Chapter 12: The File

I carried the folder inside and sat down at my grandmother's kitchen table.

The yellow kettle was still on the stove. I didn't put it on.

The first page was a background report, three pages stapled together, with a company letterhead I had never seen.

The name at the top was mine.

Lena Marie DeSaussure. Date of birth. Social security number. The address of the rental I had lived in at twenty-five.

I read down the page. No criminal record. No liens. No outstanding debt except a student loan.

Mother deceased. Father not located. One grandparent living. No siblings.

Employer: a single dental practice for six years.

The report was dated the second week of March.

I looked forward to the day Damon had proposed.

He had set the ring in a champagne glass, at the restaurant where we had our first date.

It was the first of April.

The report was eighteen days older than my engagement.

Someone had written in the margin.

It was a neat, round hand, the one on the card of every gift I had ever been given in that family.

"Clean. No family to ask questions. Agreeable."

Under that, in the same hand: "Says yes."

I put my hand over my mouth and held it there.

The second page was a photocopy of a legal pad.

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