Chapter 5: The Harvest Fair

The Harvest Fair took up the whole south field, a Ferris wheel, a hay maze and the smell of fried dough for a mile.

Every pack in the valley came.

I wore my mother's green wool coat and a high-necked dress that covered the mark.

My bag was packed and sitting in the back of a truck by the gate.

I walked the midway alone with my hand on my belly.

People who'd eaten at my table for three years looked through me.

One of the laundry girls touched my sleeve as I passed, quick, and was gone.

At eight o'clock the lights on the bandstand came up.

Tarran climbed the steps in a white shirt open at the collar.

The crowd packed in close and loud.

"Redfern!" he called. "And all our neighbors! Thank you for coming!"

They cheered.

I found a place at the front by the rail.

He saw me.

He smiled straight at me, and that's when I knew exactly what this was.

"Raine," he said, and held out his hand.

She came up the steps in a white dress cut low, her belly high and round, her hair pinned with tiny pearls.

The crowd went soft and warm.

"Three years ago I was given a mate I didn't choose," Tarran said.

A ripple went through the field.

"I did my duty. Everyone here knows I did my duty."

Raine dabbed her eyes.

"But a man should get to choose his Luna. And I choose her."

He went down on one knee on the bandstand.

He took a small box out of his pocket and opened it.

Even from the rail I saw the stone catch the light.

A square moonstone on a thin gold band.

My mother wore it every day I knew her.

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