Lidia mumbled a quiet affirmative, holding her free hand over her eyes like a visor to block out the glare from all the windows. So many windows. The places were like big, modern deco viewing boxes... God, she hoped there were drapes or shades or something.
"There he is..." It was impossible to miss the American's boisterous greeting, as he came bounding up to them like an excited family member. Which he was, she had to remind herself. Again. This was her husband. Husband. The very word conjured a strange image in her mind of a picture she once saw in their father's wallet (before she was beaten for snooping), of him in a tux, smiling beside a woman in a beautiful, expensive white dress. His wife. A woman she had never met, and was never, ever allowed to ask about.
Lidia put on a smile of greeting, pushing all the rest to the frozen void behind her eyes, and left the two of them to cross the threshhold of her new dwelling place. She felt herself staring upward for far longer than she should have. The ceilings were so high. It was so bright... again, from all the windows.