Chapter 57

If I’m not, I’ll wake sometime in the night to find he’s already gone, leaving me on sheets stained with my own blood. Once or twice, when it was very bad, he woke Delia before he left, hollered up the stairs to her, told her come down and sew me back together again. That’s what shesaid. At any rate, I don’t remember it.

But here, now, Coby’s arms are strong and comforting and when I rouse myself awake, I’m surprised to see bright morning light slanting in through the window above the cot. For long minutes I stare at the sun where it cuts across the ashy and faded door. I savor the warm flesh pressed against mine, arms around my waist, hands on my groin, Coby’s face buried in the space between my shoulder blades where angels have wings. His breath fans my skin like kisses, and I don’t want to move and spoil this moment.