Chapter Nine
Sunday morning. The sun was bright; the air was warming to a summer’s heat.
And there she was, crouched at my cellar doorstep humbly nude.
“On your feet and come on in,” I said.
She looked up, forlorn and surprised.
“You might as well grab your dress on your way.”
She still didn’t move, but neither did I. A stand-off. I wondered who would finally end it, but then decided quickly that it really didn’t matter.
I walked away and left it up to her to follow.
I was becoming more comfortable in my study all the time. I sat in my chair, and when Alia finally arrived, she stood at the doorway, barefoot still, but wearing a pale sundress the color of wheat, dotting with something purple, violets, perhaps. Even as shapeless as the dress was, it clung to her body enough to e
