Rivera

 She loved it when he stayed longer than he ought to...they were  together because they chose to be. 

He was teaching her to spell and they wrote their names.  She loved the way his letters were smooth and strong.  She blushed at the clumsiness of her attempts to write and felt ashamed in comparison but he only gave an endearing smile at the sight of her effort.

He watched her dear hands as they carefully wrote.  That's it Jackie, He thought, just keep going, keep learning.  

When the mistress finally called up to them that James needed to go, they had both written their names front and back on their papers.  James stood and dressed and they said goodbye.  He left his money on her dresser for services rendered.  He walked down the hall and she listened to his steady footsteps until he was gone.

Jackie hated taking money from James. She sighed as she turned the bill over and smiled as she looked down on it. Today James had drawn a heart on the bill.  

Her hands rolled over the note and she pressed it flat and stared at it as her lip trembled and her eyes welled with tears.  She picked up their pencils and papers from the bed and placed them next to the dollar note.  She wrote each of their names on either side of the heart so that it read "Jackie 💗's James"

She loved seeing their names next to each other and imagined the postman bringing a letter to their home one day, James and Jackie Watkins...James and Jackie. The idea of his dear name before hers, like a fortress, a wall around her...how lovely.

She drifted a moment in her mind and smiled at the things she imagined, laughing at her own silliness.  Then, she folded the papers with their names and placed them in the drawer next to her box of money with the heart on top.