Three Years Wasted I Married His Rival

In our mountain town we follow the courtship-marriage custom. Any woman who reaches twenty-three without a man coming to her door is driven out of the village, counted as a disgrace to her family.

I waited three years for Jason Cox.

The first year, he was in the city celebrating his childhood sweetheart's birthday, and the window for the courtship passed.

The second year, he was nearly at my door when she called him back, scared of the thunder in the middle of the night, and I waited out another night for nothing.