Chapter 23: Who Gets to Hold Her

I told Rafe that night, after Maggie was asleep, sitting on the bottom step of the apartment stairs.

I told him about the kitchen, the phone and the stove.

Then I told him about the gate.

He didn't say anything.

He sat with his elbows on his knees and his big hands hanging between them.

After a while he said, "She brought me a glass of water."

"I know."

"I drank it. I thought it was the nicest thing anyone in that town had done for me in three years."

"Rafe."

"I stood there an hour, Annie." His voice was very even. "I had a ring in my pocket."

I put my hand over my mouth.

"I had it in a little box," he said. "I'd carried it from Alaska."

"If you were unhappy, I'd ask you to come with me. If you were happy, I'd turn around and go."

"And she said I was happy."

"She said you were glowing. She said Boone was good to you."

He laughed once, and it wasn't a laugh.

"I turned around and went."

I wanted to put my arms around him, and I did.

He took the weight without a sound, his face pressed against my hair.

"I won't tell you what to do about her," he said into my shoulder.

"She's your family. Whatever you decide, I'll stand behind it."

"You're not angry?"

"I'm so angry I can hardly see." He lifted his head.

"But she lied to you for fifteen years. That one is yours to settle."

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