by Liz Isaacson
“You just need to file the right paperwork,” he said. “And do the hearing. They’re not going to send you back because you forgot to send in the paperwork.”
“That’s exactly what they said they’d do.”
“But John isn’t going to let them.” Skyler had to hold onto that hope, or there wouldn’t be anything to cling to. “You’ll see.” He finished eating, said, “I’m going to get in the shower,” and left her in the kitchen.
He knew she was bored out of her mind. He was too, especially now that he didn’t have classes or homework to occupy his time. Moving to Three Rivers sounded like a great solution for him, because then he could work on the ranch. He’d be able to spend time with his brothers, their families, and his parents. Mal could too, and he knew she liked his family.
He couldn’t believe it, but she’d said she thrived on the noise and busyness of all of them coming and going, babies crying, toddlers spilling milk, and Momma hovering around everyone. He’d never introduced Shayla to anyone in his family except for Micah, and Skyler let his thoughts dwell on his brother for a few minutes.
“Today’s the day, Lord,” he said. “If it be Thy will, Mal and I would love a good meeting with John Castle about the hearing this week. If there’s anything we need to get ready, bless us that we’ll have the time and means to do so.”
He turned his face into the hot spray and let some of his own nervous energy flow down the drain with the water. After shutting off the shower, he added, “And help Micah. I don’t know what he needs, but Thou does, and I’m sure he could use some help today.”
After toweling off, shaving, and getting dressed, Skyler sat on the edge of his unmade bed and texted Micah.
Thinking about you this morning. How are things?
It was still early enough that Micah should still be at the homestead. Sure enough, the three little dots started to flash next to his name, indicating that he too was typing a text.
Things are good, Micah said. I met someone at church yesterday, and we’ve been talking.
A smile and a bit of surprise lifted Skyler’s spirits. A woman? he asked.
Yeah, Micah said. A woman. I’m thinking I’m going to ask her to dinner tonight.
Wow, bold.
Micah sent a laughing emoji, and Skyler looked up from his phone. He knew Micah and Simone Foster had been seeing each other last year. For some reason, Simone hadn’t wanted to take their relationship out of the shadows, and Micah’s self-confidence and self-esteem had taken a big hit.
He’d claimed Simone was embarrassed of him, but Skyler couldn’t imagine why. As far as he knew, Micah hadn’t had any trouble with the law. His last girlfriend hadn’t stolen from him, lied to him, and caused him to lose everything in Temple.
No, Micah had closed down his woodworking shop voluntarily.
“Stephanie did give him a lot of trouble,” Skyler reminded himself, because Micah had had a bit of a problem with his girlfriend in Temple. She hadn’t accepted his decision to break-up, and he’d had a hard time saying and doing what needed to be said and done to truly end the relationship.
A knock sounded on his door, and Skyler’s gaze flew to it. Mal had never come to his room before, and a second or two passed before she said, “Skyler?”
He jumped to his feet and strode across the room, taking in everything at once. Did it smell bad in here? He never made the bed, and usually tossed his clothes over the arm of a recliner in the corner. What would she think of that?
They were married, but they didn’t share a bedroom, and there were still things about him she didn’t know.
He pulled open the door to find her standing there, her hands pressed together in front of her. “Hey.”
“I think it’s time to go.”
“Is it?” He looked at his phone, and sure enough, it was time to go. “Shoot, I lost track of time.” He lifted his eyes to hers, and time seemed to still. He reached for her and cradled her face in one palm. “It really is going to be okay.”
She closed her eyes and nodded, and Skyler found her so beautiful in that moment. She had such a kind spirit, and such a good soul, and he closed his eyes too. He basked in the warmth of her body and soul, and he knew then that he was in love with her.
“Okay.” He opened his eyes and dropped his hand. “I just need to grab my jacket and my keys.” He felt his back pocket. “And my wallet…where’s my wallet?” He turned back to his dresser, where he kept that kind of stuff. It was either there or in the kitchen, as they had a drawer in the island where he put keys, spare change, and his wallet sometimes.
But it was sitting on the dresser, and he crossed over to it, stuffed the wallet in his back pocket, and swept the cowboy hat onto his head too. “Okay, let’s go.”
Mal kept her hand in his down to the parking garage. Across town to the law office. All the way into John Castle’s office. “So good to finally meet you,” John said, a tall, thin African-American man that looked like he’d blow away with the slightest of Texas’s breezes. “I’ve got everything here for you.” He sat down behind his desk, his smile wide and comforting. He opened the folder on his desk, which had files stacked as high as a human probably dared to stack them covering the entire left side of it.
Skyler sat just after Mal, his stomach tying itself into a knot.
“We have all the appropriate paperwork ready,” John said, looking up. “Thursday will be really simple, Mal. We’ll go to a hearing with a judge, and it’ll just be us and them. It’s not a jury. It’s not a trial. We’ll provide the proper paperwork, and express that you want to keep going to school and having a job. I one-hundred-percent expect that we’ll leave with your conditional green card. So it’s not the permanent one you meant to apply for, so you’ll be set back a couple of years in your process.”
“Yeah?” she asked. “You think I’ll get the conditional one?”
“Yes,” John said. “We’ll have to resubmit the application. You’ll have to pay the fee again, and the time won’t start back in August, like it would have. But it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“And then?” She cleared her throat, as her voice had come out scratchy. “Then what happens?”
He flipped a page. “You’ve only ever been here on a visitor’s visa, and you recently got married.” He glanced at Skyler and then focused on Mal. “Is that right?”
“That’s right,” she said.
“So they’ll probably give you a probationary time of two years, while they determine if the marriage is real.”
Skyler worked very hard not to move. Not to even breathe. Everything in the room grew hot, including his face, but he just kept looking at John.
He said, “You’ll have a conditional green card, which after the two years, if everything is good, they’ll move to a permanent green card. And after five years, you can apply to be a naturalized citizen. That’s when they’d do the background check, the fingerprints, all of that.” He leaned forward, his personality still jovial and happy, but he was serious too. “You won’t be able to get a passport until all of that is done, Mal. You won’t be able to go visit your family for probably eight more years.”
Eight more years.
Skyler looked at Mal, and she swiped quickly at her face.
“Is that what you want to do?” John asked. “That process?”
“Yes,” she said, lifting her chin. “That’s what I want to do.”
Satisfaction moved through Skyler. She wanted to stay in the US, and he’d married her to help that process. It was the right thing to do.
“All right.” John stood up, the meeting apparently over. “See you on Thursday morning, then.”
Skyler and Mal shook his hand and they left the building. Mal crumpled into Skyler’s arms at the truck, and he just held her, whispering, “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”
Eight years.
He couldn’t help but wonder where he’d be in eight years, and if he’d have the opportunity to still be at Mal’s sid
e.
The next morning, Skyler got up early again. He found Mal in the living room, ready to run. “Be safe,” he said, leaning down to kiss her.
“Good luck in Three Rivers,” she said. “Call me on the way back.”
“Okay.”
She smiled and headed out the door while Skyler wished he could ask her if she’d ever think of this apartment as her home.
His thoughts went round and round and round as he showered and dressed and drove to the counseling office in Three Rivers.
“I’m here for Doctor Haskell,” he said ninety minutes later, and twenty after that, he was called back into an office with plenty of light, beautiful furniture, and a blonde woman at least a decade older than him.
“I’m Michelle Haskell. So nice to meet you,” she said, smiling as she shook his hand. “I can see the Walker blood in you. You look a lot like Jeremiah.”
“I guess there are worse things,” he joked.
Dr. Haskell kept her smile on her face as she sat down in an armchair. Skyler took a spot on the nearby couch, taking a moment to settle in and lean against the armrest. He’d never been to counseling before, and he had no idea how to start.
Thankfully, Dr. Haskell said, “Tell me why you’re here.”
Skyler drew in a deep breath. How did he even start? Did she need a history? Should he mention Mal? His brothers? What did she already know about his family from her sessions with Jeremiah?
“Uh,” he said, clearing his throat. He ducked his head, glad he wore his cowboy hat so he could hide his face. “I feel like I get unreasonably annoyed with simple things.”
“What kind of things?”
“Texts from my family. The fact that my wife won’t call our place home.”
She went on to ask him more questions about that, and he ended up talking a lot about his family, as well as his new marriage with Mal.
“Why do you think you’re frustrated with those things?” she asked.
“I guess…I don’t know.” But Skyler had just had a thought. A dangerous thought he didn’t want to say out loud.
“Oh, something just happened.” Dr. Haskell, who’d been scribbling on a clipboard on her lap, had completely paused.
“What?” he asked.
“You shut down.”
“Did I?”
“Completely.” She cocked her head, her eyes narrowing for a moment. “What’s going through your mind?”
“I think.” He shifted, leaning forward like he’d run from this office. “I mean…I have things I don’t want to tell people. I think that might be why I get a little annoyed with them.”
“Things you don’t want to tell people.”
“Right.”
“Like what?”
“Like…I don’t know.” But he did. He knew that too. The embezzlement accusations. The fraud charges. The lying and stealing. The fake marriage….
“I just feel like I’m the black sheep in the family,” he said. “I have…things I’m dealing with no one else does. So they don’t understand. And their perfect lives are annoying.”
“Have you told them these things?”
“No.”
“Do you think that’s lying?”
Skyler’s defenses shot right up. “Lying?”
“Yeah, not telling them things. Have you told your wife these…things?”
“Not all of them.” He blinked at the doctor. “And it’s not lying. I just haven’t told her.”
“Is that misleading though?”
Skyler didn’t know what she was trying to get him to say. “No.”
“So someone has to specifically say, ‘Hey, Skyler. How was your weekend? Did you go rock climbing?’ for you to answer?”
“I’m not lying to them about anything.” And he wasn’t. No one had asked him why he and Mal had gotten married. He could see what Dr. Haskell was getting at though, and he wondered if he was deceiving his family by not telling them. And Mal, by not cluing her in about the things in his past.
“You just haven’t told them.”
“I didn’t realize I’d have to defend myself here.” Skyler folded his arms, about ready to bolt. He didn’t want to feel like he was a liar, someone who couldn’t be trusted.
But maybe that’s why you don’t fit, he told himself.
“You don’t,” Dr. Haskell said. “I’m merely trying to find your baseline, where you’re operating from in all things, including your morals. That’s all.”
“You make it sound like I don’t have any morals.”
“Not at all.” She wasn’t agitated in the least, and Skyler worked to keep himself from moving on the couch.
“There are some things I haven’t told my family,” he said. “Or my wife. Everyone has secrets.”
She nodded, made a note on her clipboard and said, “I’d really like you to think about something before we meet again.”
Skyler didn’t think they’d be meeting again at all, but he just nodded.
“Take some time to write it out, too, if you can.”
“Okay,” he said.
“Think about how you’d feel if you found out your wife had been keeping something secret from you. Something big. Something important. How would you feel? Would you feel lied to? Betrayed? Deceived? Or would it be okay, because everyone has secrets?”
Skyler’s jaw clenched, but he nodded.
“There’s no wrong answer,” Dr. Haskell said, clicking her pen. “And we’ll talk about it next time.”
Skyler stood up, shook her hand and left the office. Anger and irritation accompanied him to his truck, making his steps more like stomps and his strides long. He didn’t want to feel like he’d been lying to his family—or to Mal.
But by not telling them everything, had he been?
He got behind the wheel of his truck, Mal’s words from earlier that day in his mind. Call me on the way back.
He didn’t want to call her, not while he felt so out of sorts. Not when he didn’t know if he’d been doing the right thing or not.
So he started the truck, locked the doors, and bowed his head to pray.
Chapter Twelve
Mal had just finished setting up the sewing machine in the spare bedroom in Skyler’s apartment when her phone rang. He actually had two extra bedrooms, so he still had plenty of room should he want to take up a hobby too.
“Hey,” she said after connecting his call. “Tell me about it.”
But Skyler didn’t say anything. She could hear that he was definitely in the truck, though, so the line between them was good. “Skyler?”
“I need to tell you some things,” he said, his voice flat. She didn’t like flat. Flat meant Skyler had hidden behind one of his masks, and she had no idea who she’d be talking to.
“Okay,” she said. She pulled out the rolling chair she’d bought and sat down. She hadn’t specifically discussed setting up a sewing studio in the house, but she needed something to do all day, and she loved to sew. Cooking could only take her so far, and she’d gone through a lot of recipes already.
“I mentioned Shayla in the past,” Skyler started. “She was the last girlfriend I had before coming north, right?”
“Right,” Mal said.
“Well, we broke up, obviously, and I left Dallas, obviously. But there’s a whole lot more to that story.”
Mal said nothing, because it wasn’t her story to tell. Skyler could have all the time he needed, but thankfully, he launched right in with, “She stole a lot of money from me. Over fifty thousand dollars. She’d been stockpiling it through the business, and she skipped town in my truck, which she also stole from me.”
He took a deep breath and sighed. “I was brought in for questioning with federal authorities for embezzlement. They thought I’d committed tax fraud by hiding the money she’d stolen. They thought I was going to run for the border.”
Mal sat there and stared out the window, trying to make sense of everything.
“They held me for three days whi
le they investigated. I wasn’t allowed to leave town. I had to bankrupt the business and abandon it. I lost a lot, and I’ve never felt….”
“Good enough,” Mal said, finishing for him.
“Yes,” he said. “My brothers are all successful, and I just feel like a complete failure.”
Mal’s first instinct was to tell him he wasn’t a failure because his ex-girlfriend had stolen from him. But she knew him well enough to know by now that he didn’t want her reassurance. At least not in that way.
“Do they know this?” she asked him.
“No,” he said. “You’re the first person I’ve ever told. Well, I mentioned it to my father last week while we were there for New Year’s. But not as much detail as what I just told you.”
“Thank you for telling me,” she said. “I don’t think you’re a failure because someone took advantage of your trust.”
“I should’ve known,” he said, and an angry vibe came through the line now. “I was in love with her. I was going to ask her to marry me. I should’ve known.”
“Some people are really good liars.”
“Okay,” Skyler said. “I’m going to go see my parents while I’m here in town. Momma invited me to lunch.”
“Okay,” Mal said, wondering what response he wanted from her. If she couldn’t tell him that some people were liars, what should she have said? “When do you think you’ll be home?”
“I don’t know. What are you doing today?”
“Well, I sort of bought a sewing machine, and set up a table in the bedroom next to mine….” She waited for Skyler’s reaction, and when his laughter came pouring through the line, Mal smiled too.
“I didn’t know you sewed.”
“Well, now you do,” she said. “I bought all the stuff I need to make a quilt for your mother. She told me she loves to sew, and we really talked about it a lot. I got excited to get back to it.” She hoped he heard what she didn’t say. Then she decided to just say it. “I feel like it’s going to give me something to do.”
“That’s great, Mal,” he said, and she heard how genuine he was. “I’ll tell Momma.”
“Okay.” Mal leaned back in the chair. “Text me when you leave Three Rivers, okay? I’ll make dinner or call for something.”
