"Well, if you need any other drinking proxies, I'm happy to do that too," Frank said. He knew, obliquely, who Sweeney was. They'd never met, but he'd seen him around. It was hard to miss him.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and held her close. Losing people in Darrow was perhaps one of the worst things about this place.

"Maria kept a list," he said softly, "of all the reasons she wanted to drink while she was pregnant. And Billy or I--or both of us--had to drink for each of 'em, every time we had a leave day while we were on deployment. We were very good drinking proxies."