Chapter Thirteen Simi #2
“So, you’ll still help us?” I ask.
For a while he doesn’t respond. Then he throws a look at Prem over his shoulder. “Prem? You’re going to involve your parents, your family. What are you planning to tell them?”
Prem looks at me.
The idea of facing his family right now is unbearable to me. I can’t imagine how he’s feeling.
I’ve taken the day off at the clinic, but I have to be at Preeti’s for the triplets this afternoon. I’m surprised Preeti isn’t blowing up my phone. She’s probably feeling guilty about whatever betrayal she imagines her brother inflicted on me.
“How is it anyone’s business if we sign a piece of paper or not?
” Rupi says. “Why can’t we all just go about our lives the way we always have?
” She waves a hand at Prem and me. “You continue to do whatever it is you two do together. I find something to do around here that pays my bills. Then when they give me a green card, we get divorced and you marry him. Why does it have to be more complicated than that?”
“That’s not how this works,” Saj says. “You’ll only get a provisional green card when you get married, and only if you’re able to convince the government that your marriage is real.
This is just the first step. For the next two years you have to convince the United States immigration control that you did not get married only for a green card.
You have to prove to them that it’s a real marriage.
You only get a permanent green card after that. ”
“Wait!” I say. “Did you say two years?”
“Oh god,” Prem says.
“Yes, the green card will be provisional for two years,” Saj says. “If you get divorced before that, or if they suspect your marriage isn’t real, the green card will be revoked, and you’ll have to leave the country.”
Finally Rupi looks concerned. “Why do they care? What is a real marriage anyway? Isn’t every marriage a marriage because a piece of paper says so?
How does one even prove that a marriage is real?
Do they crawl in bed with you to make sure there is sex involved?
Does the government run around making sure all married couples are really married? ”
“No,” Saj says. “But those people aren’t getting the huge privilege of a United States residency out of their union. And yes, you do need to state under oath that your marriage is a real and healthy marriage before you even get a provisional green card.”
“Healthy marriage?” Rupi says with disdain. “Isn’t that an oxymoron? Do they scan your heart to see if it pumps daisies when you’re with your spouse?”
“I’m not a fan of marriage either. But I don’t make the laws, and I’m certainly not the one who will be impacted if I can’t convince them.”
I like this guy.
Rupi doesn’t respond.
“What kind of proof are we talking about?” I say.
Saj looks at me in the rearview mirror, and his eyes are filled with sympathy. I hate nothing more than being pitied.
“There will be a team of experts assigned to assess the authenticity of the relationship.” He throws a look Rupi’s way.
“We’ll have to provide proof of your courtship.
There will be interviews with the two of you and also with family, friends, workplace colleagues.
Which means you have to convince everyone that you’re in love and you intend to spend the rest of your lives together. ”
“Two years?” Prem repeats the words like they’re a death sentence. “What happens if we can’t prove it? What happens if we’re found out?”
“She will be deported and probably banned from ever entering the United States again. And you can be fined or even go to jail.”
“And my family? Can they get in trouble?”
“Well, that’s not an easy answer. You should know that if you’ve decided to do this”—he doesn’t say the words commit fraud, but he manages to communicate exactly that—“then you are putting the people who know your real reasons for doing it in danger of legal action.”
“Oh god,” Prem says. “Can they really get in trouble if they know?”
I never considered that involving Prem’s family in this might put them in danger.
“If your case is held in review, then yes. Given the problems with her visa status, chances are they’ll suspect that you’re marrying for a green card and we’ll need to provide statements from friends and family as additional evidence. In which case, them lying can amount to immigration fraud.”
“There’s absolutely no way that I can let that happen,” Prem says.
“What happens if he backs out now?” Rupi says, and every hint of amusement is gone from her.
“The first thing I’m going to do is initiate the process to petition for the extension of your tourist visa. If it goes through, you’ll get, at best, a month before you have to leave the country.”
“And at worst, they’ll deny it and deport me immediately.”
“Yes.”
“I’m not leaving,” she says.
I can practically see the plans to run away forming in her head.
“There’s always the option of making the case that you were trafficked and seeking asylum,” Saj says.
“Can you stop with that?” Rupi says. “I was not forced to sleep with anyone. I lived with this man for close to a year. There is no way to prove that he forced me. I’m one hundred percent at fault here, legally. Even I know that. I don’t want to talk about it anymore. But I cannot go back.”
“You can if I go with you,” I say. “We’ll figure it out together.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Simi,” Rupi says. “That’s not happening.”
Prem finally speaks. “You’re not going anywhere.” His eyes burn into mine, every promise he’s ever made to me shining there. “She’s not going back either. We’re getting married. Tell us what we have to do, Saj.”
Saj pulls into a McDonald’s parking lot and turns to Prem.
“Don’t ask me if I’m sure,” Prem says. “I am. But my family can’t get hurt.”
Saj nods. “It’s a good thing that you have a good lawyer, then. I will make sure they don’t get hurt. But I can only do that if we come up with a strategy and follow it to a T.”
“And how do we do that?” I ask.
“We do it by sticking as close to the truth as we can. Which means you have to tell me the whole truth first. No more half truths and assumptions.”
So, we sit there in Saj’s super-fancy Mercedes and tell him everything that we left out yesterday, which comes down to the fact that I basically forced Prem to do this when he’d never even met my sister before.
Then we let Saj tell us exactly how we’re going to handle this, which comes down to the fact that we have to convince Prem’s family and this entire town that the man I love and the sister who raised me are madly in love.