edy

rs of lying on a gurney in a hallway, listening to the dis

ry went well, but there was significant tissue damage from the de

r bad news. She suggested a top plastic s

seemed fitting. A permanent, visible remi

my voice flat. "I won't be

k. "But you're Mrs. Franco. You

said, meeting her gaze.

n appeared in the doorway. He must have

dden drop in temperature,

looked at my leg, at the fresh bandages and the tubes snaki

softer than I expected. "I was with Annis. I thought

e assumed. He

etly. "For six hour

ace to flinch

absent for every important moment of my life for six yea

into his jacket and pulled out a checkbook. A gesture so quintessen

nses," he said. "And for your pa

. And an idea, cold and sharp, formed in my min

on dollars," I sai

hovering over the

undred million. Consider it an early alimony settle

or the first time, seemed genuine. He was finally s

trouble?" he asked, his mind immediately going

d. "This is

his pen and began to write. The scratching sound filled the sile

e buzzed. Ann

d, already turning awa

as a fortune. But to me, it wasn't money. It was freedom

led out as he r

his hand

ear and steady, "you and I will be completely, irre

leaving me alone with the check and

empty penthouse. The first thing I did was go to Corbin

e expensive watches, their protective plastic still on the faces. The first-edition books, their spines uncracke

set donated to charity," I said. "And pack up the r

n came home to a ha

esturing to the empty spaces on the walls where his st

d calmly, sipping my tea. "T

f noticing for the first time that I had changed, that the very air in

tudy, me following slowly behind. He tore the room

is voice tight with desperat

norance. "Wh

oking wooden box, intricately carved. "This. Annis gave it to me for our fir

Not our wedding album. Not the portrait of us that u

y. "It must have gotten packed u

h a terrifying intensity. "Find it, Kenned

touch a doorknob without gloves, was on his hands and knees, tearing

of sweat on his forehead. I saw how much this object, this piece of Annis, meant to him. He

trace of love I might have had f