The song of the moment had ended. Margreet noticed that Anton took Huibs place and laid down the next CD. At the same moment Sjaak asked her to dance. In a flash she saw Huib looking, a frown on his forehead, but she didn't really pay attention, she turned to Sjaak to join him.

"Nice song this is..." Sjaak began, but suddenly Huib was there beside him asking, "Sjaak, can I take this lady from you?"

"Go ahead," said Sjaak, "make something beautiful together!"

He gave Margreet a wink as he turned her toward Huib.

Huib took her hand, put his arm around her waist, and said, "Sorry girl, I'm messing things up a little, but this song I'd like to dance with you."

Margreet looked at him questioningly; she didn't know the song.

"Who is that singer? Nice voice he has..." she asked.

"That's Elvis Presley in his younger years. I've seen several clips of him on YouTube. He's broken down over the years, but this one, from this CD, is one of his first, there he's still pure, a little shy but pure. I love his voice, and the quietness of this song."

Without speaking further, they danced on, while Margreet tried to understand the lyrics. A love song... It was beautiful. Shyly she looked up to Huib. He gave her a wink and with a gentle hand laid her head against his shoulder. He kept his hand on her neck, his nose in her hair, and, as the song repeated, began to sing each refrain along in her ear:

.

Love me tender, love me true

All my dreams fulfilled

For my darling I love you

And I always will

.

After he had done this for two refrains, Margreet, without conscious thought, began to sing the next refrain softly with her eyes closed. And the next chorus she did so again, now more consciously. She lifted her head to look at Huib. What she saw in his eyes caused a tidal wave in her body. This was so warm, so beautiful! She had never known that love could be like this... She didn't have time to think about it, she didn't want to think about it, she just wanted to feel what the song, Huibs voice and his eyes did to her. And she wanted to give that back to him, she wanted him to be able to see and hear that she loved him.

And Huib saw it, heard it, felt it!  He would like to go on with this song all night long. He would not care if all couples would drip of with boredom. This would never bore him! But he realized that he could not do that, and gave a signal to Anton that he could stop the repetition.

Huib brought Margreet back to Joke and quickly whispered in her ear, "Thank you, you've made me so happy!"

"And so you did to me," she whispered back and sat down.

Huib quickly went back to his DJ spot and started the next song.

Margreet didn't accept the next dance request, she needed a moment to afterglow.

.

That night Margreet could not sleep. She let the evening, and especially the dance with Huib, pass her by again and again. She was happy, longing, but also felt so insecure. Her thoughts made her doubt again and again. She tossed and turned from one side to the other, tried to fall asleep if by rolling over on her stomach. Nothing helped, the restlessness remained.

Shortly after midnight, she was so fed up, she decided to get up. She made a mug of tea and sat down in her rocking chair. Wearing her old cardigan and thick woolen socks, she would be fine for a while. She picked up the book she was reading. It was already her third. Nora Roberts knew to write in such a way, that time and again Margreet felt part of the story and completely immersed in it.

It was almost two o'clock when she noticed that she was actually too tired to continue reading. She put the book on the low cabinet, picked up her second mug of tea, and thought about the story she had just read. The atmosphere seemed the same as here in the guest house. The main characters in the book were also guided by their inner voice, their intuition, their feelings, but, like her selves, they also struggled with emotional wounds that sometimes hurt or pushed the other main character away. They didn't dare to give themselves completely.

I feel the same way, Margreet thought, and that scares me a little bit. Huib is the best, the sweetest man I could wish for. We have a deep connection and I love him more and more, but I don't really dare to give myself, not completely. I don't know how, I'm probably not good enough for him, too stupid, too....

Damn, there those trains of thoughts started again! She got up and began pacing around her room, softly on sock feet so as not to wake the guests on the floor below. She decided at the end of her pacing to leave her feelings for what they were. Huib had better find another woman, someone who was capable of giving herself, of entrusting herself to him.

She crept down the stairs to go to the toilet and hoped she would fall asleep after that. She was barely back in bed when her heart overwhelmed her. Her love for Huib was bigger than the decision she just had made.

I will not let my thoughts make me crazy anymore, that has to end, she decided. I do go on with Huib, we belong together, I have felt it from the beginning and that spark only gets stronger. I love him so much, I love him more and more... I would be crazy to doubt any longer!

And so she fell into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

.

.

Elvis Presley: Love me tender

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC0BPcLea0Y

To chapter 37. Margreets decision stands firm

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