Chapter 12: The Seat

The private room at the Halcyon held a round table, a green lamp and two hundred people.

Rafe had sold nothing and invited everyone.

Gaming officials in grey blazers stood along one wall.

Old circuit players stood along the other, the older man from the slots among them.

Their arms were crossed and their faces were turned toward the door.

Word had gone around the city faster than a fire.

The Legend's wife is the Legend.

Nobody believed it.

Everybody came to see.

Pearl walked in ahead of me with the old leather case in both hands.

I wore a plain black dress with no patch behind my ear and Rafe's mark bare on my throat.

My hair was pinned up.

My hands were steady.

I had not slept, and I had never felt more awake.

Rafe stayed at the end of the room, a dark shape among the lamps.

I felt him there.

Castiglioni was already seated.

He rested his thick hands on the felt, in his three-piece suit with a silk handkerchief folded in the pocket.

At his shoulder stood a small wooden stool, and on the stool, in her yellow dress, sat Junie.

She had a coloring book on her lap and a bag of gummy bears.

When she saw me, she waved with her whole arm.

I waved back, and I could not make my face do anything but smile.

"Mama!"

"Hi, baby."

"Mr. Castiglioni says it's a sleepover game."

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