Chapter 15: The Paper

The marriage bureau on Centre Street had a line out the door and a guard eating a bagel by the metal detector.

Lena came in at five to eleven in her grey coat, with Damian on her left and Cassandra on her right.

She did not hold his hand.

He carried the certificate in an envelope against his chest.

Stavros Karras was already there.

He sat on the long wooden bench under the clock with his cane between his knees and a captain on either side.

Three more men stood by the doors, and nobody in the waiting hall looked at them twice.

"Mrs. Karras," the old man said, and half rose. "Or is it still Miss Hartwell? I lose track."

"Mrs. Karras," Lena said. "In about ten minutes it'll be on a stamp."

"I can't wait to see it."

She walked to the counter.

The clerk behind the glass was a tired woman with a pencil in her hair, and she looked at Lena for a moment.

"You were here last week," she said. "You asked who withdrew a certificate."

"I did."

"He's standing behind you."

"He's here to put it back."

Damian slid the envelope under the glass.

His voice carried across the hall, level and clear.

"I'm Damian Karras. This is my wife, Lena Hartwell Karras. We were married in October at the courthouse. I'm filing the certificate today."

A man in the line turned around.

So did a woman with a stroller.

The clerk checked the raised seal, turned the page and pushed a form through the slot.

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