Chapter 3

I didn't go back with them that day.

By the time Patrick caught up with me in the corridor, I had already wheeled myself to the elevator.

He reached out to block the elevator door and said in a low voice, "Elise, let's go home first. There are so many reporters here. If this gets out, it won't be good for anyone."

"Bad for who?"

He didn't answer.

I suddenly remembered that we'd been married for six years, and we'd never made it public.

At first it was because I didn't want to be written up as "the disabled wife behind the principal dancer." Later, as Fern got more and more famous and Patrick became her regular partner, the team said there was no need to suddenly announce the marriage, in case it hurt their commercial deals.

Back then I even made excuses for him, telling myself it was fine to keep work and life separate.

Looking back now, the only thing that got kept separate was me.

"I'll have my lawyer send you the divorce papers."

Patrick's face darkened. "I told you I won't divorce. I have no intention of giving you up."

My mother had chased out too, and she jammed her hand on the door-open button. "Whatever it is, we'll talk about it at home. Fern only announced her pregnancy today, and now you two are about to blow up into a divorce. What will people out there think of her?"

I froze for a couple of seconds. "So you chased out here because you're afraid my divorce will affect her?"

"She just got a nomination for the International Dance Festival. If word gets out now that she came between her sister and her marriage, how is she ever supposed to show her face again?"

"Mom, I'm the one whose husband cheated on her."

My mother frowned. "But you and Patrick never went public in the first place, so as far as anyone outside knows, they're just a normal couple. If you pull out that marriage certificate now, the baby in Fern's belly turns into an illegitimate child overnight. And if the media digs up what happened ten years ago, she's finished as principal dancer. You've held it in this long. Does it have to be today?"

She spoke in a frantic rush, as if delaying my divorce a little longer could really make Fern the one who got hurt instead of me.

Fern had come out too.

Her eyes were red from crying, but for the first time she didn't just say she was sorry.

"Sis, if you want the divorce, I won't stop you. I can raise the child on my own. I'm going public today only because I don't want people pointing at the child later and saying he can't be shown in the light. I never wanted to take anything from you."

"You didn't take anything?"

I looked at her. "The National Dance Company spot isn't mine? 'The Returning Birds' isn't mine? Patrick isn't my husband?"

Her face went pale for a moment, but after a few seconds she lifted her head.

"I'm sorry about the spot. But for ten years I've trained more than ten hours a day. The injuries, the competitions, the tours—I got through all of it myself. You can't decide that everything I have now should be handed back to you just because of that one shove ten years ago."

Suddenly I felt there was nothing left to fight about.

"Fine. Since you don't think any of it was taken, then stop saying you're doing things for me."

Fern went still.

"'The Returning Birds,' 'Silence,' 'Tides,' and all the pieces I've revised for you over the years—starting today, don't use any of them again."

Patrick was the first to change color. "'The Returning Birds' has already made the final round of the International Dance Festival."

"Then pull it."

"Elise." He softened his tone. "Just this one time. We can talk about the authorship credit after the competition is over."

My mother urged me not to be so willful, said it would affect the whole company.

The elevator finally arrived. I looked at them. "Do all of you just assume that since I've given way for ten years, giving way one more time won't cost anything?"

No one answered.

The doors slowly closed in front of me.