At a quarter past eleven Ruth came down the center aisle in her dark brown wool coat.

She smoothed the hem of her coat with both palms before stopping at the petitioner’s bar.

“I’ve got the certified marriage license the Westfall Municipal Court issued four years ago,” Ruth told the commissioner.

She passed a stamped sheet over the wooden barrier.

“Robert Vance entered into a legal marriage with me while he kept up an earlier, unrecorded marriage in Oakridge,” Ruth said, her voice flat and even.

“He used joint money pulled from my shop accounts to pay the house taxes in Oakridge.”