It occurred to Hattie that the odds of two people finding each other in a world of several billion were infinitesimally small. Especiall two people who were alike enough - and at the same time different enough - to stay together for life. Finding a suitable mate must boil down to convenience, of finding someone receptive at the right time. Hattie had never considered that she might have missed on a relationship. She had enough worldly wisdom to know that there were plenty who settled for the wrong person. In that respect she counted herself lucky. Having never experienced romantic love, she'd never been forced to endure the pain of its loss.