I left her alone in that place and we sat silently for many minutes, the quiet broken only now and then by the splash of a feeding fish out on the dark water or the lonesome cry of a passing nighthawk in unseen flight. At length, I saw her body shiver slightly beneath the wool blanket I had wrapped about her shoulders, and she came back to the here and now. Her face reassumed its hardened defensive set as she turned her eyes to me once again.

“You’ve been mighty kind, Mr. Tanner, to sit here and listen to my story. I ’magine you must think I’m about the sorriest piece a white trash you ever did come across.”

“Joree, my name is Kennesaw, and that’s what I want you to call me. My granddaddy is Mr. Tanner, and if I ever become half the man he is, then I’ll be about as pleased with myself as a man can be.”

She looked at me quizzically for a moment and then smiled for the first time tonight. It was slow in coming at first, as though it were an unaccustomed act. Her mouth relaxed just slightly, turned upward at the corners, and then a full smile blossomed across her face. She put a hand over her mouth to cover it and averted her face in shyness. I reached across the space between us and, gently putting a finger on her hand, pulled it away from her mouth and guided it to her lap. She looked up then, the smile still on her face, but also a look of wonder in her eyes.

“You have a pretty smile, Joree. I hope you get to wear it more often; it looks good on you,” I said as I held her eyes.

She leaned forward, put a hand on mine, and gave it a squeeze as tears welled in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.

“Thank ye,” she whispered. “Thank ye for listening to a heartbroke old woman. If nothing more comes of it than that, it’s been a blessing to me.”

She gave my hand a final squeeze, and then, squaring her shoulders and sitting up straight, she shrugged off the blanket and stood up. She looked over at Danny Ray, asleep in a deck chair, and then glanced at her wristwatch.

“Lordy, Mr. Ta . . . Kennesaw,” she said with a start, “it’s long past midnight and I’m a-keeping you up.” She nudged Danny Ray with a foot. “Come on, Danny, I got to git home, it’s late.”

Danny Ray sat up, instantly awake.

“Joree, why don’t you stay here tonight? I have two spare cabins; there’s room here on the boat for you and Danny Ray both.”