But that was yesterday. By this morning, everything had changed.

Martha looked down at the tangled mess of sheets that surrounded her fragile body in that too empty bed. The amber light from the day's first sun cut a swath of heat down the side of the bed that used to be occupied by Anton.

"Damn you! And damn your bowling team too!"

She smiled in spite of the pain of that statement. "Bowling. Why didn't you just tell me you were a spy right from the start?" But Martha knew the answer to that one. The Lords of Lexington Lanes was the only thing protecting this frail country from an insidious revolution.

"Stan, Ursula ...did our bridge games mean nothing at all? Ugh! My life is a perfect graveyard of broken hopes."

Martha slid out of the 200-count percales and felt the icy floor beneath her naked feet. Anton had left the window ajar again ...or had someone opened it from the outside...?

To be continued...
 

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