Fox takes me by the shoulders and turns me around—not rough, I’ll give him that, but firm enough to hold me in place in front of him so he can say his piece, in a low, calm voice that only makes me madder. “Ruth, listen to me. I’ll make it up to you. I’ve got—I’ve got money you don’t know about. We’ll be all right, okay? I’ve got things lined up, people lined up, as soon as we’re out of Moscow.”

I throw up my hands. “That’s what they all say. Oh, my luck’s about to turn, I’ve got it all planned out, our ship will come in! Well, I’ll tell you what, buster. Until I see that sail coming into harbor, I’m not counting on a red cent from you. Not a red cent.”

“Fine, then!”

“Yes, fine!”

We stand there panting at each other. The cut on his cheekbone has begun to bleed again. I pick up the evening gown I wore to the Bolshoi and blot away the blood. The sunrise blossoms behind the window. I want to cry at the pinks and golds.

“I promise you, everything will work out,” Fox says. “This outfit I’m working with, they know what they’re doing.”

“Oh, they do, do they?”

“Honest to God.”

“Then I guess you’d better start praying right now, Mr. Fox, because if they don’t? You and I are splitsville.”

THE WORST THING IS, I can’t even ask him the real story. Silently we pack our suitcases and wait for six o’clock, when we can call down and order coffee. I like to think they can’t possibly doubt we’re really married now, a fight like that.

The coffee arrives, hot and strong. I smoke cigarette after cigarette. Fox opens a window and I come to stand next to him, so our words float straight out into the cool summer morning.

“So how long has this been going on?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

I prop myself on the windowsill and stick my head out. Fox joins me, a little awkwardly, because his shoulders are almost too wide to fit.

I speak softly. “This business of yours. When did you set it up?”

For some time he leans there silent next to me, heads stuck side by side into the open air. Kremlin across the street. Noise of traffic down below. Truth lies somewhere between us. Will he give it to me?