She sat beside me, asked about my life, laughed at my old stories, and spent the whole evening looking at me as though I were not simply a seventy-four-year-old man whose best years were behind him.

It had been eight years since anyone looked at me that way.

I understand now how much that look was worth to a lonely man, and how carefully it had been aimed.

Six months later, we were married.

Chapter 3 — My Children Opposed It

My children opposed it.