Two years into their marriage, Talia and Malissa Williams were working diligently to lay the groundwork for the rest of their lives together. The couple had talked about settling permanently in Rolling Fork, the tiny Mississippi Delta hometown that Malissa had followed Talia back to a few years earlier. But the medical billing and coding jobs they’d been studying for weren’t likely to be found within an hour’s drive. Their older wooden house — essentially their least worst option in a town with a limited supply of rental housing — gave them nothing but problems. “My heart is in Rolling Fork, it will always be there,” Talia, 42, said as she stood outside the motel room, 45 minutes’ drive away, that is serving as the couple’s temporary home.

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Persons: Talia, Malissa Williams, Malissa, —, ” Talia, ” Organizations: Mississippi Delta Locations: Rolling Fork, Mississippi, Rolling