In the spring, Russell sold the townhouse and rented a smaller place, and he paid his own electric bill with a trembling pride I recognized from Franklin. He came on Sundays and fixed my gutters without being asked.
I wore the pearl earrings to his first dinner in the new kitchen, a plain meal on plain plates, and he set a place for me beside his own. I was invited, and I stayed until the dishes were done. At home that night, I put the folder in the drawer and closed it gently. It was only paper now. What I had given had never been the money, and at last he understood that.
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