one hundred eighty-six

I'm doing my reading for a Women's Lit. class, in the middle of The Quest for Christa T. I found this and thought, "Yes. Love is this exactly." There is something suprisingly humble and flawed in how romantic the thought is.

...it was a crucial moment. But Justus, whether he knew it or not, did the right thing: he behaved as if he'd known this long before she did, as if this was precisely the vital point, as if there was no question of giving anything up. And he was telling her so, without wasting a word, simply by the way he raised his glass to her, took her glass from her hand, and led her away to dance. Since, as he saw, her decision had been made, it was up to him to make the last step easy for her: there was to be no last step, only one step among many others.

from page 119 of The Quest for Christa T. by Christa Wolf, German author and amazing woman