Chapter 6: Ice

Don walked down the pier.

The fishermen parted for him.

He didn't look at them.

He stopped three feet from me and said, "Betsy."

His voice was rough.

I hadn't heard him say my name that way since the courthouse.

"You came," I said.

"My mother found the town. She remembered your grandmother's name from the wedding list." His jaw moved. "I should have known it myself."

"Yes."

He didn't argue.

Marco stepped forward with his coat open and his smile back on.

"Don. Thank God. I was just explaining the settlement."

"Go to the car, Marco."

"We should finish this today, while she's calm."

"Go to the car."

Marco looked at me, at the fishermen and at Don's face.

He went.

The lawyer followed him up the pier.

Don turned back and saw the torn pieces of paper that had fallen from Marco's pocket onto the boards.

He picked up a corner.

"That was five million dollars," he said.

"Your lawyer's idea."

"I said to double it. I said no conditions."

"There was a condition. A silence clause. I'm not to speak about what happened at the house."

His eyes narrowed.

"What silence clause?"

"Ask Marco."

He looked toward the car for a moment.

He didn't go.

I watched him not go.

"We'll sort it out," he said.

It was exactly what he would have said about a leaking pipe.

"Say it to my face, Don," I said. "That's why I'm standing here. You wanted this. Say so."

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