The living room was straight in front of her with the kitchen to the right. Two large plush leather sofas were laid out in the living room, and on the wall there was an entire bookcase, with a medium-sized television inside surrounded by hundreds of books. The bookcase was dark oak, with grey walls behind it, the same color as the rest of the room. Winnie turned to the kitchen with marble countertops and glass cabinets. "You live here?" She climbed out of the bed, looking out the window. She hadn't looked at the city from the apartment yet, but she was stunned. The same windows that had blinked in the daylight were blinking in a different way that night. Lights turned off and on around the city throughout the different buildings, but most of the city was lit up. She could see the edges of Time Square just up the street, and little dots of people on the ground below heading toward downtown. She looked back at the time. It was 9 o'clock. In Ohio, nobody would be out...

My soon-to-be mother-in-law took me into her arms. She was short, thick, and sturdy. She wrapped her arms around me tightly; my chin sat on the top of her head. She looked up at me with wet eyes and kissed my cheeks; hers were warm with tears. She spoke softly to me in Russian and Kazakh. I began to cry. I cried out of fright, though everyone thought I was crying out of happiness. I knew him and I had gone too far. We were betrothed. I was his and he was mine, but not in the same sense, as I was now his mother's.

The train stopped in Charleston. Winnie sat up straight, and looked out the window. There were several people waiting to get on, their tickets being checked and climbing on board before the train lurched forward again, moving toward their location. Winnie watched silently as a woman climbed onto her car and walked the aisle only to sit across from her. The train lurched to a stop, and Winnie watched as others boarded their train car. They would have to be quieter. She took a deep breath, watching people as they walked past her and sat too close, in the seats across the aisle and behind her.

She continued her course down the aisle. She stopped in front of the sleeping woman and saw the cat. It pressed on the sleeping woman's breast and licked the tips of its paws slowly and carefully. She looked back down the aisle at Lucia who was bent over with both hands on her mouth, eyes smiling. She pointed at Lucia and then pointed down at the sleeping woman. Lucia shook her head and then shuddered in suppressed amusement. She tugged on her navy blue dress and adjusted her navy blue stockings, stood up straight and headed towards her and the cat lady. She continued to move down the aisle back to the galley, leaving Lucia to deal with the matter.