“Insufferable blowhard,” Tom grumbles, looking toward Sid. “Why you still choose to live anywhere nearhimis the real mystery. Though… not the one I’ve come to discuss.”
With that, he pushes open the door to the kitchen and we’re hit by the smell of onions. While Tom takes a seatand opens his briefcase, I check to make sure nothing is burning, certain he’ll take the first sign of smoke as another indication I’m an uncultured barbarian.
“If you could take a seat, Ms. Hollins?”
“Coming.”
I slide into the seat next to Sid, who has said absolutely nothing since Tom’s arrival. At least he has the presence of mind to put an arm around my shoulders. Tom watches the gesture carefully, not giving much away. Do we look convincing, or performative? And if he determines it’s the latter… what exactly will he do? Sid told me that it’s hard to prove marriages are falsified, but if there’s anyone with the legal means to do it, it’s Tom.
“If I may make an observation,” he says. “You seem more settled, Ms. Hollins.”
“Oh… thank you?” By that, he probably means that I haven’t yelled at him yet.
“Dinner on the hobanda new husband? Positively domestic.”
“Carlos is teaching me how to cook.”
“That’s good. No, I mean it. There’s no need to make that face. You clearly don’t trust me, but you’re more at ease among these people. Considering where we started, I would call that progress.”
I don’t know what to make of this little speech. He isn’t wrong. I don’t trust him, which is why I’m certain all these compliments are steps in a carefully placed trap.
“I offered Sid my congratulations earlier today,” he continues. “I suppose I should extend them to you as well.”
“Thank you.”
“Pardon a sentimental old man’s prying, but what about him won you over so quickly?”
“Well…”
“Tom, I’m not sure my wife feels comfortable discussingthat kind of thing with you,” Sid says, his tone stern. “And it’s not really within the scope of questions an immigration officer is supposed to ask.”
“Under normal circumstances, I would agree with you. The judiciary sent me a record of your marriage last week. My first thought was… well, surprise, to be sure. She injured you within seconds of meeting you, Sid. That doesn’t suggest marital stability. However, you volunteered sogallantlyto rescue her from the very reasonable consequences of her actions, the thought did cross my mind that you were smitten with her. Love at first sight. Or rock.”
Tom says that as if the whole idea is abhorrent. I almost want to reassure him Sid isn’t that kind of idiot. Unfortunately, we’re in a way better position if he thinks we did fall foolishly in love within seconds.
“It was something like that,” says Sid awkwardly.
“Yeah.” I should build on this narrative. We’re lucky Tom is handing us an easy explanation. “Like Anne and Gilbert.”
“What?” says Sid, turning to me.
“Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe,” I say, “fromAnne of Green Gables. She breaks a slate over his head and then he’s totally obsessed with her. You haven’t read it?”
“Not yet.”
“Oh, it’s my favourite! I’ll lend it to you. Although Anne and Gilbert don’t get together until one of the sequels.” I only kept the first one, but April and I did find a house that had the whole series, once. Now I wish I’d held onto the rest.
“I’m sure the library can help you there. Canadian classics, after all,” says Tom, his mouth twitching. “What interesting things you still have to discover about each other.”
“Love isn’t a list of facts. We know how wefeel—”Sid starts, but Tom cuts in.
“Please. Save your performance for a more interested party. Like I said, Iwantnothing more than to leave well enough alone. My favourite cases are the ones I never have to think about, and you had both been silent since her arrival. No new incidences of violence, which was encouraging. I thought—hoped—that maybe Ms. Hollins waswonderfullyintegrated, and you were safely in love, and my nagging doubts were nothing but the ramblings of a paranoid mind. And then…” He reaches into his bag and tosses another file onto the table. “Thisarrived on my desk.”
The papers don’t have my name, but April’s. From the header, it’s apparent they came from the hospital. They include all the details of not only her illness and treatment plan, but also her billing information. I’m not sure what to make of it. I mean, why wouldn’t Tom know all of this? He’s in charge of our immigration case.
But Sid is furious. “What the hell is the hospital doing, sending this to you?”
Tom shrugs. “My office does have the right to obtain information like this. I can ask for it if I suspect immigration fraud. However, I didnotrequest this file. When I asked Doctor Tremblay why he’d sent it over, he hastily apologized for the clerical error but offered no explanation for how that error happened.”
