Did Alden love Meridian? Did Meridian love Alden? How do you know? Discuss Meridian's choice to let go of Clay and instead to stay with Alden. What does she mean when she says that leaving Alden "might change my definition of myself, were I to abandon the man who had, for most of my life, held my hand and set my course" (page 287)? Did she make the right decision?