The widow recalled a time when she was in her late teens. She was nearing the age to get married as her father searched for suitors inside the village. She had fancy braids her younger sister had arranged for her this morning.
Her posture was rigid and stiff as she was forced to look at the names inside the list her father had come with. She frowned when the name she wanted to see the most wasn't there. Was it because of the recent news?
He always sneaked into her room at night with a bouquet of flowers he had picked himself. The fresh aroma of wild roses entered her nose in the dark moonlight. She opened the window to let an adolescent boy that smiled like she was the entire world to him. It had been three years since he had brought her flowers every night.
As always, he climbed into h
