I get out of the way as he leans down and reaches into the back of the space. I hear a slight scraping noise, and then Nate pulls his hand back out, revealing yet another envelope. This one is bigger than the others we’ve found and sealed with tape. Nate runs his finger over the back of it, ripping open the seal, and then pulls out a single, folded piece of thin paper.
As he unfolds the small, rectangular document, I see the wording at the top, stating the document is from the Ohio Department of Health and Division of Vital Statistics. I see the State of Ohio seal at the bottom of it and then the spaces for the mother and father’s names. I see the birthdate, the county, the weight and length. All the information is filled out on the single piece of paper.
My throat tightens up. I can’t seem to draw a breath. I barely hear Nate’s faint voice as he reads the name aloud.
“That…that can’t be right,” I finally manage to say. “This must be a forgery, too.”
“It’s not.” Nate coughs, clears his throat, and stares down at the paper again. “This is the actual, original birth certificate with the state seal, not a copy. Copies can be forged but not this. It should be in the vital statistics office, but clearly it was stolen from there. This is real. No doubt.”
“But…but that means…”
“I can’t believe I didn’t see it before,” Nate whispers. He shakes his head and closes his eyes. “You even look like her. I should have realized…”
“No. No, Nate, it can’t be.”
“It is.” Without making eye contact, he offers me the paper with a shaky hand. He lets out a long, labored breath. “You are not a member of the Ramsay family. You were born in Ohio, and your birth parents are Carlo and Rosa.”
I read through the whole thing, and my hands start to shake as well. Nate speaks slowly and deliberately.
“Your real name is Cherice Angelica Orso.”
Chapter 22—Family Dynamics
The pieces are falling into place, and the picture they reveal is not a pretty one.
“Nate?”
“Yeah?”
“Are we…?”
“Are we what?” I look over at her. Cherry has her hand over her mouth, and her eyes are wide as she stares down at the paper. Clearly, she isn’t willing to voice the only conclusion in front of us. I swallow hard. “We’re siblings.”
“That can’t be true.”
“It is. You know it is.”
“But we…we’ve been…” She can’t finish the sentence any more than I can think it in my head.
“You have a tiny bit of brown in your left iris,” I say. “My mother had a spot in her eye just like that.”
“What?”
“And those freckles. Mom had a lot of freckles as well though her hair was darker than yours. I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.” I laugh hollowly. “Obviously, I’m a complete idiot.”
“We didn’t know,” Cherry whispers. “We couldn’t have known. Oh, God!”
Cherry rushes off to the bathroom, and I’m pretty sure I can hear her puking. I want to do the same. I can’t even process what’s on the paper right in front of me.
At this point, I don’t even know which bombshell in my life is worse. My brother and Pops are dead. I’m still recovering from a sleep disorder than caused me to hallucinate visions of my dead father, and the woman of my dreams—who just agreed to marry me—is actually my sister.
For the sake of her safety, Cherry agrees to return to Cascade Falls with me. While she packs some things, I call Reid to have him get her apartment ready for her. I already know the furniture she left behind is still there.
It’s late, but the roads have cleared and the winter storm has passed, so we decide to go ahead and leave. Cherry doesn’t seem up for it, so I drive. As we get in the car and head back to Ohio, she slips off the engagement ring I gave her and lays it down on the console next to the gear shift, and I know exactly which bombshell hit the hardest.
I feel pressure behind my eyes and have to stop myself from telling her to put it back on. I understand why she did it, but I don’t like what it represents. It’s not like I want the damn ring returned. I just want to go back to where we were before all of this started.
I’ve been fucking my sister.
My stomach clenches and I taste bile in the back of my throat. I am half tempted to drive off a bridge, but I just stare at the road. I don’t look over to Cherry. I don’t want to see the tears running down her face.
How am I going to explain this to the family? What happens afterward? Does Cherry come to live with us in the family house and take her rightful place—whatever that may be—in the hierarchy? Will she want to insert herself into the family business even though she really doesn’t know what she’s getting into? Will Nora set up the bedroom next to hers for Cherry to live in? She’d be sleeping right down the hall from me, and I don’t know if I can handle that.
I shake my head. I can’t think clearly about any of this, and for the first time since I was confronted with Pops’ death, I wish he would reappear and tell me what I’m supposed to do. I glance in the rearview mirror to see if he’s in the back seat, but he isn’t.
The ride back home is silent. Cherry sits and stares out the window, an occasional tear running down her cheek. I want to say something comforting, but I can’t even think of words to comfort myself, let alone her.
As
