01

The day my husband, Bob Stephens, got his notice for the rural labor assignment, he vanished.

My mother-in-law and I searched every street and alley in the city, and still there was no word of him.

In the end, I had no choice but to go in his place, seven years at remote Millstone Village.

In those seven years, I suffered more hardship than I can count.

Harassed by dirty old men. Bullied by the other assigned workers.

But on the day I came home, I saw Bob with a stylish woman on his arm, her hair done up in curls, smiling and waving to the neighbors.

Only then did I understand that he had married me for one reason only, to dodge the assignment.

I didn't cry and I didn't make a scene. I turned and went straight to the police station.

I slapped the crumpled marriage certificate down on the desk. "Officer, I'm here to report my husband. He's committed a misconduct charge!"

1

I was an orphan, raised on the charity of whoever would feed me.

The day I married Bob Stephens, I thought I'd stumbled into the greatest luck of my life.

He was a city family's son, fair-skinned and educated.

And unlike the other city people, he didn't look down on me.

But the day his notice for the rural labor assignment came, he disappeared.

My mother-in-law and I searched the city end to end.

We went to the chess club he liked, to his friends' homes, even down to the riverbank outside town.

We never found a trace of him.

I knew he'd been pampered his whole life and couldn't stomach the hardship of the assignment.

His sudden disappearance had to be his way of ducking it.

So when the district office came knocking, I took on the task that should have been his.

I picked up a cloth bundle and went off to the remote Millstone Village.

That was seven years ago.

In those seven years, I suffered more than I can count.

I gnawed on tree bark. I was harassed by the old bachelor in the village.

But I gritted my teeth and got through all of it.

Because I held on to one belief.

Bob hadn't minded that I was an orphan. He'd been willing to marry me.

Everything I gave up for him was worth it.

But I never imagined...

The day I came home with my return notice in hand, I saw the one thing that killed every hope I had.

2

By the time I reached the mouth of the alley, the sun had already gone down.

I was about to push open the gate to that courtyard, so familiar and so strange at once, when a laugh drifted up behind me.

It was a lovely sound, clear and warm and gentle.

The sound I'd listened to for three years, and remembered for seven.

It was Bob Stephens!

My steps stopped, and I turned around without thinking.

And I froze on the spot.

Bob was standing under the maple at the mouth of the alley, in a clean, pale-gray dress shirt.

His arm was around a woman with curled hair, and he was smiling, handing out candy to a neighbor's child.

“Mrs. Chavez, I'll be away a few days, sorry to trouble you looking after my boy Eddie. It's just a little something, nothing much...”

The neighbor woman smiled and took the candy Bob held out, pressing it into the child at her side. “What do you say to Uncle Bob?”

The little one thanked Bob in a small piping voice, then went skipping off.

Once the child was gone, the neighbor woman patted the hand of the woman beside Bob. “Martha Fox, you've got a real eye, landing a sweet man like Bob. Your life together's only going to get better and better. And you two aren't so young anymore, when are you planning on a second one?”

The woman gave a coy little laugh and leaned into Bob. “Oh, Mrs. Chavez, don't tease me. Just Eddie alone is more than I can handle... have another and I'd be worked to death... Bob and I aren't planning on more. Eddie's plenty.”

The neighbor woman was about to press her further when the Stephens gate suddenly swung open.

A boy of five or six came running out, wrapped himself around Bob's leg, and called up in that small piping voice, “Daddy, Mommy, come inside already, I'm hungry.”

Bob stroked the boy's head, doting on him, then turned to the neighbor woman. “Sorry, Mrs. Chavez, the kid's fussing. We'll talk another day.” And with one arm around the child and the other holding the woman's hand, he went into the courtyard.

Watching Bob play the picture of a happy family, I felt the blood in my veins freeze all at once.

Seven years I'd spent in that poor mountain hollow of Millstone Village, face to the dirt, back to the sky.

Seven years fending off the village's old bachelor.

All so Bob could suffer a little less, so he could settle down and spend his life with me in peace.

I never imagined it was all one-sided, all in my own head.

He'd married me for one thing only: so I could take his rural labor assignment for him, and he could go have his good times with another woman. I didn't go charging in to cry and make a scene.

All those years in Millstone Village, when the assigned laborers stole my work credits, when the old bachelor cornered me in the woodshed, I never let a single tear fall.

I certainly wasn't going to hand this lying pair the satisfaction now.

I drew out the marriage certificate I'd kept hidden against my body for seven years, turned, and walked toward the police station nearby.

Since Bob had no heart left for me, I owed him no loyalty either.

He was going to pay for the seven years he'd stolen from me!

3

The police station sat at the far end of the alley.

The moment I walked in, the officer on duty looked up. "Comrade, what can I do for you?"

I didn't waste words. I reached into my shirt, pulled out the creased marriage certificate, and slapped it down on his desk.

"Comrade, I'm here to report a crime." My voice was level.

"I'm reporting my husband, Bob Stephens, for bigamy and misconduct!"

The young officer sat up straight, picked up the certificate, thumbed through it, then looked back at me. "This Bob Stephens you're talking about, is he the one who lives at 3 Maple Lane?"

"Yes." I nodded, my face flat.

"That's him!"

He frowned, as if he doubted me.

Bob had always had a good reputation.

And the officer had never heard that he'd been married before.

"Take your time. Lay it all out for me. You're certain Bob Stephens has committed bigamy?"

"I am." I nodded, dragged a stool over, and sat down across from him.

Then I told him everything from seven years ago, start to finish.

From the day Bob got his rural labor notice and vanished, to how I went in his place.

I didn't embellish, and I didn't hold anything back. I laid out each piece, one by one.

When I finished, his pen paused. He took off his cap and scratched his head. "All right, I've got everything you said down. I'm going to go verify it now. If it's convenient for you... you can come along."

"Fine." I agreed without a second's hesitation.

I'd spent seven years in Millstone Village. God only knew what Bob had told people about me in all that time.

I picked up our marriage certificate and went with him to the Stephens house.

4

By the time we reached the Stephens's door, the smell of cooking drifted out of the yard, and I could hear a child laughing and shrieking.

I knocked. Hearing the sound, old Mrs. Stephens came running out to open the door.

When she saw it was me, the enamel mug in her hand hit the ground with a clang.

"Vio... Violet?" The color drained from her face.

"You... how are you back?"

"My time in the labor assignment was up, so of course I came back." I stood in the yard and looked at her, my voice flat.

"What? You didn't want me to come back?"

She took a step backward and forced a laugh. "How could that be... I'm nothing but glad you're back. It's good, it's good, I'll go straighten up your room right now. You've been gone so long, the place has gathered dust..."

"No need to straighten anything." I cut her off, my voice cold.

"I came back today to make one thing plain. I know everything Bob's done these past years, and I want a divorce! As for the rest, you can explain it to the officer here!"

She froze, and only then noticed the officer standing behind me. She dropped to her knees in front of me with a thud.

"Violet! Violet, I'm begging you! Let Bob off, please! You report this and his job is gone, and he'll go to prison, Violet! You can't be this hard-hearted..."

She kowtowed as she spoke.

But there wasn't an ounce of softness left in me.

"Mother, do you have any idea how much I suffered in that godforsaken place in his place?" My voice shook a little, but I didn't cry.

"I almost got assaulted. I almost starved to death out there. Think about it, really. Who's the hard-hearted one here? And now you want me to let him off? Then who pays me back for seven years of hell?"

At that she collapsed on the ground and wailed. "I know I've wronged you... I know, I know it all... Violet, whatever you want, we'll give it to you. Take this house. Take every cent I've saved. Just spare Bob, all right? He's my only son... I can't watch him rot in prison!"

"I don't want any of it." I set my bedroll against the wall.

"All I want is justice! I went and did his labor assignment for him while he stayed home warm in bed with a wife and a child. Where in the world is anyone handed a bargain like that? He has to pay for what he did!"

Maybe my voice was too loud, or maybe old Mrs. Stephens's wailing was.

Bob, who'd been inside playing with the child, finally heard the commotion and pushed open the door.

The next second.

He went rigid, frozen on the steps as if he'd turned to ice.

"Violet? You... you're back?"