It felt dark at two o'clock. Liz got points in Ester's books for having a winter wedding. She asked herself if she would have her wedding in winter ... then she realized that it was the wrong question. The correct question was: Will I ever have a wedding?

Ester was happy when other people got married, but for herself -- she couldn't yet imagine it. When she was a kid, she had childlike fantasies like all her friends. What kind of dress, what kind of garden, what kind of cake, what kind of groom ... But she didn't have any similar fantasies as an adult. Besides, weddings were so expensive.

The real question in her mind was not, will I marry this person? It was will I have children with this person? That seemed more binding than any wedding certificate.