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~Cora~
THE DAY OF THE FUNDRAISER, I stopped at my mother’s grave. It had been a few months since my last visit, and with no job and no Dixon, time stretched out in a vast expanse...empty and looming.
I parked the car on the gravel driveway and walked through the dew-dropped grass. The towering headstone had an angel’s wings outstretched, and the vases in front of the stone were filled with fresh flowers. My father may not have cared about my feelings, but his love for my mother was evident by the attention he paid to her final resting place. There was even a granite bench for visitors.
“Hi, Mom.” I sat on the bench and stared at the dates on the gravestone. Only forty-five years old. Taken too soon. “I know it’s been awhile since my last visit. Things are...well, complicated to say the least. I met someone.” I sniffed. “But it looks like he’s not ready to commit.” I looked up to the fluffy white clouds. “I was, but he wasn’t. At least, he wasn’t ready to commit to me.” I took a deep breath. “And Dad hasn’t let up on his idea that I need to marry Mark. He’s got my life planned out for me, and when I stood up for myself, he kicked me out of his life. Out of the business, too.”
A cardinal’s song stopped my words. I’d always heard that cardinals were your loved ones visiting you, and it was a comforting thought. I listened to the warbling fade as the bird found branches farther away to perch on.
I looked back at the stone. “And he’s taken away Grandmother’s inheritance. Well, sold the house. I suppose there’s not much he can do about the money.” I swung my feet, watching the blades of grass get pushed down and bounce back. “Mark bought it. Says I can have it back and have half my dream, if he gets what he wants.”
A car drove slowly down one of the other paths, drawing my attention. I watched it stop a few rows over. A middle-aged couple got out of the car, walking directly to a grave with flowers. They stood for a few moments, with the wife placing the flowers down. When she stood, she leaned into her husband, and her husband’s hands wrapped around her, holding her close. They were far enough away that I couldn’t hear them, but I wasn’t sure they were actually speaking, anyway.
I turned my attention back to my mother. “That’s what I want, Mom. Someone to hold me in good times and bad. I thought that was Dixon. But, instead, he broke up with me. And with some lame excuse, that I was too good for him. As if he didn’t deserve love from anyone.” I stood. “But he does, and I do, too. I really wanted it to be from Dixon, Mom.”
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I FUSSED WITH THE EARRINGS.
Wendy let out a wolf whistle. “Damn, girl. You clean up nice.” She hip-bumped me as she tried to get some counter space in the bathroom. “But you’re still a bathroom hog. Scooch over.”
“And where are you going tonight, huh? I know you passed on my free ticket to the fundraiser, but you never said what those ‘other plans’ were. What’s his name? And how long has this been going on?” I grinned at her in the mirror as I put on my mother’s diamond necklace that matched the earrings and double-checked my lipstick.
“Never you mind. You don’t know him. It’s just casual right now.” She took a dab of hair product and started scrunching, adding volume.
“Casual, huh? Well, you let me know if I need to stay out of your way tonight, in case your ‘casual’ turns into an overnight party.” I hip-bumped her back.
Wendy looked at me, now with that damn no-fun Wendy look on her face. “I know it’s going to be a difficult night, but at least you can leave right after the silent auction starts. And remember, even if your father goes through with that sale, you still have options. You can always use your savings to buy a property and start your B&B there instead.”
“Yeah, maybe. But I’m not going to think about that tonight. Tonight is about the charity, and the work I can support there.” I fidgeted with the ring on my right hand. “If my mother were still alive, things would be different. But she’s not, and there’s not anything I can do about that. If there’s any way I can make things different for some other daughter or son, that’s what I’m going to do. Everything else takes a backseat tonight.”
Wendy hugged me. “I know she’d be proud of the woman you’ve become. And she’d want you to plan your own future, not just go with whatever your father or Mark think you should do.”
I sniffed. “Thanks.” I pulled back from her, a sad smile on my face. “I do wish she was here for me to talk to. I just don’t know what to do about Dixon. I can’t believe he broke up with me over the phone, without giving us a chance to talk and work things out.”
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I STOOD AT THE DOORWAY of the ballroom. It was the last place I wanted to be, but I couldn’t let my despair over Dixon overshadow how important this night was for the charity. My heart ached, but I put on a brave face. As long as I concentrated on the good I’d be doing here, I could stave off my pain...for a little bit, at least.
“Good evening, Cora.” Mark’s snobby tone invaded my private bubble. “Care to join me at the table? I believe your father is already there, waiting for us.”
I turned around. Mark was about three feet away from me, his handsome, smug face radiating superiority. A custom tux. The stereotypical lawyer attitude. But he was a pathetic man who wanted control, and who had a sad future in front of him...one without me in it. No matter what Dixon said, Mark wasn’t the one to make any of my dreams come true. No, that was Dixon.
Even if Dixon pushed me away, it still wouldn’t make Mark part of my life. All I had was anger, dismay, the bitterness of betrayal, and an urgent need to get away from him.
“I need to take care of some silent auction details. I’ll be at the table later, I’m sure.”
I headed over to the tables with the displays and clipboards. There wasn’t much for me to do but I double-checked the listings, making sure they were all on the table and nothing was missing. Several of the sheets already had bids past the suggested bid, including one for a package that offered the use of a catamaran for a week in the Bahamas. The starting bid was listed at twenty-five grand.
“I see we’ve started to get some bids placed.” Lila’s shrill tone was followed by a sniff. “I certainly hope we do better than last year. I’m not convinced the items offered are quite as...interesting and exciting as we’ve had in the past.”
The past, as when my mother was alive and ran fundraisers like this one.
“Lila,” I muttered in acknowledgment. I had turned to face her and her disapproving look. Her face, a layer of plastic covered in impeccable makeup, stayed flat. I’d never seen a smile there, and I guess she couldn’t frown either.
Lila looked me up and down, as if a general inspecting the troops...and finding them lacking. “Now, I need you to—”
I had enough of this woman...and her son. I crossed my arms and sighed. “Lila, I am done with my commitments to the event. If you need help with some details or grunt work, I suggest you find the hotel staff and you can lord it over someone else. I am here to enjoy the evening, and that does not include any more time in your company.”
After turning away from her and her over-Botoxed face, I went in search of a drink. If I couldn’t have Dixon at my side, I’d at least have liquid courage...or drown my sorrows in my wine.
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A DRINK IN HAND, I found our dinner table. Technically, my father had purchased the table for him, me, Wendy as my guest, Mark, both his parents, and two business associates and their guests. The ten-person table was large, but not large enough to ignore my father when I sat, or to miss Mark’s scowl.
“Hello, Dad.” I tried to be pleasant, to not dwell on our last conversation. But the tiny ball of dread had knotted itself into a hard lump. Without Dixon next to me, there was no buffer between me and the two men most responsible for my problems.
My father stood from his chair. “Cora. Good evening. I had expected you and Mark to arrive together. I hope, at least, that you are fulfilling your duties for the silent auction. I need to speak with Lila.” After his gruff words, he deliberately...and quite rudely...left the table.
The other people at the table pretended they hadn’t seen or heard the awkward scene. I had a vague idea of who they were, but I certainly couldn’t expect much sympathy from people who had business relationships with my father.
“Good evening. I don’t think we’ve met before.” A stunning woman in a jade-green dress stood and held out her hand. “I’m Emma Sutton. This is my husband, Robert.”
I took her hand. “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Sutton. I’m—”
“Oh no, call me Emma. I insist.” She smiled at me. “I know that you are Cora Stetson. Robert,” she looked at her husband, who had stayed seated but riveted to his wife, “you have met Cora before, haven’t you, dear?”
“Emma, I’m sure I’ve met Cora at some company board event that Warren insisted I be at. But now that I have you in my life, I can’t remember any woman but you.” His teasing tone and smile captured Emma’s attention.
“You big teddy bear.” Emma turned back to me. “It is wonderful to meet you. Please, sit with us. I don’t know anyone at the table besides Robert, and I think you and I will get along splendidly.”
Robert pointed to the empty set of chairs next to him and his wife. “I think the first course is coming soon and then we can get this rubber-chicken dinner done with and get to the fun part of the evening.” He gave his wife a look of adoration and a wink.
“Oh, stop, you scoundrel.” She playfully hit him with her cloth napkin. “This fundraiser is important. I can’t even imagine how I’d be able to go on if someone invaded our home and hurt anyone in our family. Not just physically, but the mental anguish that must cause...” Emma’s words faded away as she looked around the table.
My expression must have signaled to her I was one of those kinds of survivors. I took a shaky breath in and focused on breathing out slowly.
“Oh my, I’ve really stepped in it, haven’t I?” Emma looked distressed. “I am so sorry, Cora. I just never...well, again, I apologize.” She reached for her wineglass and took a nervous sip. “Sometimes”—her husband snorted—“I get carried away and speak without thinking.”
I had dropped into my chair by then. I reached for my wine with my free hand, and it shook as I took a sip.
“It’s fine, Emma. I was just momentarily taken back to that time. I miss my mother...I can’t believe how long it’s been since she was ripped from our lives. That’s why participating in events like these, that raise awareness and money for families dealing with this tragedy, is so important. It’s the least I can do to keep my mother’s memory alive and find some purpose in her death. She would have been the one to start this kind of charity...that’s how much she cared for the hurting world we live in. I can only hope my small contribution makes a difference for some other family.”
A bit more composed now, I sat back in my chair. The conversation at the table picked up, with our half of the table talking about local events and the other half talking among themselves. Even with the uptick in engaging conversation, only half my brain paid attention. The other half—and all my heart—longed for Dixon’s warmth and strength in the empty chair next to me.
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I EXCUSED MYSELF TO head to the ladies’ room. Emma stood with me, declaring she’d come with me and bring back another round of drinks for us. We headed out of the ballroom and found the powder room.
The room seemed deserted, with no one at the mirrors or the sinks. The guest settee and side chairs were also empty. After we each used a restroom stall, we were at the sinks when a caterwauling sound got louder and louder, until the ladies’ room door opened and two women came in. One looked angry, her face in a scowl and her words heated. The other was sobbing, head down; she couldn’t have been more than seventeen years old. But most noticeable was her very pregnant belly that kept a distance between the two women.
“I told you that he was no good for you. That all his promises were bullsh—” The older of the two stopped when she caught Emma and me staring at the spectacle they were creating. “What are you—”
Recognition dawned on her face, and probably on mine as well. It was the woman I’d seen at the hotel that night I first brought Dixon to my apartment.
“See! Here she is! This is what that asshole wants...a lady who belongs in his world!”
The words not only made the younger woman cry harder, but they seemed to cut me in half. What had I done to deserve any animosity from either of these two?
“I’m sorry. But do I know you? I mean, I remember meeting you in the hotel lobby when you were talking to Mark, but we never were introduced or anything.” I tried to be civil, but my confusion had to be clear to this woman.
“Marcy! Oh my God! When did you talk to Mark? I told you to mind your own business!” The younger woman had stopped crying long enough to berate the other woman. She looked at me and burst into tears again.
“Tina, I told you I wasn’t going to let him get away with ignoring you anymore. I went to the hotel and found him. Just to talk to him, I swear. And then”—Marcy pinned me with a glare—“she showed up, and Mark told me to leave. I know he’s been seeing her. I heard about their engagement, even.”
At those words, Tina let out another gush of tears. “Engaged! He never said he was engaged!” She wiped her nose with a tissue from the counter and looked closer at me.
“I am not engaged to Mark. And I’m not dating him either. We went out a few times about a year ago, but that’s it.” Horrified that Mark had apparently been involved with someone so young, it was all I could do to make it clear I had nothing to do with him or any of his personal decisions. “And I can only imagine what he said to you, Marcy, but I swear he never said anything to me about you or...”
“My sister, Tina. That’s who your boyfriend knocked up and then abandoned.”
“Hey! Not my boyfriend.” I took a deep breath. “But I agree that he’s an asshole. Well, worse than an asshole. But that’s just my opinion.” I backed down at Tina’s indignant look. How she could stick up for Mark after what he’d apparently done, I had no idea. But—not my circus, not my monkey.
“See, Marcy? I told you he loved me. He’ll take care of me and the baby.” Tina looked back up at her sister, pleading in her tone.
“Then what was that all about in the lobby just now? He told us to leave, in no uncertain terms, and not to call or email him when the baby was born. That hardly seems like someone who’s going to take care of you, Tina!” Marcy huffed out an exasperated breath and put her fisted hands on her hips.
Emma, who’d been quiet throughout the entire bizarre exchange, leaned toward me and stage-whispered, “Looks like you dodged a bullet with that prizewinner, Cora. I think it’s time we let these two have some privacy and finish their conversation without either of us as spectators.” She grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the room.
“Don’t talk about Mark like—”
“Go ahead and leave—”
The heated protest and the angry retort were cut off after Emma shut the restroom door.
“Wow. I never expected this kind of entertainment tonight. Almost worth the price of admission.” Emma looked at me, trying to hold back a laugh. “I know I shouldn’t laugh—that poor girl has quite the reality check coming—but it’s not every night out that my bathroom encounters include pregnant teenagers and protective older sisters.”
The thought of Mark and that young girl as parents was comical, but more on the side of tragedy. With one overly emotional parent and one parent who couldn’t feel a thing, that baby needed a miracle.
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WHEN WE GOT BACK TO the table, my father had come back and sat next to Mark. Their heads bent together, and I tried not to be distracted by their whispered conversation.
When I looked across the table, Mark’s smirk and my father’s disapproval were clear for everyone at the table to see. Even though I’d just sat down, I was ready to get up and leave. I’d done my duty for the silent auction; I didn’t have to suffer through any more grief or pointed comments from either Mark or my father.
I turned to Emma and Robert. “It was very nice meeting you. I’m afraid I need to cut my evening short.” I stood. As I shook hands with the kind couple, a voice from across the table stopped the action.
“Cora, so sad to see you leave so early. I haven’t even had time to catch you up on my latest business deal.” Mark raised his glass as if he were toasting me, not trying to pick a fight.
But I could see right through his smarmy attitude. And now that I knew about Tina, I couldn’t get away from him quick enough. “Mark, I’d say it’s been nice to see you, but it hasn’t. And I have no interest in any of your business deals. I don’t have to suffer through hearing about your supposed business acumen and star power anymore. We’re not together...we’re not even friends, because I could never be friends with someone as self-involved as you.”
I stepped away from the table, more than ready to get out of there. All I wanted was to go home, get into my jammies, and eat a carton of ice cream to swallow down the misery welling up at Dixon’s absence.
“Well, that’s too bad, Cora.” Mark’s voice rose as I distanced myself from the table. “Because I’ve just bought myself a nice little place in the country...got quite the deal from your father.”
The words reached my brain, and despite my best intentions, I stopped while I processed what Mark meant. A place in the country...a deal from my father? It could only mean one thing. He’d made good on his earlier threat.
I whirled around. “What? Did you...do you mean...”
The smirk on his face confirmed that this asshole had bought my grandmother’s estate from my father.
“That’s right, Cora. I hadn’t heard from you this week, so I considered your silence as your answer. I now own that precious little mansion that was your grandmother’s. Seems your father was motivated to sell...at quite a discount, since we are such good friends. If you have any hope of ever living there again, you’ll reconsider my marriage proposal.” He walked closer with each word, the smirk firmly on his face. “Otherwise, I might think about some redevelopment of the property. Knock all the buildings down and build some modern house, more suited to my tastes.”
He arrived within a foot of where I was rooted to the spot. His eyes gleamed with the meanness, the pettiness, and the joy he got from his cruel words.
“Don’t you dare threaten me. You have no power over me and my choices. You are a sad, desperate, controlling asshole. If the only way you can get someone to marry you is blackmail, it doesn’t say much for you...or maybe it says everything. That you would hold my dreams hostage to get what you want...I’d say it’s unbelievable, but unfortunately, I can believe you’d stoop so low. After all, you’re the one who got a teenager pregnant and left her on her own.”
Adrenaline pumped through my heart, and I continued to unload on Mark.
“I’m not sure who to pity more, Mark...that young girl or your baby.” I glanced behind Mark; my father was watching the spectacle. “You and my father must be cut from the same cloth. Neither of you know how to have a real relationship, how to love another person. I’ve been nothing but a piece of property to either of you, something to move around your chessboard and sacrifice as a pawn. Well, no more.”
Mark stepped closer at my words, surprising me with his guttural tone. “Yes. I will give you more.” He bent his head and mashed his lips against mine. He held my arms at my sides, grabbing tight enough that I expected to see a bruise there the next day.
For what seemed like forever, I struggled against his hold until my hand found its way across his face. “What the hell, Mark! Get off me! You have no right to kiss me!”
I stepped back, away from his grasp and in the direction of the ballroom door. I looked to my father again. “First thing in the morning, I will consult with an attorney to handle my upcoming inheritance. An attorney of my choosing. It’s less than a year away until Grandmother’s will gives me what she intended—even if you have betrayed the spirit of the gift by selling her home, which you know she wanted me to have—but all communication between us will be through attorneys. I have no interest in hearing directly from either of you from this moment on. If you have something to say, you can say it to my lawyer. And Mark, if you ever touch me again, I’ll be pressing charges against you!”
I stopped for a moment. The surrounding tables were now watching with interest. “I apologize for interrupting your evening, ladies and gentlemen. But I am leaving now, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the event. There’s a great MC tonight for the silent auction prizes, and the dinner has been prepared by a five-Michelin star chef. Please, enjoy and continue your support of SHIELD’s programs.”
Now that I’d declared my father and Mark to be out of my life officially, the adrenaline was wearing off and my legs shook. All I had to do was turn and walk out of the room with my head held high, before I totally lost it and broke down.
When I did turn, my heart sunk as Dixon’s figure retreated from the ballroom.