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"Brock, what should I do?" I said to the air, hoping the breeze would answer me

Be happy I want you to be happy

Whether it was a spirit or s I knew Brock would say, I’d never know But that e was clear in my mind, followed immediately by another

Stay, stay Stay, stay

Brock was my past And how very blessed I was to have known him and to have loved him But William…William could be my future If I’d just let him in

I had no chance to speak to William before lunch, as ere both so heavily involved in the set-up for the Beltane celebration And at the center of it all was the Maypole--a sround by soroup At the very top, colorful ribbons were attached, radiating out like the spokes of a bicycle wheel The end of each green, yellow, red, pink and purple ribbon was staked down in the ground in a circle around the clearing This here ould be dancing

All those ere unattached circled the ring, alternating men and women We each pulled up the end of the ribbon nearest us and took it in hand When it was time to claim our places, Williaroup of the unavailable wo, waiting for us to start the dance I o, he never would have participated in an event like this

Willia ht upward curvature of his lips I smiled back until his head ducked and his eyes sank away froaze My heart danced--and not necessarily in anticipation of the music

I sucked in a sudden breath at the obvious but beautiful thought that Willia stood besidedirty looks at both Willia, so I followed his exa too

Suddenly, thea sihtforward trip around the Maypole according to ancient custohbor A steady breeze bleove in and out a shorter by the minute Soon, the Maypole was clothed in a beautiful intertwined pattern consisting of a ht colors

I passed hs as we acknowledged each other At first I thought nothing of it, then slowly I started to get the feeling I was the butt of sohow often I eaving in and out ofpartners I didn’t even make an extra effort to meet William’s eyes each time we passed each other I kept rowing very short