He turned to her. “Maybe we should sit by the table?” he suggested delicately.

She nodded, her jaw tightening. She’d been about to suggest they retire to their bedroom to talk. But if even sitting near each other on the sofa was too intimate during her “impure” days …

“Let me first go check if Shaindele’s door is closed.”

He shifted uncomfortably. “Is there something you don’t think she should hear?”

She felt sweat blossom beneath the head covering that was squeezing her forehead and temples, crushing her ears. “I don’t want her to hear any of it, Yaakov. This is just between us.”

She disappeared for a moment, then returned. “It’s all right. Her door is closed. We’ll speak quietly.”

They took their places, facing each other across the large dining room table.

“So what is going on, Leah-le?”

“I…” Where to begin? The conversation with Chasya about her dead mother? Her own sudden desire to dance to the music of her youth? Or perhaps the neighbors banging down the door?

Seeing her hesitation, his face took on a new concern. He didn’t care what had happened, whatever it was! But this reluctance to speak to him, to open her heart, to be honest, was terrifyingly new, with echoes of past tragedies he just wanted to forget. “You know you can tell me anything, Leah-le. Don’t you know that?”

Did she? Could she? She couldn’t even sit next to him on the sofa because she’d had her period eleven days ago! What did she really know about this man or his world?

He had grown up so differently from her in this strange, closed-off place she hadn’t even known existed for most of her life; this little enclave, like some Krishna cult, whose members were born into it and had it in their DNA. How could she ever hope to understand, let alone to fit in and become one of them?

Yet she loved a great deal about her new life, especially this man, her husband. She loved him so much, so much! A love based on real respect, compassion, and shared values. What if she opened her heart to him and he stopped looking at her the same way? What if she disappointed him? Worse, what if he suddenly came to the realization that the many opponents of the match between them had been right all along?

“I … I’ve … done something wrong, a mistake, Yaakov.”

He wanted to no end to reach out to her, to caress her and comfort her, but it was forbidden. In frustration, he clenched his hands into fists and thrust them deep inside his pockets. “Please, just tell me. What could be so bad you’re afraid to just tell me?”