There. In the booth at the back. All alone, morosely, Cora stabs her fork into her breakfast, and it’s just as I thought. Blueberry pancakes.
She didn’t come here to forget about Ray. She came here to remember why she loved him in the first place.
Braxton spots her and lurches forward like a race dog. I rest my hand on his arm. “Let me do the talking,” I beg. “Railing against Ray isn’t going to help. Not right now.”
Braxton pulls his arm out of my hand but then says, “Fine.”
We approach her together. Braxton slips into the seat beside her, closing her escape, and I move into the seat across from her.
Cora’s eyes go wide. “How did you find me?” She has a smidgeon of sticky syrup on her lip.
“That doesn’t matter,” Braxton chastises her sharply. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m just…” Cora wipes her mouth on a paper napkin and cuts a square out of her pancake with her fork. “I got hungry…do you want some? They’re actually pretty good.”
“What happened to brunch?” I ask.
Cora shrugs and stares at her plate. “Sometimes a girl needs pancakes.”
“You packed your bags and left. You’re running away from the wedding, aren’t you?”
Now Cora’s eyes grow wet. She dabs at the corners of her eyes with her napkin, and her voice shakes when she says, “I’m a terrible person…aren’t I? I’m so sorry…does he hate me?”
“Ray doesn’t know,” I tell her.
“Did he force you into this wedding?” Braxton growls. I wince. You’re not helping, I try to tell him telepathically, but he’s already going off. “I’ll tear him apart.”
“No, no, not…exactly.” Her lower lip juts out and trembles. She’s trying so hard to hold it together, but it’s clear that there’s something she’s holding back.
I reach out and take her hand. Solidarity. “Cora…this is a safe place. You can tell us anything.”
“I’m pregnant!” she finally bursts out. The second she says the words, her hand flies to her mouth and her eyes go wide. “Oh God…”
Oh God is right. For a brief second, no one around the table says anything. Braxton and I are stunned speechless.
I squeeze her hand tighter. “Does Ray know?”
“Yes…we knew…before. That’s why we’ve been rushing to get married. I just wanted to get through the wedding first, you know? And then we’d tell everybody.”
She breaks off in a loud wail. I don’t let go of her hand. “Cora…it’s okay. Okay? We’re here for you.”
Braxton has been thoughtfully silent. Finally, he speaks up. “I’m going to kill him.”
I shoot him a glare. “Braxton.” His eyes meet mine. He’s his own worst enemy, a cyclone of anger, and I lift my eyebrows and tilt my head. Forget about Ray for a second. Think about your sister.
Finally, Braxton gets the memo. He softens the hard edges of his mouth and slips his hand to her back, rubbing in small circles. “Cora,” he says, “you don’t have to go through with this. If you want to leave…you still have family. You have me. We’ll figure this out.”
“Or,” I say pointedly, “you still have Ray. The father.”
“That’s just it,” Cora sniffles. She wraps her fists around the napkin and starts breaking it apart into little, tiny pieces. Her nervous tick. “I don’t know what I want.”
“Talk it out,” I encourage her. “Do you love Ray?”
Cora’s lips part and she looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. “Of course! He’s…such a good man. And so good to me. He makes me laugh…I’m crazy about him.”
The passion of her declaration surprises me. I hesitate and then say, “So…what’s the problem?”
Now her eyes go glassy again. Her vision darts downward to the massacred napkin in her lap. “What if he doesn’t love me?” she whispers. “I mean…sure, yes. Maybe he does now. Some…puppy love infatuation because I’m pretty and pregnant. But one of these mornings, he’s just going to wake up and look at me and think, why did I have to get this one pregnant? He could have someone stable, someone more like him…like Mandy…or anyone. Anyone else would be better.”
Her eyes have glazed, but there are no tears there. There’s nothing but hollowness. She turns to Braxton like a limp doll. “We’re not good people,” she announces with alarming calmness. “We don’t deserve happy endings.”
It’s chilling to watch her like this. She’s like a pumpkin scooped clean of all its innards. She and Braxton have scars. The kind that burn the inside of your mind and never fully heal.
Braxton even seems at a loss for words. He simply rubs his hand up her back, comforting, and pulls her against him so she rests her head at his shoulder. She looks so small now, so tiny, and my heart breaks for the other woman.
Enough. I clear my throat and say, “Cora…there’s something you need to know.”
She lifts her head enough to look blankly at me.
I take in a deep breath. “Braxton and I are…seeing each other. And we have been, since we got here.”
I see Braxton’s bones go stiff. Where are you going with this? his eyes read.
I wet my lips. Trust me.
“Okay,” Cora says. She still sounds resigned and numb, as though the information hasn’t quite hit her yet.
“And…over that time…he’s told me a lot. About your father…everything.” I see her fragile body tense up at that as though she’s waiting for me to give her the final blow. I press my lips together and say, “And I told him about me and…the point is…we were able to talk to each other. Open up. And that meant everything.” I’m procrastinating, drawing my words out. Cora squints at me, confused, and Braxton looks equally lost.
Get to the point, Susie. I take in a deep breath, brace myself, and then finally confess, “The point is…over the last week…I’ve grown to really care about your brother. Love him, even.” My eyes lift from the table, and I look directly at the siblings. “I love your brother.”
I look at Braxton and expect to see anger, maybe, or that cold nothingness. Instead, he looks soft. Warm. Even hopeful.
Cora looks shocked. She turns to her brother. “Is this true?”
Braxton’s eyes don’t leave me. “Yes,” he says.
“And how do you…feel about her?” There’s a tentative hopefulness in Cora’s voice.
Braxton doesn’t miss a beat. He stares directly into my eyes and says, “I love her too.”
My heat clenches in my chest, and relief spreads its fingers through my body. Braxton West loves me. I want to stay serious and strong for Cora, but I can’t help the tiny smile that breaks across my lips. This isn’t the fleeting kind of butterfly love I felt with Ace. Braxton has set his anchor in my heart, and I know, somehow, that he’s going to stay there for a very, very long time.
“Oh my God.” Cora lets out a tiny, tinkering laugh as she dabs the edges of her eyes with her napkin again. “If you can get someone to fall for you, Braxton, there’s hope for all of us, right?”