Chapter Twenty-Eight—Una Learns to Dance
If you were looking for a place to forget the troubles of your heart, Una decided, the wilds of Muskoka were that place. Taking long snowshoe tramps with Valancy and Barney…skating across the frozen lakes…indulging in a childish snowball fight with Cecy…sitting in front of a crackling fire while Roaring Abel, the Redferns' friend, played his violin…the nights tucked up in a feather bed in the loft with Cecy rubbing her cold feet on yours unexpectedly…it was all wonderful. She occasionally spared a thought to wonder if she would be accepted as the matron for the Hopetown Asylum, but other than that, she refused to think about the world outside of Mistawis.
An intrusion came, however, in the form of an invitation to a dance held at one of the mansions on another island. Valancy glared at the card in protest, as if the small, stiff piece of paper itself was to blame. "I suppose we should go," she said. "There aren't many people up here in the winter—it's more of a summer retreat—and we'll offend the Worthingtons if we don't go. They're old friends of Barney's father."
Una felt a slight stirring of excitement in her, compounded with nervousness. "I've never danced," she told a shocked Valancy.
"Never? Even I went to dancing school."
"I'm a minister's daughter—it wasn't considered proper. I went to the dances, but I'd just sit and visit with people or pull taffy."
Valancy laughed. "I don't think this will be the taffy pulling sort of crowd. The festivities will be slightly more fashionable than that!"
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A more fashionable party, Una thought after her first half hour of it, was considerably less enjoyable than the dances at the Four Winds Light that she remembered from her youth. After shooing Barney and Valancy out on to the dance floor, she had wandered around with a glass of punch in hand, attempting to avoid anyone who looked like they might request her company as a dance partner.
"I can't dance. I've never done it. And even if I did know how, there's no one I know, and I wouldn't dance with someone I didn't know. There's Barney, but he should dance with Valancy. I wonder if I sneaked into the kitchen, if I could convince the maids to have a taffy pull"—
"Una?" A hand touched her shoulder, and with shock, she turned to face Walter Blythe. Utterly dumbfounded, she had nothing to say.
Walter looked at her oddly. "How—where—who—what are you doing here? The last I knew, you were in the Glen."
Una hastily tried to regain some of her composure. "I'm visiting Barney and Valancy Redfern," she explained. "They're friends of mine. I met them on the boat to Europe. What brings you here?"
"Irene's cousin Adam is married to a Worthington. She decided that coming up here for the house party would be a good way to celebrate—all the red tape is over and done with. I've proved I exist, and, moreover, that I have a right to exist."
"I thought you didn't care for Irene," Una said softly. "That's what you wrote to me."
Walter shrugged, but pain lurked in his eyes. "And I don't know if she particularly cares for me. I'm somewhat of a novelty to her, I think."
"And what is she to you?" Una pressed, feeling somewhat forward. But she had to know.
"A way to forget."
Una decided not to pry further—the pain in his eyes was growing stronger. But he took her hand light-heartedly and attempted to lead her to the dance floor.
"I can't dance." Una's face flushed. "I never learned."
"I can't dance particularly well either, now that you mention it. But there are so many people out on the dance floor who can that we'll hardly be noticed."
Before Una could realize it, she was dancing in Walter's arms. Once, she would have given anything to be there—in fact, even now, she realized just how deeply she cared for him, both as the boy she had known and the man she had rediscovered. But so much had happened, and she was hopefully going to embark on a new life of her own, albeit one that at the moment looked very lonely.
They didn't talk as they circled the dance floor, but simply glided along. Una was surprised how easy it was to dance, once you began. She glanced at Walter, who seemed lost in a reverie—perhaps of years gone by? Finally, the song ended and they stopped.
"There. Now you can't say you can't dance," Walter said quietly.
"Thank you for dancing with me," Una replied. At that point, she would have given almost anything to continue dancing with him for the rest of the evening, but that was merely a girlish wish, she knew. How very odd indeed it was that they had both ended up at the same place—it certainly made one think about predestination.
"I see Irene coming—I promised her the next one," Walter told her with a note of apology in his voice. "Will I get another dance with you later?"
"I don't believe so," Una told him. "We're only planning to stay for a little while longer, because of Cecy. She's playing with some of the Worthington children, but Valancy didn't want her out too late."
"Then I'll dance with you at your wedding one of these days," Walter said. "I promise."
"I accept, but I don't know wh—"
"Una Meredith! My word, I can't believe you're here, of all places. You certainly have changed, haven't you? But didn't your father go grey young as well?" It was Irene, preceded by a cloud of perfume that threatened to choke Una.
Una, who knew perfectly well that her hair was the same black that it had always been, found an unholy pleasure in realizing that not all of Irene's hair was its natural color. "Irene—it's been quite a while, hasn't it?"
"I didn't recognize you at first, but then someone explained to me who the woman that Walter was dancing with was." This was said with a note of scorn, as if Irene considered herself the only woman who was allowed to dance with Walter.
"As I said, it has been quite a while. But I really must be going." Going where, she was not quite sure, but Una didn't trust herself to be completely civil in Irene's company.
"Of course," Irene smiled. "So nice to see you again."
"Yes, indeed. Goodbye, Irene. Goodbye, Walter."
"Goodbye, Una," Walter said somewhat absent-mindedly. He still appeared to be in his reverie, even as Irene led him back out onto the dance floor.
Una slipped out onto the balcony. It was a cold night, and she wasn't wearing her coat, but she stood there for several minutes, watching the soft snow fall. A soft laugh escaped her. "I never thought I'd ever learn to dance! Especially not—not with Walter. But those who dance must pay the Piper, as the saying goes, and I don't think I have any desire to be indebted to such a specter. No, I've had my fun. I'll be a working woman now."
Author's Note: Once again, thanks so much for your reviews! Kudos to jenelin for catching the reference to "Fancy's Fool". (In case anyone would like to know what it is, it's the mention of Stephen Barry in Chapter 18. Tiger Girl, you'll get to see Una as the matron in the next chapter. And to all of you who want to know who's going to be together romantically at the end of the story, just keep reading! I have one more chapter beyond this one written—after that, I have one more and an epilogue to write. However, real life is going to be interfering in the form of 17 credits at college and two jobs, so the ending may be slow in coming.