Temple of the Winds

"After Richard stopped Tommy, Richard kind of always looked out for me. I started to think it was more than him just watching out for me, at last. I started to think that he really wanted to be with mi. It seemed like he was really noticing me, as a woman, not as some kid he knew who he was protecting.

"I was sure of it at the midsummer festival last year. He danced with me more than any of the other girls. They were turning green with envy. Especially when he held me close. Right then and there, I wanted him to be the one. No one else.

"I thought that after the festival things would change, that he would tell me that I meant more to him than I had before. I thought he would come around and court me more serious. He didn't."

Nadine held the cup of water between her knees with one hand as she worked her kerchief in the fingers of her other hand. "I had other boys who wanted to court me, and I didn't want to throw my future away if Richard was never going to come to his senses, so I got it in my head to give him a shove."

"A shove?"

Nadine nodded. "Besides some of the other boys, Richard's brother, Michael, was always after me, too. I think just because he always was jealous of Richard. At the time I wasn't exactly against the idea of Michael courting me. I didn't know him so well, but he was already making somebody of himself. I thought Richard would never be anything more than a woods guide. Not that that's bad. I'm nobody special, either. Richard loved the woods."

Kahlan smiled. "He still does. If he could. I'm sure he would like nothing more than being a simple woods guide. But he can't. So, what happened, then?"

"Well, I figured that if I kind of made Richard just a bit jealous, maybe he would get down off the fence and make; a move for me. Sometimes men need a shove, my ma always says. So I gave him a good shove."

Nadine cleared her throat. "I let him catch me kissing Michael. I made sure he saw that I was having a good time of it."

Kahlan drew a deep breath as her eyebrows lifted. Nadine may have grown up with Richard, but she certainly didn't know him.

"He never even got angry at me, or jealous, or anything," Nadine said. "He was still nice to me, and he still watched out for me, but he never came visiting, and he never asked me to go for walks after that. When I tried to talk to him about it, to explain, he just wasn't interested."

Nadine stared off. "He had that look in his eyes, like he did today. That look that means he just doesn't care. I never knew what it meant until I saw it again, today. I think he really had cared and expected me to show him I cared by being loyal, but I'd betrayed him."