Caroline dropped the sticky black phone she'd been clutching. It stretched to the end of the thick cord and banged against the cinderblock wall. She fumbled at it and brought it back up to her ear.

"What?"

"Five-hundred thousand Euros is as high as I'll go," Eleanor replied coolly, as though she were not flea-market bargaining a ransom demand.

"Eleanor – " Caroline's mouth began to form words. Several, all at once. None of them made it out. Over grey, cold oatmeal, horsey Marie had filled in some of the finer details of the anticipated contact this morning. Eleanor would consent to a non-descript, 'offer.' Caroline would confirm, and the transaction would begin. None of this was going the way she – and Caroline suspected Marie – had anticipated.

"And that's that. Please also relay that I have no plans to visit the Palais Garnier again."

Eleanor followed that up, but with something Caroline couldn't hear. She must have covered the phone. Who was she speaking to – who was with her? Perhaps that was the problem - someone was coercing her. It was the only thing that might explain - this. "Is there – are you – Eleanor if you're not alone and you need to call back – "

"I don't need to call back. I know I'm deviated from the, plan, so to speak. But it's for the best. Trust me, Caroline."

"Or course. But – "

"I do love you, darling," Eleanor insisted, sounding impatient. "And I understand what you're going through, that it's difficult, and that the stakes seem very high. But this is simply a business transaction. I trust you can hang in there a while longer while it's conducted properly."

"Hang in a while longer?" Everything disappeared from Caroline's peripheral vision. There was a faint stain on the wall in front of her that remained within her sight, just below the phone cradle. Rust colored. Looked like – like the ghost of dead fleur de lis.

"Please don't raise your voice." Eleanor's infuriating, well-worn placating-Caroline response. "I know you're upset. I'm sorry. I really am."

"You're sorry?"

"Okay we're not getting anywhere. I don't think we have much time left. Truly – how are you holding up?"

The question, just the question there at the end, sounded right. It sounded right, the way Eleanor's voice should, right now. Deeper, and true. Caroline pawed her way through incredulity. She gave her wife, herself, room. Fell into routine to keep her reality moving forward.

"My back is killing me."

"Oh I am sorry to hear that."

She was gone again. Her Eleanor. Some other woman, an aloof stranger was back on the line.

"Well I'm sure getting out of here fast would fix me right up."

"I'm sure it would."

"Deux minutes." That heartless digital warning Caroline had been anticipating since this terrible conversation began.

"Eleanor, I love – "

"Caroline, you know, when – if – this all gets sorted. I was thinking we ought to get out to Blackpool – "

"If this all gets sorted? And why in the world – " Blackpool? Eleanor had actually faked illness when Caroline had tried to drag her there once, on false pretense. The pollution had gotten all the way out of hand in the mid-twenties, and -

Eleanor's disregard interrupted Caroline's thoughts. "We can go somewhere, I suppose, is what I'm saying. If you don't want to go there that's fine. I was just trying to give you something to look forward to. Let's not end on a bad note. This whole thing is distressing enough."

"Okay." Caroline almost dropped the phone again. The muscles in her face had become completely useless, and her fingers weren't faring much better.

"Une minute."

"Five-hundred thousand. No Palais Garnier, I'm afraid."

"Right," Caroline whispered.

"Okay. Chin up. I love you, darling. Don't forget."

"Yep. Love you back." Routine. Reflex. The only thing left in Caroline's tiny, numb world.

The line went dead. Caroline felt she might as well be. She hung the phone gently on the cradle. She sat on the hard metal stool until the guard hauled her up by the armpit.

"Allons-y."

"Oui." Caroline managed the single word with a surprisingly good accent. Hooray – at least her French was improving.

The guard hustled her through a bland maze of halls out to the common room. Across the sea of women milling pointlessly, Marie and Lannie. Both standing with arms crossed. Both staring at Caroline.

Her feet wouldn't lift off the floor, but that was fine. The dynamic duo were headed toward her.

Lannie came to a stop uncomfortably close. Did she really smell that bad, or was lunch being prepared?

"Your conversation with your girlfriend went smoothly," Marie asked.

"Well. I don't know if I'd say that." For whatever reason, Eleanor had chosen an alternative strategy. Until she knew more, Caroline would back her play. She put her shoulders back, shrugged. "Five-hundred thousand. That's her number."

"That's not how this works." Marie's eyes darted up to Lannie's.

"It's how it's going to work." Caroline stuffed ten pounds of bravado into what she had left of her voice.

Marie wagged a long finger in Caroline's face. "This is not good for you."

"It's how it is. So, what's next?" Over Marie's shoulder, she caught sight of Ruby. Caroline tipped her a wink. She was going to sell this act hard, apparently.

"What's next," Marie replied, "is that your beefy British ass is going to sit in jail for a very long time."

"That's done." Eleanor laid her phone on the glass table top. She reclined against the dining chair, breathing slow and deep.

"You did really well." Holly put two strong hands over Eleanor's shoulders. Her fingertips rested well below her collarbones as she kneaded gently. She leaned forward, wrapped her arms all the way around her, planted a small kiss at the top of her head. "I can't say I agree with what you're doing, but you're certainly not leaving room for doubt about your intentions."

Eleanor stood, chair shoved back, scraping across the hardwood floor. "I assume that someone has, or will, listen to the conversation. It was important to be firm. And honestly, I don't know if I can trust that the payoff will work. I'd rather not waste money on it." She cleared her throat. Paced to the kitchen, grabbed a tissue to blow her nose. "This damn hovel is so dusty. I can't believe Caroline sold me on it."

"You might be here awhile. If they don't accept your counteroffer."

"Oh no. If this is for the long-haul, I'll head back to England. It's quick enough to get here when I need to visit. I can't stand this city anymore."

"Eleanor – " Holly moved in once again. Eleanor had turned away, so she hugged her from behind. After last night Holly had become much more physically affectionate. "I thought you didn't buy into cynicism. And I'd hate for you to leave so soon."

"Mmm. You're right. I'm definitely out of sorts. Why don't we get out of here. I think some fresh air would do me good." Eleanor shook herself, as though shaking off her bad mood, and put on a smile as she faced Holly.

"And – " The corners of Holly's slender lips inched upward. "I'd say probably something to eat, right?"

"You know me so well," Eleanor drawled, already headed toward the bedroom. "Just let me change into something a little warmer. It's gotten chilly outside, I think."

Caroline's world was changing. In some ways, reverting.

With Kate, since Eleanor, a different woman had emerged. Caroline had shed ghosts of a pernicious melancholy that had haunted her throughout life. Glancing back at pictures with the boys when they were all younger, her smile had always been checked. She didn't think anyone else would notice, but she'd always looked a little guarded. Always challenging the camera's gaze, declaring her invulnerability and in so doing exposing a woman who was deeply vulnerable, and most of all, scared.

With no way at all to regulate who could be near her, when, who could talk to her, who couldn't, she was growing increasingly unable to manage her emotions. Her melancholy, depression was really what it was, with its sick, slick familiarity to it, was returning. Periods of forced closeness in the cramped common areas were insufferable, but the absolute isolation during the hours she spent alone weren't a relief. When she was with others, she immediately reached out for connection. She'd encountered one or two women willing to talk to her who didn't respond poorly, with heartbreaking stories to tell. But Ruby was the only person who seemed willing to interact on the regular.

Marched back to her cell after her unsuccessful confrontation with Marie, Caroline took the chance to think – not feel, but really think – about her conversation with Eleanor that morning.

It hadn't taken her long at all to reject any part of it as authentic. The change from her first call was simply too drastic. If they were threatening her, or one of the girls – that might do it. But why push Eleanor toward a lower dollar amount? That made no sense. Eleanor had been in control of the conversation. She'd made the choice to negotiate the payoff.

Caroline went over it again in her head, the pieces she could recall through the shock-induced adrenaline fog her mind had cast over it.

"I was thinking we ought to get out to Blackpool – "

It was the remark that made the least sense of all. Caroline leaned back on her bunk, against the concrete wall, and thought about Blackpool, which they hadn't visited for Eleanor's fiftieth birthday.

They'd barely made it onto the A1 before Eleanor ripped off the blindfold Caroline had tied, and glanced around at the world flying by. "Dear God – we're not going to Cayton, are we? We're certainly not going to Blackpool. I knew it."

"You knew nothing. And your cold seems to really have started to clear up – already," Caroline rebutted.

"Mmmm. The miracle of modern medicine." Eleanor sniffled obviously, turned to Flora, reading in the back seat. "Earmuffs."

Flora didn't look up from her book, but dutifully placed her small hands over her ears.

Eleanor twirled the black satin cloth and popped Caroline's thigh. "Can we save this for later, in any case?"

"Only if you whine at me incessantly about how you don't waaaant tooooo." She drew out the last two words for seconds, a very good imitation of Flora. Eleanor had been a beast about the ruse she'd laid down for the location of her surprise birthday getaway. "Really gets me hot."

Eleanor said nothing, only crossed her arms and glared, then nodded the all-clear back at Flora.

Caroline waited for the follow-up, because Eleanor wouldn't be able to hold her tongue. She was also trying very hard not to smile. The surprise she'd planned was coming together very nicely – and she got a buzz in every extremity and in her gut when she imagined how pleased Eleanor would be with her, and how yes – both of them would be very glad to have saved the accessory Eleanor was now waving at her like a matador before a bull.

"You're no good at lying. I knew we weren't going to Blackpool. But that's fine. Because I love surprises. So I won't ask any more questions about what you've got up your sleeve." Eleanor had been true to her word, and they'd stuck to complaining about work and scheming about how to best manage their families during the upcoming holiday season as they cruised the motorway.

An hour later, Eleanor squealed and took Caroline's arm. "We're going to Tynemouth."

"Yep. And you're not disappointed we're not doing something more glamorous? Fifty's big."

"Can I walk Long Sands all I'd like, any time I'd like, day or night, all bundled up and holding your hand?"

"Yes."

"Then no, I'm not disappointed at all. I just wish June and Lily could be with us. It's hard to have them gone."

"Oh me too," bemoaned Caroline. She pressed her lips together and glanced up into the rearview, meeting Flora's eyes that burned with the secret they shared. She'd done better than any six-year-old had a right to at keeping it.

It had taken her a little more over a year after they'd married to understand that a home bursting to the seams with family, particularly their daughters, was the very thing that made Eleanor the very happiest. She was her most vibrant, sparkling self when they were all together. After long days spent talking about nothing and everything, big, noisy dinners with every dish dirtied followed by ice cream, she'd throw herself dramatically over whatever piece of furniture was at hand and groan. But she could never hide the tiny change in pitch in her voice, the lift belying her exhaustion.

Eleanor squealed again as they pulled into the drive of the large rental house, this time stomping her feet and practically ripping Caroline's arm from the steering wheel, before settling back down into her seat, a serene picture of calm. She pointed at the car already parked in the drive.

"I know what you've done."

"Do you?"

The vast blue winter sky, untouched by clouds and endless reached across the sea before them. It defined the vista looking past the two-story weathered stone house, waterside near the end of Long Sands beach. Two gulls streamed by on the winter drafts, wings gliding through the air, silent and serene.

The quiet shush of the steady breeze and the surf beyond greeted them when they got out of the car, only after Eleanor grabbed her firmly by the shirt collars and quickly kissed her before she darted out the passenger side.

The ocean-calm was drowned by two ecstatic howls as June and Lily, on leave for the weekend from Exeter and Edinburgh, came screaming out of the front door. "Haaappy biiirthdaaay mooom!"