In this you are a Schuyler Sister/Brother/Sibling
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I walked up to the house that my sister, Eliza, and her husband, Alexander, lived in. I walk up the steps, letting myself in. I go into his office. He turns his chair around, and suddenly smiles. He stands.
"[name]." He said, about to hug me.
"Alexander..." I was about to hug him back, but I then push him back lightly. "Congratulations."
"What?" He asks.
"You have invented a new kind of stupid." I say. He face palms.
"If this is about the Reynolds Pamphlet, I'm sorry-"
"Let me finish." I say sternly. He nods. "You've invent a new kind of stupid. A damage you can never undo, kind of stupid. An open all the cages at the zoo, kind of stupid."
He just stared at the floor in shame. I had gotten him.
"I bet you didn't even think this through, kind of stupid." I finished. He was about to open his mouth before I continued. "Let's review. You took a rumor a few - maybe two - people knew, and refuted it by sharing an affair of which no one has accused you."
"I-" he started.
"I begged you to take a break. You refused to." I cut him off. "So scared of what your enemies might do to you. You're the only enemy you ever seem to lose to!"
"[na-"
"You know why Jefferson can do what he wants?"
"Why?!" He asks. I got on his nerve.
"He doesn't dignify schoolyard taunts with a response."
He stares at me in shock, his mouth hanging open.
"So yeah. Congratulations." I say. "You redefined your legacy. Go on and celebrate. Congratulations."
I was about to walk out the door to find my sister. Then he pipes up.
"It was an act of political sacrifice, what else was there to do?!" He yells, I could hear the sobs he was trying to hold back.
I pause. He wanted to dig into this, didn't he?
"Sacrifice?" I say. "You think you know about sacrifice?"
No answer.
"I languished in a loveless marriage in London, I live only to read your letters. I look at you and ask myself what have you done with your life? It could've been better."
"[name].."
"But it doesn't wipe the tears and the years away. I'm back in this city and I'm here stay. You know what I'm here to do?"
No answer. I was coming at him hot and fast.
"I'm not here for you." I say. His face had more shame, grievance, and pity right then than any face I had ever encountered. "I know my sister like I know my own mind, you will never find anyone as trusting or as kind. A million years ago she said to me 'this one's mine'."
He gasps.
"So I stood by. Do you know why?" I ask again. "Cause' I love my sister more than anything in this life, I will choose her happiness over mine every time! Eliza is the best thing in our lives. So you must never lose side of the fact that you have been blessed with the best wife!"
He sobbed, and so did I. "Congratulations. For the rest of your life, every sacrifice you make is for my sister, give her the best life."
"Congratulations." I say as I slam the door.
