Too Late To Beg
His face was bruised from Andre's earlier attentions, but his eyes were soft and red-rimmed, and the moment he saw Mary in the wheelchair, he made a small, broken sound.
She lifted her good hand.
"Mr. Whitmore. That one. That is Uncle Sam. He is innocent. They were holding his mother, my grandmother, hostage. He had no choice but to go along with them. He was the only one who tried to help me. He fed me when he could."
I gestured for Andre.
"Stand him up."
Sam was helped to his feet and brought to Mary's side. He knelt beside the wheelchair and took her good hand in his, and the two of them began to weep quietly together, the way family members weep when they have both survived something ter