The One

🌸 Chapter 23

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I sit as far away from the envelope as possible. I can't help but hate it. This stupid piece of paper that holds the future of my life. It shouldn't have so much power, but it does. Matt wants to get back to my apartment quickly, he clearly thinks there is good news in the envelope. I must be more of a pessimist because I can't help but imagine the worst.

I convince him to stop and get a muffin and a mocha on the way back. This may be the last time we can be normal with each other, oblivious to what our future holds. Matty rushes as he eats, he's eager for the good news he's sure is coming.

I admit that this weekend I was looking on the bright side, thinking there could be a positive ending. I tried not to worry. The busyness of the carnival and seeing Jerry helped keep my mind off it. But if Matty's dad doesn't know if I'm his daughter, that changes everything. If Blake doesn't even know, it means this is a real possibility. Now I just have this ominous feeling in my gut that just won't go away.

Once we are back at my apartment above Hank's garage, we sit down on the couch. Matty holds the envelope in his hands. Excitement is written all over his face. In contrast, my expression is full of dread.

"You ready?" Instead of answering I climb into his lap and put my arms around his neck. He pulls me close, giving me the cuddles I want. "It will be fine, Prim. I'm sure of it."

I shake my head, "You don't know that." A tear drips down my cheek. "I think it will be bad." He frowns at me in confusion. "I just need one more minute before we know."

Matty puts the envelope on the coffee table and wraps his arms tight around me. He whispers comforting words to me as I squeeze my eyes tight, trying to prepare myself. I remember times from our childhood when he would hold me like this. When Bliss made me cry. When my mom died. He was always there for me until our parents got involved.

"Maybe we should burn the envelope and move away together. If we don't know the answer then we can't be doing something bad, right? It wouldn't be against the law? No one would arrest us?"

Matty looks down at me with a mixture of confusion and amusement. "I don't think anyone would care, Prim. Incest isn't at the top of police crime lists. They don't hunt you down for it."

I cringe at the word. Yuck. "Well, that's no longer an option now that you've used that word. Ugh." I sit up and sigh. "Okay, I'm ready. Let's open it."

There are two papers in the envelope. The first one is a letter, the second one is a chart with a bunch of numbers.

Matty starts reading the letter, "In the case of Matthew Stanford and Primrose Martin, DNA samples taken at the Laboratory Services office at Clayton General Hospital on..." He skims down the letter to get to the results. "... test confirms a sibling relationship between subjects." My heart drops. My worst fear, realized. No. Please no.

Matty frowns and looks at me, "Sibling relationship?" He shakes his head, "No, this has to be wrong." His eyes start to water and he pinches the tears away with his fingertips and hands me the paper. "Here, you read it. I'm doing it wrong."

My shaky hands take the letter. I force myself to breathe in and out as I read through the information. It isn't long, just a paragraph and a half. I blink my eyes to keep from spilling tears. But it's right there in black and white, we are siblings. My breath starts to come faster and I'm no longer able to keep my own tears in. I drop the papers and wrap my arms around Matty, sobbing on his shoulder. Matty holds me tight to him as he repeats the word 'no', over and over again.

"Fuck that test!" He reaches over and grabs the letter, wadding it into a ball and chucking it across the room. "It can't be true. It just can't be!" Now he's the one breaking down in sobs on my shoulder. "I hate our parents so much right now. I'll never speak to them again for doing this to us. It's not fair! I had you back. After waiting for so long. We were getting a second chance. They've screw everything up!"