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Show Moon -100 new life, mother and daughter making do on our own, maybe in the woods someplace finding out how strong we really were. But it was far too late for that, years and years too late, generations too late-or generations too soon. That would have been the story of Wise Women in the Forest. The story whose time had come, like it or not, was The Romance, with all its vaporous atmospheres of wild beauty, passion and loss, tragedy and heroism. Joy knew at first glance that Alec was what her grandmother Ruth would have called a womanizer. That was fine, for she didn't want someone who'd pretend to love her and lay a claim on her like she was a relic from a tomb. She wanted a man who knew how to play on a woman like he played the bass viol, who'd see her with soft, uncomplicated eyes, curve his arms around her for nothing more than sheer delight. Even so, he took Joy by surprise. The bowl of stars over the ship slid past the porthole, dragging down the waxing moon like a golden egg. His mouth down there was an astonishment, a gift, a sweetness too generous to refuse. And then, impaled. A trick. He knew what he was about. There was blood, a little pain. She didn't mind. The next night she went again to the unoccupied cabin he'd found for them. And the night after that. As she was slipping out of her cabin one midnight, James was right there outside her door. She told him she was going to look at the stars from the deck. He crooked his elbow for her arm, saying, "I'll go with you, just like old times." She could not force herself to do this, so she said, "No, I need to be alone," and turned and hurried from him, fear and sadness thick in her throat. She would |
