Nina was the only woman that had stuck to his soul. The one he wanted. But he had never measured up in her sight. They just couldn’t get the dance right. It still hurt when he thought about that night so many years ago, when he came to her practically on bended knee. “You’re carrying my baby—you belong with me,” Isaac had said to Nina. She looked down at her hands. “We’re not married.” Isaac opened the closet and threw her clothes onto the bed. “I don’t know what these people have been filling your head with, but,” he said, pointing at her belly, “that’s mine. And that makes you and me family.” Nina had started attending church and Isaac believed that the church was turning her against him. Nina had opened her mouth and told him, “I will not live with you.” Kneeling down in front of her, Isaac tilted her head toward him so he could look into her eyes. She was sad, he could tell that right off. But there was something else in those eyes, something he hadn’t noticed before.
