Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
At six p.m. the next day, Matilda patiently waited inside the lake house for Ryan to get home from work. She’d spent the morning driving the truck around the quiet lake road. Her driving skills had improved substantially, and she’d only stalled the vehicle once this time.
He pulled into the driveway, his headlights flashing across the front door. She hurried out to climb into his truck. He wore jeans and a buttoned brown jacket. His hair was mussed from where he’d likely worn some kind of hat, but it was nowhere to be seen now.
“Hi,” she said.
He backed out of the drive. “Sorry I’m a little late.”
“No worries. How was work?”
“Fine. How about you? Did you drive some more?”
She nodded. “I think I’m getting better at it.”
After he pulled onto the highway, he spoke again. “I was thinking about what you said yesterday. About your visa.”
“Uh huh?” She couldn’t imagine why he would be thinking about her at all, let alone her immigration status.
“What if we were married?”
She almost fell out of her seat. “What?”
His brow furrowed. He glanced at her. “We could pretend, you know? You could get a green card.”
She stared at him with wide eyes. “Do you even understand what you’re saying? That’s not something you should be flippant about.”
He shrugged. “It’s no big deal. Nothing has to change. We pretend we’re married. You get a visa.”
“But we would have to actually be married. We can’t simply pretend, the IRS would know if we’re legally married or not.”
“Yeah, I get it. We have to do the paperwork, but it wouldn’t be real.”
“I think they investigate that.”
“Really?” He arched an eyebrow.
“Yeah, really.”
“Well, I guess we could pretend we were together. That way, they wouldn’t be able to find anything against us.”
“That sounds like a lot of work.”
“Can you get a visa any other way?”
She’d looked into it all afternoon. There were no visas that she qualified for. “No, I can’t.”
“Well then,” he said as though the matter was settled.
“Why would you want to do that for me?”
“It might get my parents off my back about dating. They’re always on me about finding someone. Apparently, I’m ancient and they’ll never get grandchildren. Plus, I’ve got this high school reunion coming up. It was supposed to be fifteen years but we postponed it to this year. I don’t want to go by myself. I like the idea of taking a wife.”
“You want me to go to your high school reunion as your wife?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She thought he despised her. Or at the very least had complete disdain for her.
“I don’t want to face all those questions. What happened to your wife? Why are you single? What’s wrong with you?” He ran fingers through his hair, making it look spiky. His jaw clenched.
“You were married?”
“You’re full of questions tonight, aren’t you?” He glanced at her with irritation on his face.
“I’m sorry. You just suggested something absolutely crazy. I’m trying to catch up.”
“It’d solve both our problems, right? You’d get your visa. I’d dodge all the hard questions. It’s a win-win.”
“It’s a bit extreme.”
“If you don’t want to do it, just say so.”
“It’s not that…”
“So, you’re in?”
She laughed. “I guess so.” This was crazy. They were both out of their minds. She barely knew him. But it was just a document. It wasn’t like they were actually going to be a married couple. And they could get an annulment if it didn’t work out. “Let’s get married.”
When they arrived at the hospital, Rita had her bag packed up and was about to call an Uber to get home. She was delighted to see them.
“You two are angels,” she said with hands raised high. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
“I wanted to surprise you,” Matilda said. “What’s going on? Are you going home already?”
“I’ve already done the paperwork. Unfortunately, Julie had to get back to school last night, so she couldn’t drive me home today. And I didn’t think to ask you since you can’t drive.”
Matilda offered her an arm to lean on while Ryan carried her bag. “Ryan’s been teaching me. I hope that’s okay. I used your truck.”
“Oh, wonderful. That’s so kind of you, Ryan. You’re always thinking of others, you can’t help yourself.”
Matilda was surprised to hear Rita’s assessment of her neighbour. She was beginning to realise she’d had a wrong first impression of the man.
By the time they got home, Matilda was starving. She hadn’t eaten dinner and lunch had been a long time ago. She and Ryan helped Rita inside with her things. Then she walked him back out to his fence line. She stood, hands on hips, watching him walk through the gate that joined the two properties together.
“Thanks for tonight. And for the driving lesson yesterday.”
“No problem.”
“Are you serious about the marriage thing?”
He turned to look at her. “I am if you are.”
“It might help. I’m going to the social security office next week to see if I can get a card. If I can do that, I’ll be able to work.”
“We should go to the registry office before that and get hitched.” He grinned. “My parents are going to freak.”
“My sister will kill me. I’m not going to tell her. There’s really no reason.”
“What will Rita think?”
“I don’t know. She’ll probably say we’ve lost our minds.”
He offered her a weak smile. “She’d be right about that.”
They both laughed awkwardly.
“Okay, well, good night then. I guess I’ll see you soon.”
“Oh, by the way, the reunion is on Friday night.”
“Next week is going to be busy then. Wedding, social security card, new job, and a high school reunion.”
He shut the gate. “Sleep well.”
As she walked back into the house, she couldn’t stop thinking about what he’d said. They’d be married by this time next week. She couldn’t wrap her mind around it. It didn’t make sense—she wasn’t the type to do anything impulsive. And yet lately, that’s all she’d done. Or maybe she was impulsive, but she’d never really allowed herself to be free to act on those impulses because that wasn’t what her family did. They were all cautious, careful, made studied and informed decisions.
“Don’t rush into anything,” her father used to always say. “Take your time, think it through.”
Good advice in general. But it’d held her back from doing so many things she’d wanted to do. And now that restraint was gone, was she going overboard? She stepped inside, leaned against the wall, and squeezed her eyes shut to remember his face. It was still there, in her mind’s eye, as clear as though he was standing in front of her. That would fade, she knew. Her mother’s face was a vague memory now, but Dad was still large as life. In her imagination, she fell into his arms and he raised them around her to pull her into a bear hug. It was her safe place, and she immediately felt tears spring to her eyes.
“I miss you, Dad. I need you to help me with these decisions. I want to stay and get to know my family better, find the truth about my roots. But to do that, I’m going to have to marry a man I don’t know. Is that ridiculous? Should I just give up and go home?”
She knew the answer immediately. She wasn’t ready to turn back yet. This journey wasn’t over. She trudged to the kitchen to look for something to eat, resolute in her decision.