by Shay Savage
“I’m not, Nataniele. Why would I lie about this? The only reason I’m telling you at all is because it’s obvious you are falling apart without Cherry. I didn’t want you to think you had done anything…unnatural. You aren’t related at all, so you can still be with her.”
My brain hadn’t made that connection yet.
If Cherry is an Orso, and I’m a Ramsay, we can still get married. We can still be together. The whole idea sounds like a horrible daytime drama plot, but it wouldn’t stop us from sharing our lives, and it means we haven’t done anything wrong.
“Why…why didn’t you tell me before now?”
Tears well in Kathrine’s eyes.
“I failed you, Nataniele. I should have been watching you more closely after your father passed. I thought you were doing just fine with the family and the business, and I didn’t see what was going on inside of you. I realized who Cherice was the first night you brought her to dinner, and I should have told you everything then.”
“But you didn’t.” My voice is hollow and breathy.
“It was so long ago, and as far as anyone here was concerned, you were the head of the family. I didn’t want to dismantle all of that when you were just learning your new role. Carlo had sworn us all to secrecy when it happened—only a handful of us knew, and I think…well, I think I might be the only one left alive who was there.”
“He’s dead. You could have said something.”
“As you well know, he intimidates beyond the grave.” Kate lets out a long sigh and then downs the rest of her drink. “Carlo was my brother, and I knew as well as anyone what a tyrant he could be. He bullied all of us when we were children, and he embraced the most violent and unforgiving nature of this business. He pushed Micha into the same pattern.”
“This is why he always treated me like shit,” I say, no longer concerned about Kate’s sensitive ears. “It wasn’t just that Micha was his favorite; Pops had no claim to me at all, and he took it out on me every fucking day.”
“I don’t know, Nataniele. I never knew what was happening in my brother’s head. He was always cruel, but yes, he directed that cruelty toward you more than anyone else. Micha was also the eldest, so I don’t know if it would have made a difference or not.”
“Do you know why Micha was looking into Cherry? Did he know who she was?”
“He didn’t confide in me,” Kate says, “but I suspect he found something in Carlo’s files. I knew he was looking into Cherry, and I thought that would be all right. If he found out she was a sister, well, he could argue with your father about how to handle it. That was before we lost Micha and before you and Cherice met, of course.”
“And where would that have left me? If Micha knew who she was and brought her back here, where would I have been? Shipped back to the Ramsays?”
“You are part of this family, Nataniele. You always have been, and I don’t think there is anyone living in this house that would disagree with that.”
I should have known it all along.
“But…I always thought Micha and I looked alike.”
“You do, to a certain extent. Carlo took you overseas—somewhere in Europe—and had plastic surgery done on your chin and cheekbones so you would look more like an Orso. He didn’t want there to be any doubt. Rosa was against it, but of course, he didn’t listen to her.”
“Who knew about this, Kate? Aside from you, who knew this happened?”
“Only Carlo, Rosa, Mario, and I knew from our side. I don’t know who was privy to the information in the Ramsay family. They may have kept the information from the others. Roland was certainly involved, and clearly both Leanne and Sophia knew what was happening. I don’t know about anyone else, but I think they all must have passed on by now.”
“Why was Cherry sent to live with Sofia Ramsay?”
“I can’t answer that.”
“I don’t know how the others will feel about this, Nataniele. I won’t be the one to tell them—that’s all up to you. I’ve kept the secret this long, and I can keep it until my dying day if I must. I couldn’t keep it from you any longer—I needed to tell you so you knew you hadn’t done anything wrong with Cherice, and if you want her back…well, you’ll have to decide if you want all of the truth to come out. I just wanted to make sure you knew you had the option. After all, we do still need a wedding, and—”
“Seriously?” I stand and throw my hands into the air, and Kate cringes. “Are you really concerned about the family numbers right now, Kate? Is that all that matters to you?”
“To me, no.” She looks away from me, her shoulders tight. “It’s tradition though—old tradition.”
“Fuck tradition!”
“I know you are upset, but please control your words.” Kate huffs a breath through her nose. “Ultimately, it’s your choice. We lived by the old ways for many generations here in this country. The Orsos haven’t had any true ties to the major organizations in Italy for years. Maybe it’s time we make our own changes—changes that work for our family. That’s your choice, Nataniele. You are still the head of the family.”
“Really? In what way am I the head? I don’t belong here at all, and frankly, I’m starting to think that’s in everyone’s best interest!”
“Please, don’t think that,” she whispers. “You are a part of this family, and you always will be.”
“I’m not sure that’s up to you. Nora has the best claim now. Hell, Antony has a better claim than I do.”
And the thought hits me right in the face.
I’m not a part of this family. I will not be a part of the Ramsay family. I don’t have to be involved in any of it. I have no duty to this life. I can just walk away.
“You know what?” A short burst of laughter erupts from me. “They can have it. They can have the whole fucking thing.”
“Nataniele, what are you saying?”
“I’m saying you should go ahead and tell them all, because I don’t care anymore.”
I storm out of the office, stomp to the front door, and slam it on my way out. I don’t even bother with the phone—I just jump into the first car I come to and head to Cherry’s apartment.
New images of a life outside of Cascade Falls fill my head as I make the short drive from the Orso house to Cherry’s apartment. We could go live in Accident, if she wants to. We could move to a city where no one knows us or even live out on a farm with a bunch of goats for all I care. As long as I’m away from this town, and Cherry is with me, I’ll be fine with it.
The tires screech as I round the turn into the apartments’ parking lot. As I pull up to the building, Nora and Cherry are exiting, heading straight to Nora’s car. Nora helps Cherry into the passenger seat and then starts around the back of her car as I jump out of mine.
“Cherry! Cherry, wait!”
“She doesn’t want to talk to you.” Nora steps in front of me, blocking my view of Cherry in the car. “Now is definitely not the time.”
“I have to talk to her. You don’t understand.”
“No, Nataniele, you don’t understand!” Nora shoves against my chest, causing me to take a step back. “You have no idea what she’s going through, and I’m not going to put any more stress on her right now! You and I can talk later. Maybe she’ll talk to you at some point, but not now.”
“She has to talk to me!” I shove past Nora and head toward the car. Cherry is inside, covering her face with her hands. “Cherry! We have to talk! We were wrong, Cherry! Everyone was lying to us both!”
Cherry stares out the car window, mouth agape, red-eyed, and wiping her nose with a tissue.
“Nate, what the hell has gotten into you?” Nora stomps up and tries to put herself between me and the car door.
“We didn’t know everything!” I shove Nora away and grab for the car door but only manage to open it a little before Nora is pushing me away again.
“Don’t make me punch you, brother! You know I will!”
“You’re wrong!” I yell at her
as I try to find the right words. I lean around Nora, addressing Cherry. “Kate’s explained it all! We are not siblings, Cherry! We’re not!”
“What?” Nora grabs my arm, digging her nails into my flesh. “What are you talking about? She’s not an Orso?”
The car door opens the rest of the way, and Cherry steps out onto the concrete.
“I can’t handle any more, Nate,” she says softly. “I just can’t. Please, just let us go. I…I have to be somewhere.”
“It’s not what we thought,” I tell her. I have to get my thoughts together and explain myself before they both just take off on me. I don’t know where they might be going, and I don’t care. She has to listen to me. “Please, Cherry—just listen for a minute. We’ve been lied to—you and me both—and we had it all wrong. Kate admitted everything to me. You are an Orso, yes. That part was true. The thing is…well, I’m not.”
“You’re not what?” Nora narrows her eyes.
“I’m not an Orso,” I say, still addressing Cherry and ignoring Nora. “You aren’t the Ramsay. I’m the Ramsay. We are not siblings, Cherry. I swear it.”
“Kate?” Nora whispers.
“Yeah, she told me everything about the treaty, including Cherry and I being switched right after we were born. We were a part of their fucking treaty terms! She is Carlo and Rosa Orso’s daughter, and I’m the son of Roland and Leanne. I’m a Ramsay.”
Cherry suddenly drops to the ground.
Nora cries out, and I barely make it to Cherry in time to stop her head from hitting the pavement.
“She fainted, didn’t she?” Nora says.
“I think so.”
“Get her feet up. It helps get blood circulating.”
“Okay.”
Cherry is only out for a minute, but by that time, her neighbor is already outside with a bottle of Gatorade in her hands.
“Sit her up and give her this,” the woman says in one of those teacher-like voices you simply don’t argue with.
I tip a bit of the drink into Cherry’s mouth, but she doesn’t make eye contact with me. Instead, she looks at Nora.
“You have to call Twos.”
“I will,” Nora says quietly. “Don’t even think about it.”
“Where is Twos?” I ask but get no reply.
We get Cherry into the apartment and onto the couch, and her neighbor—Jessie, I finally remember—forces half the bottle of lime-green liquid down her throat.
“You gotta be careful in your condition, hunny,” she says as she clicks her tongue.
Cherry’s eyes pop open as she looks from Jessie to me and then to Nora.
“Condition?” It’s my turn to look at everyone. “What condition?”
“You think I can’t tell?” Jessie laughs, but Cherry looks mortified.
My question is ignored.
“I’m feeling fine now,” Cherry says. “You don’t have to keep fussing over me. Actually, I think Nate and I could use a little time to talk.”
“Of course, hunny.” Jessie stands up and grabs my arm as she heads to the door. She pulls me into the hallway and points a finger in my face. “Mr. Orso, I know you’re the big name in town and all, but you better promise me you are going to do right by that girl. She’s a sweet thing, and I don’t want anything to happen to her. You hear me?”
“I hear you.” I give her a nod. “I will never let anything happen to her.”
“Good. Make sure she drinks that whole bottle. I’m going to go make up some chocolate chip cookies. Those will help bring up her blood sugar so we don’t have any more incidents.”
I join Cherry on the couch, and Nora excuses herself to the kitchen where she calls Twos and has a quiet conversation. I can’t hear everything she says, but it’s something about canceling an appointment and that she’d explain the rest later.
“Cherry, do you want me to stick around?” Nora asks when she’s done with her call.
“No, thank you. I think it’s pretty clear Nate and I have to talk alone.”
“Go ask Kate,” I say to Nora. “She can explain it all to you. Might as well get the rest of your gang together so everyone knows.”
“My gang?”
I ignore her, and Nora grumbles under her breath before she lets herself out, and Cherry and I are finally left alone for about twelve seconds. I answer a knock at the door and have a plate of warm cookies shoved into my hands.
How did she make them so fast?
“Hydration and eating,” Jessie says in that same teacher voice. “I’ve been through this, you know, and you are going to listen to me. You can’t let your blood sugar drop, but you also can’t just eat a lot of junk food, either. Believe me, it’s going to be tempting, hunny. I made my husband run out at two in the morning for peach cobbler! These are just to make sure you get something in your belly, but you need a good meal and soon.”
Jessie looks at me pointedly, and I nod.
Cherry’s condition. Taking care of herself. Something Jessie has been through before.
Oh, my God…
I stand next to the couch, cookies still in hand, mouth wide open, and stare at Cherry.
Jessie goes on for a while about nutrition and vitamins. Cherry refuses to meet my gaze, but I know what’s going on here.
How long has she known?
Jessie excuses herself and heads out the door, leaving Cherry and me alone. Cherry seems to be eating one cookie after another just to keep from saying anything to me. I seem to be having a difficult time coming up with words.
“I think you have some, uh, news for me?”
“Um…well…” She licks crumbs from her lips and sighs. “Yes, I guess I do. I’ve been wanting to tell you, but...well, everything happened so fast.” She glances at me and quickly looks away. “I think Jessie probably said too much.”
“Yeah, probably.” I maneuver next to her on the couch. “I need to hear the words. I need to hear it from you.”
“I’m pregnant,” she whispers.
I reach out and pull her into my arms. As soon as I do, she wraps her arms around my neck and starts to cry on my shoulder. I close my eyes, not even able to imagine how she’s feeling. All this time, I thought we were at least in the same boat, but she had a much bigger, deeper issue that was clearly weighing on her far more than any of the rest of it, and I hadn’t even known. It would be frightening enough for Cherry to find out she’s pregnant, but she also thought it was her brother’s child. What could have been going on in her head?
A sinking feeling comes over me.
“Cherry,” I whisper, “what were you going to do? Where were you and Nora going? And where’s Twos?”
“Nate…” Cherry looks away and bites her lip.
I know the answer, and all my muscles tighten at once.
“I…I thought we were…”
“I know,” I reply though gritted teeth.
“It’s not that I wanted to,” she says. “I never would have considered it, not even if you didn’t want anything to do with the baby, but when I thought we were…we were siblings…well, I couldn’t really go through with it. I’m…I’m not sure I could have done it anyway.”
“It’s all right.” I bring her close to my chest. “But…we’re okay now, right? You aren’t…you aren’t still considering…” I can’t even say the word.
“No,” Cherry says definitively.
“Good.” I relax a little.
“Are you…are you okay with this?”
“With you having my baby?” I turn a little and take her face in my hands so I can look her in the eyes. “I’m fucking ecstatic about it, Cherry. I couldn’t be happier with the whole idea. I love kids, and the idea of you having mine has just taken the most insane couple of days ever and given it the ending we both deserve.”
“Really?”
“Really. I couldn’t be happier.” I kiss her softly before pulling her head back to my shoulder. She sniffs a few times, but the crying has mostly stopped.
“So…
do you feel like a yo-yo?” I ask. “I know that’s how I’m feeling.”
“Yes,” Cherry chuckles. “Honestly, I don’t know what to feel. I think I might still be in shock, and that started the day I found out about the baby.”
“When was that?”
“Just last week.” Cherry licks her lips and looks at me pensively. “It’s why I contacted you when I did. I knew I had to tell you, but then I wanted to do it at the right moment, and then…well, you know.”
“Am I forgiven for my original, horribly timed proposal, then?”
“Yes, you are.” She continues to look me in the eyes. “So, we aren’t siblings, but you aren’t an Orso.”
“Yeah.” I tell her everything Kate had told me. “Basically, swapping us was the final part of the treaty between our families.”
“That’s fucked up, Nate.”
“Right?” I shake my head. “I know you always wanted that big family thing, but both of ours are as fucked up as they could be.”
“But your family—er, well, I mean Nora and Antony and everyone—they’re good people. I really care about them.”
“They care about you, too, especially Nora.”
“She cares about you as well,” Cherry says. “I don’t think your blood relationship to her matters when it comes to that.”
“Maybe. We’ll see. I know she’ll always make sure you are okay, and that’s important.”
“How are you taking all of this business about being a Ramsay? I mean, I didn’t have a family growing up, and now I know I wasn’t even related to the woman who raised me, but this seems like a bigger blow. You grew up with the Orso family. I gained what you lost.”
“Aside from the shock of the idea, I’m actually kind of relieved.”
“Because of us?”
“Yes, but there’s more to it than that. I’ve felt like I have had to be the head of the family all this time, and I didn’t want it. I never felt like I was ready for that, and I didn’t know what to do. I think that’s why I did things the way I thought Pops would have done them, and not the way I wanted.”