Chapter 23: Moving In

The two lawyers in the Delaney Labs lobby left at six.

They carried nothing but a court order and a receptionist's coffee.

By nine, Ronan had moved Pearl out of the hospital and into the mill.

She stood in the doorway of his guest room in her borrowed coat, and surveyed the bed with the white quilt and the lamp.

"I've never slept above a store," she said.

"It's an old factory," said Ronan. "The ground floor's empty."

"It's a nice room." Pearl sat down on the edge of the mattress and bounced once. "I'll take it. Does the man cook?"

"Badly," Cora said.

"Then I'm cooking."

By noon she had found the pots, and by two she had made a stew.

By nine at night she was asleep in the guest room with the door half closed, snoring softly.

She wore a nightgown the choir woman had brought over in a grocery bag.

Cora stood in the dark kitchen and drank a glass of water.

The accounts were frozen. Her company was in a lobby with two lawyers. Her grandmother's house was ash.

She thought, quite clearly, that she had never felt more alive.

Ronan came out of the bedroom in a gray T-shirt and low jeans.

He stopped in the doorway.

"Pearl's asleep," Cora said.

"I heard her from the hall."

"She sleeps hard."

"Good."

"Ronan."

"Yes."

"Come here," she said.

He crossed the floor, barefoot, and she set down the glass.

She put her hands on his waist, and walked him backward until his back hit the kitchen island, the long slab of dark stone.

"We have to be quiet," he said.

"Then be quiet."

She kissed him.

It was slow and hungry and she took his lower lip between her teeth.

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