Chapter 3 THE PRICE OF A MARRIAGE
th floor had walls of glass and a
Around four in the morning she had given up, sat on the edge of her narrow bed with the lamp off, and listened to the pipes kn
was alrea
und document squared before him. He did not rise. He looked as though he had not slept either,
rought
told
people
aren't afr
oved. Not a
The pages whispered as they slid. She turned back the cover and
ge Agr
rian said. "Ta
a lamp turned too close. The language was dry and exact, the langu
ngagements and conduct themselves as a married couple. The Husband shall provide residence, security, an
line again. He
r's emotions," she said aloud. "That's an int
a lega
ause for you
sn't a
n't mind maki
ked almost surprised, and she took th
k and drew the contract toward her. "First. Neither of us interferes in the other's private af
N
I won'
came
, but she kept her hand loose on the paper. "You told me to b
's fingers drummed once against the table, slow and thoughtful, and
king hours," he sai
my own bed
i
count in my name alone, and y
on
for any reason that isn't mine, I
ant
nows what's at the bottom of it. She pressed her heel against the carpet until t
e cleared her throat. "Anything my family is owed. Property, papers, money.
ir ch
went still on the table. His shoulders, which had been loose, settled
you have
nk I m
nst w
en't de
she had thrown it at his chest, and it sat between them, enormous, humming like a struc
her for a long,
wrote a hard, angular initial beside it, the letter
owed," he said, "is you
aid to her, and it sat in her mou
hand. She had lied for three years, and she hadn't expected the signature to hurt. Her finger
er. The pen made on
off against the table with one long finger.
capped her pen. "Who
read, and her breath went shallow, and the room seemed to tilt toward the narrow spac
is in nine da
in
lled back on its wheels. He crossed to the window, as he always seemed to when a conv
't own
Go
t asked whe
rn. "A room above a bakery in Peckham
her spine, qui
ooked
e up. It would
t he had slid toward her, and she walked to the door on legs that did
re cond
tened. "I though
Now he turned, and the morning light cut across his fa
seemed
r of the one photograph her father had kept hidden inside a book. Honey stone, ivy, row
d come for. That was why
" sh
here I can r
f I sa
n," Adrian said, "and I'll
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