Dictator s Daughter (9 page)

Now was not the time to wonder of such
issues. The issue at hand was how to keep his family and Eliwese
safe with the impending danger growing all around them.

Sean didn’t have a clue how to tell Eliwese
he knew her identity. Maybe he shouldn’t. Perhaps he should just
keep up the ruse. But if he continued, he wouldn’t be able to get
any questions answered. It would be a tough decision, one he would
make on the fly.

Sean went up to his room and found her
sitting at the table looking at skiing magazines.

“Do you like to ski?” he asked.

“I’ve never tried, but I think I might like
it.”

“Are you afraid of heights?”

“No.”

“Are you afraid of your father?” Sean even
shocked himself with the question.

“What?” Her shaky voice betrayed her.

“They displayed your picture on television,
but that’s not what gave you away.” Sean walked over to the table
and sat down opposite Eliwese.

“What then?” She barely breathed.

“Your concern for my well being, your
wandering eyes and the fact you didn’t answer my question about
preferring men. You’re too smart, and too clever to only be
fifteen. Last night, when you told me your age it confirmed my
suspicions of your gender. This morning, the news report gave me
your name. So, I need to know,
Eliwese
, are you afraid of
your father?” His eyes burned the question into hers.

“Yes.” She burst into tears. Not the girly,
‘woe is me’ kind, but the
‘oh, shit’
kind.

Watching her lose it tugged at Sean’s heart
strings. He stood and pulled her into an all consuming embrace
while she cried. He eased her over to the couch and sat beside her
with his arm behind her.

Once she calmed down, he asked her, “Why does
he scare you?”

Eliwese took a deep shuddering breath and
turned toward Sean, putting a little distance between them. “I’m
not so much scared of him, but more afraid of what he’ll do to you
and your family.”

Sean was caught off guard with the statement.
She was worried more about others than herself, and she was the one
who arrived at their house with broken bones and bruises.

“Who beat you while you were in hiding?”

Her eyes darted away from Sean and she
squirmed nervously. “I can’t…it’s too risky,”

“Eliwese,” his voice soothed her. “Was it
your father?”

“Sean, I’ve already put your family at risk,
I can’t do the same to my own.” Her cryptic reply puzzled him.

“If I understood your situation better I
could help you more effectively. If you cannot tell me more, at
least tell me what you need me to do.”

She stood and took a step backward. More
distance. “I need you to treat me as if I’m a teenage boy named
Eli. Don’t pamper me, don’t help me, don’t touch me any more than
you need to, and stop looking at me with those blazing eyes trying
to figure out my disguise. I need you to understand my reasons for
crossing the border are bigger than any other crosser you’ve ever
dealt with and my father will do whatever is necessary to get me
back.”

“Alright,” he held his hands up, palms
forward. He stood and walked to the bathroom; he needed a drink of
water to moisten his throat which had gone disturbingly dry. Things
had changed in a huge way between them, mostly him. He wished he
could go back to looking at his crosser as a teenage boy, but that
would not be the case. He knew the beautiful image which flashed
across the screen of the television would be sleeping in his bed
tonight.

Eliwese crashed down on the couch the moment
Sean went in the bathroom. Her hands covered her face and her mind
reeled. One second she was browsing through a skiing magazine, next
she was scared to tears, and then comforted so wonderfully in
Sean’s arms.

A knock on the bedroom door filled Eliwese
with apprehension as she watched Sean exit the bathroom and open
the door. Ryan stood outside with the phone in his hand.

“For you; need me to watch Eli while you take
this?” Ryan tried to see over Sean’s shoulder.

“Nope.” Sean closed the door in Ryan’s
face.

“Hello.”

Chandra’s annoying super sweet voice filled
his ear. “Is it alright if I come over for dinner tonight?”

“I suppose, sure.” The last thing Sean wanted
was to be with Chandra right now, but to deny her would go against
the normal protocol. As Eliwese had said a moment ago, Sean needed
to keep up the charade.

“Did you see the news report? Victor
Rawlings’ own daughter has fled Rendier.”

“That’s not what they said, she’s only
missing.”

“Well, we all know what that means,
right?”

“No, Chandra, what does it mean?”

“It means she is here somewhere. It’s
exciting really, don’t you think?”

Sean’s eyes were on Eliwese as Chandra spoke
and all he could think was,
Yes, very exciting.
“Yeah, look,
I need to go. See you tonight.”

Sean turned off the phone. “I’ll be back in a
minute.” Sean informed Eliwese and left the room to tell his mother
Chandra would be coming for dinner.

Sean didn’t make it far before Ryan grabbed
him and pulled him aside. “Come here Sean, I have something to show
you.” Ryan led him downstairs to his bedroom.

Sean glanced around Ryan’s room at all of the
posters on the walls and junk on the floor and shook his head.
“What is it Ryan?”

Ryan spread out a file folder on his unmade
bed. Picture upon picture of Eliwese Rawlings, group shots,
portraits, action shots all stared up at Sean making him extremely
nervous. Ryan pulled one more out, one he had altered. Ryan had
covered most of Eliwese’s hair with a false background and he’d
scribbled heavy eyebrows over her slim delicate ones. He’d also cut
and glued some other paper on her neck to resemble the turtle necks
and tall necked clothing she always wore. He had successfully
created Eli and was beaming ear to ear.

Sean looked at Ryan, trying to figure out
what was going on in his head. Did Ryan know Eli was Eliwese or was
he guessing? If he was guessing and Sean said the wrong thing, Ryan
would take the information and run. If Ryan already knew, then they
were all in trouble already.

Sean decided he would let Ryan talk first.
So, he stared at Ryan, waiting for a response. Ryan stared right
back. The intense, bluff-calling staring match went on for what
seemed like forever, until Ryan broke the silence.

“So are you going to ask Eli if this is him,
or her, or am I going to have to do it?”

Whew, Ryan didn’t know. “I’ll ask him.”

“Well, do it now! If it is her, we can get
her out of here before we get raided.”

“Who says we’re getting raided?”

“We will be, you’ll see. If that’s Eliwese
upstairs, it will be disastrous for all of us.”

“Did it ever occur to you, Ryan, that your
own father placed Eli here? Did you think to trust him in his
judgment or have you already dismissed his wisdom and replaced it
with your stupidity?!”

“Sean, the word is that she’s valuable; both
to whoever turns her in and to her own father. There’s another
rumor floating around, and that is whoever is housing Eliwese will
be shot! We can get her out of here right now and keep anything bad
from happening, but only if you’ll confront Eli and find out if in
fact he is Eliwese.”

“Well, I’ll get on that then,” Sean said
sarcastically and left the room.

He headed upstairs to his surveillance room,
grabbing the recent newspaper on his way. He entered and walked
over to the mirror to find Eliwese sitting at the table, staring
out the window.

Sean read the newspaper headline; Victor
Rawlings’ daughter missing. In small print Sean discovered a most
depressing fact; Eliwese is married. Eliwese Rawlings-Lampros.

He looked through the mirror and wondered
even more about her. A few moments later, his mother entered the
bedroom carrying a paper bag.

“I have what you asked for, Eli.” She handed
her the bag. “Do you want me to stay, you know, female
support?”

“Yes, that would be nice.” Eliwese walked
into the bathroom and after a few minutes, came back out and sat at
the table adjacent to Sara.

“Are you?”

“No.”

“Will your husband be disappointed?”

“It wouldn’t have been his,” Eliwese stated
unemotionally. “So, I guess he would have been quite disconcerted
if I was pregnant.”

Sean’s jaw lay somewhere on the floor of the
darkroom. He was experiencing information overload. Married?
Possible pregnancy, but not her husband’s child? Could this be the
reason why she was fleeing her country? Fleeing from her husband?
Whose baby would it have been?

“Eli, I don’t know what your situation is and
I don’t know whether I should be happy or sad for you. I’d like to
give you the support you need.”

“Then be happy for me, because I was raped
and had I gotten pregnant I would’ve been forced to abort the baby;
and I can’t go through that again.”

Raped? Abortion again? What kind of a life
did Eliwese come from? So many questions, but no time to tackle
them.

“I’m sorry your life has been so horrible,”
Sara said.

“It’s not your fault, but thanks for your
sympathy.”

“You know, Eli, every choice we make has
consequences. No one can see the future to determine how our
choices today will affect others to come. I fled Rendier when I was
eighteen. It saddens me to see how your life was affected by my
choice.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Hopefully you never will.” Sara leaned
forward and placed her comforting hand on Eliwese’s arm. She stood
and left the room.

Sean watched through the mirror, wondering
what his mother meant. He hurried and exited the darkroom to catch
her. “Mom,” he called down the stairs, “Chandra is coming for
dinner, and…” he pointed back to his bedroom door speechlessly.

“Come in the kitchen with me, Sean.” He
followed his mother and listened earnestly.

“Sean, how much of that did you hear?”

“All of it.”

“Are you aware of her identity?”

“Yes.”

“Listen very closely, Sean. You know who she
is and the kind of heat on her head. Now you understand some of her
problems too. Don’t judge her wrongly for it.”

“I won’t. I just wonder why you feel like
your own crossing affected her life.”

Sara dodged with, “Eli should join us for
dinner.”

“Mom,”

“With the heat up so high, you could escape
easier if she was down here.”

“Mom,”

“Sean, my choices are my own and I have to
live with the repercussions daily. The most important thing for you
to do right now is help Eli keep her gender and identity hidden.
Will you do that?”

“Of course, but you should know Ryan is bent
on exposing her. Could you tell Dad about it?”

Sara wasn’t able to speak with Paul about
Ryan because he left the house and didn’t return until dinner was
being served.

Chandra was on her best behavior and it was
clear she didn’t want to have another bad encounter with Eliwese.
Eliwese asked to be seated elsewhere and not next to Chandra. The
only other place was by Ryan at the end of the table.

Sean knew Eliwese was worried about leaving
the safety of the bedroom. The news reports had her on edge and
Sean noticed her hands trembling more than once.

Sean was extremely nervous about having
Eliwese sit next to Ryan because he had not talked to Ryan since
the episode in his bedroom. He hoped Ryan would just keep his mouth
shut, but he did not.

As dinner finished up, Ryan said to the whole
table in general, “I wonder if they found Victor Rawlings’ daughter
yet.”

Sean tensed up. Ryan turned to Eliwese and
said, “You know, Eli, you look just like her.”

“So I’ve heard,” she responded calmly. The
whole table fell into silence. Eliwese’s cheeks reddened and Sean
felt sorry for her but he couldn’t think of anything to say.

“You probably hear that all the time in your
country,” Ryan said.

“Actually, no, I don’t,” Eliwese replied
honestly.

“Well, what do you know about this dictator’s
daughter anyway?” Ryan asked.

Eliwese scanned the table up and down, with
her eyes resting on Sean for a moment, “I heard she’s in an
arranged marriage and her husband is three times her age.”

Sean jumped in with, “Arranged marriages,
humph, why do those even take place anymore?” The rest of the table
started talking again. From the way her gaze lingered on Sean, he
felt she was purposefully giving more information about her life.
His comment had spawned a few conversations and Sean hoped it would
be enough to quiet Ryan, but yet again, it did not.

Ryan spoke to Eliwese in a quieter voice,
“Hey, Eli, if we dressed you in a dress and put some makeup on you,
you’d be a dead ringer.”

Eliwese stared at him with her mouth
partially open. “Do you really want to?” she asked quietly. “What
would you do with your ‘dead ringer’ once you had her? Would you
turn her in? Would you parade her around to all your friends? Would
you collect your little reward?” Eliwese’s voice shook a little,
but she kept it quiet. Sean could barely hear what she was saying
to Ryan. Their parents had been engaged in a conversation with
Chandra and weren’t aware of the goings-on at the end of the
table.

“Hey, I’m just saying you look like her.”
Ryan defended himself, lifting his hands up and leaning his chair
back nonchalantly.

“Are you sure you want me to look like her?”
she raised her voice a little. “Do you understand what it would
mean for your family? Think of all the trouble it would bring;
spies checking in, stakeouts outside your home, the dictator’s
henchmen ready to kill to get me back. I’ve lived that life and it
isn’t anything I would wish on this family, not even you, Ryan.”
Teary eyed, she excused herself and went to the bedroom for the
second time in as many days.