The Tide Between Us

Sunday, August 24, 1

se that smelled like the end of the world and a salvage yard full of other people's ruin. Solange

length of the dock with her handbag clutched against her ribs, past stacks of crab traps and coils of rope thick as her ar

Mar

p. "You came to y

make you

thousand dollars cash to sign a paper saying I'd never contest the will. Preston's lawyer called at three, offering three. At fivethe

her speech in the ca

id carefully, "za

ile

your

ked gently. "Ninety days. A lawful wife. One year. This is a simple legal condi

wheelhouse step, Lola Vega, who had p

Dios," L

re se

egal. I am al

t a candidate

breath, and then

put down hi

even her. She did not tell him about the forged clause, or the stolen steno pad, or the ledger in her wardrobe. Those we

esses, a judge or a minister. You live in the same house. You are Mr. and Mrs.

do you get

er voice caught, and she smoothed it. "My uncle. The Crane lawyers sponsor him. They file an affidavit with the immigration judge. Th

the man in t

es

dings will do

ll be their chief executive officer." She

d pages with a carbon, and laid it on the

man reads who has been cheated before. Lola read ove

rry on or before the 29

all maintain sepa

hall be limited to occasions on w

he marriage, the Parties sha

ld this occur, the Party so afflicted shall give written

" Gideon s

ght it

re the color of wet slate, and there was something al

h a man of your temperament, on

roat that might have been a

led

emper

man lady in a tone of voice that is not a

good sa

rror,she was, and then so was he, a wide, startled, unwilling grin that took ten

ooked

e went home to Lemon C

ireille Pierre-Louis was a small woman with an enormous voice, a seamstress by trade and a general by temperament, and she took the news sta

N

am

for money. A man you do no

e da

ou

ands. The gown flapped. "Your f

id, very quietly, "is t

From the back bedroom herbrother Lucien, sixteen, all legs

s goin

er has los

" said

who had stitched her way across an ocean. "Maman. They have Oncle Rodolphe in th

his papers. Zis is the only

ugh

the

He is honest, I think." Shehesitated. "He rescued a str

hite

am

only a

Americans call nothing in particular. Zis is what makes him dangerous. He

wedding gown down on the table, smoothed it flat with one hand, and said

u will not wear white. You will wear

ht Gideon cam

ugh he were walking toward a firing squad. He ate Mireille's griot and plantains in silence while she watched him ove

the second helping wh

aid, "Oui. Yes. One moment," and held

He will not

courteous, with the polished French of Port-au-Prince and

Louis. I hear congrat

is

all request, mademoiselle." A pause. "The tin pouch. You will bring it to a

ed him back, mouthing no, no, and said into the phone, in a voice

to tell you, mademoiselle, so that you will understand how seriou

licked and

e?" sai

o the front window and

the hedge, across the road, a small silver camera flash popped once in the dark,