Regret Not a Moment by Nicole McGehee Page B

You are almost twenty-five, and you’ve been much too sheltered. You’ve got to grow up and face the facts of life. If you want this man for a husband, try to marry him, but if you just want him, you should satisfy yourself. It’s positively unnatural that a beauty like you has never made love. There, I’ve said it. Don’t look at me with that shocked expression. And one more thing. It is possible to fall in love with someone in a week, or even a day. I know plenty of happy couples who knew each other only a short time before marrying. And I know some divorcees who had long courtships and engagements. Time has absolutely nothing to do with love.”
    “Grace, you’re the one who’s being unrealistic. It’s fine for you to sit there and tell me to make love to a man, but what about the consequences?”
    “What consequences?” demanded Grace. “If you mean pregnancy, there are ways to protect against that, as I’m sure even you know. If you mean your reputation—just make sure you don’t do it here. This John Alexander, for example, lives in New York, doesn’t he?”
    “Yes…” said Devon vaguely. She was not thinking about such mundane things as addresses. She was trying to envision the audacious act of beginning a love affair. How did one go about such things, she wondered. Unconsciously, she picked up the hand mirror by her bed. She peered into it, as though expecting to see a change there. But no, her face was the same. Talking about an illicit love affair had not transformed her in any way. Was it possible then, that committing such an act could go undetected.”
    “New York is perfect,” declared Grace. “It’s a big city. You can be relatively anonymous. Paris would be better yet,” she concluded breezily.
    “But Grace, if I did want to marry him, wouldn’t doing something like that ruin everything?” What Grace was saying flew in the face of everything she had been taught. A husband’s respect was contingent upon his wife’s being a virgin, wasn’t it?
    “Devon, I barely recognize you,” Grace scolded. “Where’s your old sass? Where’s your sense? If you want to marry this man, you should certainly try to do it. In which case, you wouldn’t want to drag him off to bed a few weeks after meeting him. But if a man truly loves you, and you make love with him, that should not end his love for you.” Grace looked Devon squarely in the eye and nodded at the end of her sentence, as though to underline the truth of her words. “If he doesn’t love you, and you desire him madly—well, Devon, you’re twenty-five years old. I think it’s time you acted on your desires! There, you’re looking shocked again. Would you please take that wide-eyed expression off your face.”
    Devon tried to comply, but her mind was reeling from her sister’s words. Could a lifestyle such as Grace was describing really make her happy? She didn’t think so. Devon reached her hand out to Grace’s and clung to it tightly. “Grace, if I never marry, I’ll be so lonely.”
    Grace shook her head in denial. “Marriage has nothing to do with loneliness. There are women who live for years with men without ever marrying. Sometimes they grow old together. Sometimes not. On the other hand, there are women who are married for thirty years who grow old alone when their husbands die. Or who get divorced. Sometimes, if a marriage is unhappy, it’s worse than being alone. Believe me, marriage is no insurance against loneliness.”
    “But if you marry, you have children, and that helps.”
    “Sometimes, but not always. Anyhow, there are women who have children without marriage.”
    “Grace! I could never do that!” said Devon, quickly withdrawing her hand from Grace’s as though she had been stung.
    “You never know what you can do until you are faced with the situation,” said Grace quietly. “Devon, I’m very upset by this conversation. Something has happened to your confidence. You’ve never had all these