Chapter 9: The Porch in the Rain

Maybelle gave Marlena a towel before she gave her a chance.

That was Maybelle.

She sat the girl at the kitchen table and put a mug of hot tea in front of her.

Then she pulled out her own chair with a scrape.

Marlena stared at the tea.

Raylan stood in the doorway behind me with his arms crossed.

I leaned on the refrigerator.

"I'm not here to fight," Marlena said. Her teeth were chattering. "I want to make an offer."

"You have a very odd way of getting started," Maybelle said, "but go on."

Marlena opened her purse and took out a single sheet of paper folded in thirds.

She smoothed it flat on the table and turned it around to face Maybelle.

"Mother's lawyer drafted it," she said. "It's very short."

Maybelle put on her glasses.

She read the page slowly, moving her lips, the way she read every chart.

I came around the table and read over her shoulder.

It was a statement, with a signature line at the bottom and Maybelle's name typed under it.

I, Maybelle Calhoun, was a nurse at St. Brennan's Hospital in March 2003.

Through my own error, I removed the wrong infant from the nursery and took her home.

The Merriman family acted at all times in good faith.

"No," I said.

"Let her finish," Marlena said.

"It's a confession."

"It's a tidy ending." Her voice shook, but her eyes were hard. "Nobody's blamed."

She leaned forward.

"Mother pays off your house, all of it, and Mrs. Calhoun stays at Grady for life."

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