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“I don’t regret bringing you here,” Rainier tells me. “I’m not mad because you had me bring you here. I’m mad because you didn’t tell me why, because you didn’t tell me you were actually a Northup.”
“I wanted to, okay? But I thought they should know first.”
He nods but doesn’t look convinced. “Because they’re your family. You know, now I understand why you liked them so much, why you’ve been on their side the whole time.”
“But you still don’t understand why I didn’t tell you,” I say with a sigh as I sit on the couch at the foot of the bed.
I remove the cotton ball taped to my arm where the nurse extracted my blood for the DNA test. The bleeding seems to have stopped already.
“Tell me something, Rainier. If I had, would you have believed me? Because you didn’t seem to believe me earlier.”
“No,” he admits.
“So would you still have brought me here?”
“Maybe not, because I wouldn’t have wanted to encourage your delusion.”
Then it’s a good thing I didn’t tell him.
“Even if I showed you the birth certificate?” I ask him.
He shrugs. “Maybe I wouldn’t have believed you, but I would have tried to find the truth.”
“So you would have asked the Northups?”
“No. I would have asked someone to dig up the information,” he says.
Of course that’s what he would have done.
“Even though you could ask the Northups?”
“Let me give you a tip,” Rainier tells me. “If you want the truth, you don’t ask straight to a person’s face.”
“Wow. You have such faith in people.”
“Besides, the Northups don’t seem to know anything, so that would have been futile. They would have scoffed at me, like they did at you.”
“They didn’t scoff at me,” I argue. “Samuel and Christine believe me.”
“A dying old man and a woman who barely speaks, let alone speaks her mind. You sure were able to get some strong allies.”
I frown. “Well, Vivian is on the fence, I think.”
“For now, because the outcome of the DNA test is uncertain,” Rainier says. “When they find out you’re one of them, they’ll hate you. They’ll tear you to pieces like a piece of meat.”
“Or maybe they’ll learn to accept me.”
Rainier shakes his head. “Not likely. You know, I wish I could say I’m happy for you because you’ve found your family, but I can’t. Any family would have been better than the Northups.”
“I’m well aware of what you think of the Northups, but they’re my family.”
“They don’t deserve you.”
“Well, they don’t have a choice and neither do I.”
“You do, actually. You can choose to leave right now with me just like we planned. You already have a family anyway, right? Don’t you have a mother and father who love you?”
“Yes,” I answer. “And now I have cousins, too, and an aunt and an uncle.”
“A despicable uncle.”
“And a dying grandfather. I can’t turn my back on them even if they turn their backs on me.”
Rainier sighs and scratches his head. “I can already see how this is going to turn out.”
“You don’t have to worry about me,” I tell him. “Or be happy for me. You can leave, actually.”
“So you’re really staying here?” he asks.
I nod.
“What about work? Are you turning your back on work?”
“No. I still plan on being a doctor. I’ll just have to start my internship all over again next year.”
“Start your internship all over again? Hold yourself back a year?” Rainier gives me a look of dismay. “Ellis, do you understand what you’re saying?”
“I do. I’m aware of the consequences and I’m prepared to face them.”
Rainier sighs. “I’ll tell Tom about your situation and I’ll say you’ll be back after Christmas.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “You don’t have to do that. It’s not fair to the others who are working hard at their internships.”
“And I’m going to stay here with you until you go back,” he says.
My eyes grow wide. What?
“That way, I can make sure you do get back to your internship.”
I shake my head. “You don’t have to do that. I really don’t mind starting over.”
“I brought you here and I’ll bring you back,” Rainier tells me. “And I’m staying here because you need an ally, because you need someone to watch your back.”
“You don’t have to protect me from my own family, Rainier.”
“But I do,” he says. “And I will.”
He looks into my eyes. I see the resolve in his.
Still, I hold my chin up and stand my ground. I take off the diamond ring on my finger and hand it to him.
“You’re not my real fiancee, Rainier. You don’t have to do anything for me.”
He doesn’t take it or even look at it.
“I can take care of myself.”
“No, you can’t. Not here.”
I sigh. “I’m saying I don’t need your help. Didn’t you say you only help those who ask for your help?”
