Chapter 4: Visiting Day

I went back through the gates of Marrow Creek on Saturday, as a visitor.

The lawyer had filed one form, married me into the immediate family, and the warden had signed it before lunch.

Ben drove us two hours inland and spoke four times.

The visiting room had eight tables bolted to the floor and a guard at each end.

The guards had called Odessa ma'am for three years.

They called her ma'am now, and one of them brought her a chair with a cushion.

She came across the room with her silver hair pinned up and her gray shirt pressed flat. She was thinner than she had been a week ago.

She stopped in front of Ben and looked up at him for a long moment.

"You're thin," she said.

"I'm fine, Ma."

"You're thin, and you've got a new jacket." She turned her eyes on me. "That's not new. That's yours, Benny. She's wearing it."

"It was cold," I said.

"Mm."

She sat, folded her hands, and studied us both.

"Well? Did he behave?"

"He bought me a lock," I said. "It's a good one."

"He bought you a lock." She looked at her son. "I raised you to bring a girl flowers."

"I didn't bring her anywhere, Ma. You did."

"Hm."

Her mouth twitched, and I saw it, the thing I had seen on the nights she thought no one was looking.

She was proud of him and she was afraid for him.

"Go and get me a coffee from the machine," she said. "Real one, not the brown water. Take your time."

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