrow his eyes, snarling his lips from one side to the other. Linda knew, from their time together that this was never a good sign. "I like dancing," he began, but gosh, I wish sometimes it wasn't so danged expensive."

Linda nodded. She remembered Stephen's one try at dancing in front of people. He and Daisy had danced a tango at one of the parties earlier in the summer. For the occasion he wore black dancer's slacks and a garnet bolero shirt with balloon sleeves. Daisy looked very sexy.

She wore a matching red blouse that barely covered her breasts and shoulders and a long skirt that had been slit all the way to her bikini line. Together they'd made for a fetching couple and they'd danced a vibrant, dramatic tango. "How did you like that tango you got to do with Daisy?"

Stephen shook his head, whistling. "Oooh, that. I was scared to death."

"You looked so cute out there." She wished she'd thought of another way to put it, since guys generally didn't like that term.

He shrugged. "Well, she thought we should do a routine, and we did, and I'm glad it's over with."

"Would you ever want to do something like that again?"

"And get scared like that? And mess up the way I did? No."

The image of the dashing gentleman in the tuxedo came into her mind, but she chased it away. "How about with me?"

He smiled and leaned in toward her, giving her a quick kiss. "We don't have to have a whole, organized, choreographed routine to dance together. We can just do it, anytime."

"So do you want to continue on with dancing, then?"

Stephen paused and looked at her thoughtfully before responding. "We've got so many other things to think about, to plan for, to look forward to. There's our new house. Kids, if we decide we want any."