His Dancer, His Chains novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: Second Terms

We stood on the steps of the Union League in the cold, and I held out my hand.

"Give me the folder."

"Cora."

"You brought it. I saw it under your arm."

He took it out of his coat and gave it to me.

I opened it on the stone rail.

His lawyer had made a very tidy document, with a line for my name.

I turned it over to the blank back of the last page and took the pen from his pocket.

"What are you doing?"

"Terms," I said. "You wrote the first set. I'm writing the second."

I wrote with the paper pressed against the rail, in capital letters.

When I finished, I handed it to him.

He read it under the streetlight.

"One," he read. "No separate rooms."

"Two. No end date."

"Three. Nobody pays anything toward anyone's bills, except that I buy you something with my own salary."

"Four. You touch me whenever you want, and I touch you when I want, and neither one of us asks."

He had stopped breathing.

"Five," he said. "You keep your own name at work."

"I like my name."

"Six." His voice was unsteady. "Say it, Cora."

"Six," I said. "I choose this every morning, and if I stop, I'll say so out loud, to your face."

I took the paper from his hand and folded it into my pocket.

"I'm keeping that."

"I'd like to sign it."

"You'll sign it at home."

We did not speak in the car.

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