The heavy wrought-iron gate slowly closed behind us. A servant silently took the soaked black coats from me and Isaac.
Just as I was dragging my legs, which felt as heavy as if they were filled with lead, towards the stairs, under the warm, bright light of the living room, two figures that shouldn't be here suddenly appeared in my sight.
Sofia had changed into a soft, off-white cashmere sweater and was sitting on the expensive leather sofa in the living room. Jack, like a child who had done something wrong, stood beside the sofa with his head bowed, his hands fidgeting nervously.
A surge of anger instantly replaced my fatigue and surged straight to my head. “Why are they here?” My voice carried a bone-chilling coldness and unmasked accusation, shattering the hypocritical calm of the living room.
Isaac lifted his head. The heavy grief from the funeral still lingered on his face, now tinged with a touch of awkwardness and irritation.
He avoided my burning gaze and cleared his throat before speaking in a tired, almost matter-of-fact tone. "Riley, you’ve been through so much... I just didn’t feel comfortable leaving you alone. I thought it’d be good for Jack to stay here to accompany and talk with you for a while. It's better than being alone. Let them stay here for now to take care of you."
"Let them stay here?" My voice shot up in pitch. "You want them to move in? To ‘accompany me’? To ‘take care of me’?" Each rhetorical question was laced with scathing sarcasm and hatred. "Are you afraid I’ll die too slowly, or are you just impatient to have your little family reunion under my roof?"
"Riley, calm down!" Isaac’s face darkened, his tone growing stern. "I know you're grieving, but you can't be this unreasonable. Sofia means well! She genuinely wants to care for you. Just look at yourself right now..."
Sofia went pale under the ruthlessness of my words. Her eyes quickly rushed down her cheeks like a broken string of pearls that brought out a sense that she had been horribly wronged and misunderstood.
“Riley, how could you say that to me?” she sobbed softly. “I’m worried about you. Yosef is gone and you have no family left. Isaac is a man, so how could he know how to take care of someone? I genuinely wanted to come and take care of you.”
She cried with such sincerity that it looked like she might faint any second.
Isaac immediately stepped forward and supported her. His eyes, when he looked at me, filled with disapproval and blame, as if I were the unreasonable, ungrateful villain.
Sofia leaned against Isaac's arm and, while sobbing, made an even more absurd and repulsive suggestion, "Riley, for the sake of all our years as sisters … please let Jack stay here. After all, not only he is your nephew, but he’s always respected you like a mother."
She gave Jack, who was still frozen like a statue, a hard tug and her voice suddenly turned desperate and manic. "Jack! Quick, beg your Aunt Riley! Beg her to let you stay and take care of her. And … and …."
She looked at Isaac, then back at me and as if she’d finally made up her mind, her eyes blazed with determination. "Let Jack recognize Isaac as his godfather. That way, he becomes your godson and we’ll be a real family. In the future, he can take Yosef’s place to be filial to you and care for you in your old age. Riley, please … take pity on us, a widow and son and give yourself and Isaac, a little something to hold onto too."
"Recognize Isaac as Jack's godfather?" That word hit me like thunder, leaving me frozen in place.
I stared blankly at the scene before me … at Sofia’s tear-streaked face, Isaac’s satisfied expression and Jack's eyes that glinted with a hint of hidden longing.
Suddenly, a sharp, metallic taste surged in my throat. “Pfft—!”
Just before losing consciousness, I heard myself scream a broken roar that filled with every last ounce of hatred I had left, “Get ... Out...”
