Henk claimed Lisa right away for the first dance. She straightened her back, wanting to hold on to the feeling Margreet had given her and enjoy this evening.

Margreet had sat down with Joke again, but didn't get a chance to stay there. Sjaak came up to her, "Young lady, would you like to dance with me?"

Margreet was surprised for a moment, but then responded cheerfully: "Yes Sjaak, that's something else than rooting around in the plants!"

Sjaak laughed at that unexpected response. Offering her his hand and wrapping his arm around her waist, he replied quasi-indignant, "That was not a dignified way to talk about my great work, young lady!"

Margreet laughed along with him, trying to follow his feet. He noticed that she was regularly looking at his feet. "You don't have to watch my feet, Margreet. You have the advantage of being a woman, you get to put me in charge so all you have to do is follow. Just relax and try to feel how it goes."

She looked at him: "Is it really that simple?"

He nodded, "Sure it is for you, for me less, I have to know what to do. But I'm lucky to have learned a lot from Erik, even in the area of dancing, so we'll probably get off unscathed!"

Silently they moved on. Margreet soon got the hang of it, experienced that following was indeed easier than imitating.

At the end of the song Margreet bowed lightly to Sjaak: "Thank you Sjaak, this was my first dance in company and it wasn't all bad. I liked it, really liked it!"

"That's nice to hear, maybe we can dance again later, if someone else doesn't beat me to it."

Margreet nodded, "Fine!"

Margreet sat down next to Joke and suddenly got an idea.

"Joke, would it be really crazy if we danced together?"

Joke looked at her frowning for a moment and then thought, "Annerieke would say it should be a relaxing evening. Shall we just give it a try? If I don't like it, I'll tell you honestly, okay?"

"Yep!" Margreet laughed.

They grabbed each other by the hands and started moving along to the music at the edge of the room. It felt good, and after a while they unnoticed mingled among the other dancing couples. Anton, who was dancing with Greet, bumped into Margreet laughing as he passed by, "What will we have here? Have you nicked my wife?"

Margreet responded smoothly, "That’s your own fault, you should have asked her to dance!"

Joke laughed at her husband's bewildered face. "Hahaha he doesn't know better than that I don't like dancing, at least not in a group!"

A moment later they passed each other again. This time Anton turned to Joke, "Are you enjoying it?"

She nodded, "Yes, I like it!"

"Then may I have the next dance from you, my darling?"

"Certainly!" Joke smiled at him.

Margreet chuckled, "What fun, we both have got the taste for it! I didn't expect that at all!"

"Me neither, I didn't think I had anything to do with it, but it's just move to music wonderfully free. And the fact that there were other people around us suddenly didn't matter. It's just like a burden is slipping off me."

When the song ended they walked back toward the chairs they had unconsciously christened their chairs, but Anton intercepted Joke, offered her his hand, and led her to the dance floor. Smiling she turned to Margreet and danced along with her lover.

Annerieke, who had not always attended this evenings since Erik's death, had come in this time. She had seen Joke and Margreet together and now came over to Margreet, sat down next to her.

"That was fun to see, Joke and you together. And why not, two women who get along well can also dance together. Shall we catch the next dance later? I need to get back into it a bit, maybe it's kind of safer for me too to dance with a woman first."

"We'll do that Annerieke, just as a stepping stone. Sjaak has just taught me to let myself be led. That was cool, I could relax so much better. It felt like it didn't matter, I was just doing something and still it was good. And with Joke, yes, that was special... the idea just came to me and before I could think about it, I proposed it to her. And now look at her, she’s just going along!"

Together they sat, savoring the tasty snacks, enjoying the quiet fun of the dancing people.

.

A few songs later, Joke and Margreet sat along the side again, watching Annerieke who had been asked to dance by Anton.

"Those truffles are too good," Joke remarked. "Where would she have bought them?"

"Nowhere," Margreet replied, licking her fingers. "She made them herself! Boy, I'm not acting like a lady by the way, I'm just sitting here licking my fingers off."

Joke laughed, "I'd rather you lick them off than wipe them on my skirt!"

Grinning, they both took another truffle.

"This is my last one though, otherwise I'll grow dense." Joke winked at Margreet.

"Well no, you'll just have to accept a few more dances, then you'll dance them off!"

"And if they don't ask me anymore?" Joke was enjoying the conversation, she felt like a young girl, snacking and chattering.

"That's no problem, is it? Then you ask someone to dance!"

"Yeah hello, that's not right, a man has to ask a woman to dance, that's how it works."

"Rules rules rules, they are there to be flouted!" Margreet growled.

Joke burst out laughing, causing many dancers to look up and laugh as well.

"Okay young lady, we'll flout all the rules and just mix everything up. As long as we're having fun!"

"I think we're pretty successful at that already," grinned Margreet.

To chapter 36. Love me tender

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