Page 62 of Fate

“You knew about Cora. You knew about them living in his house. You knew, and you didn’t fucking tell me? What the fuck? What happened to the sister code?” I grate through clenched teeth, loud enough that only the girls can hear me, not the patrons happily eating lunch aroundus.

Gillian’s face pales even more, which is shocking because the girl glows in thedark.

“It’s all Chase’s fault!” She throws her husband right under the bus and rubs at her swollen belly. “He made me promise not to say anything. Literally told me he’d take away sex if I didn’t give Carson two weeks to speak the truth. I’m horny as all get-out with this pregnancy. Do you know what no sex would belike?”

“No. I don’t. Probably because I spent almost three years not getting laid!” I fireback.

Ria shakes her head. “Tres años. We should be giving your va-jay-jay a party now that the three-year dry spell is broken. ¡Jesucristo! Tres años. I can’t even go three days!” Not that we didn’t already know Maria is our resident nympho.

“If I didn’t need you so bad, Gigi, I’d be so pissed at you! You owe me. Big-time. Huge! You might have to name your baby afterme!”

“Can’t. She’s having un niño,” Ria chimes in directly, but I ignoreher.

Unshed tears fill Gillian’s eyes, and she nods emphatically. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to do. Choose between my husband and my sister? Besides. It was Carson’s truth to share. Not mine. You wouldn’t have wanted to hear that from me. Would you?” Her voice cracks with overwhelming emotion and a truckload of pregnancy hormones.

Now I feel like a hateful bitch.

I slump in my chair. “No. I wouldn’t have. As much as this was a shocker, I’m glad Carson told me and we had time to reconnect. To firm our commitment to one another before I found out. Otherwise, I’m not sure I’d be sitting here talking to you three about how I’m going to get through all of this instead of just running fromit.”

“So, you’re in it to win it?” Breeasks.

“Yeah, I am. Do you think it’s stupid?” I ask all three but start with them one at a time. “Ria?”

She shoves another loaded chip in her mouth, chews thoughtfully, swallows, and crosses her arms over her chest. “Obviously, we’re going to support you, but honestly, gatita, I’ve never seen anyone lose himself in sorrow the way he did when you pushed him away after the fire. That man loves you. Always has.” She shrugs. “Seems pretty simple to me. If you love him, there’s nothing else that matters. I learned that lesson the hard way between Tommy’s death and falling for his twin brother Eli. Love isn’t easy. It definitely bitch-slaps you upside the head when you least expectit.”

Gillian and Bree both nod, and I take a brain-freezing gulp of my margarita to let her words settle.

“Bree? What do you think?”

She pushes her long waterfall of blond hair over one shoulder and leans forward to clasp my hands in both of hers. As usual, I have to force myself not to flinch at the touch on my scarred flesh. It doesn’t ever seem to faze the girls in the least, and I’ve been working on it not fazing me, especially aroundthem.

“Kathleen, we love and adore you. We’re your sisters and we’re here for you, whatever that means. You’ve always got us. But I’m going to throw myself out on a ledge and say that no man will ever love you the way Carson does. He’s your soul mate, babe. Do you feel that with him?” Her ocean-blue eyes swirl with love and friendship as I watch her lips quiver, a deep emotion filling the air aroundus.

It’s always been this way with my soul sisters. We feel each other’s pain. When needed, like now, we take some of the burden and help relieve one another. It’s ourway.

I close my eyes and squeeze her fingers. “I do. Lord knows Ido.”

“Then you have your answer.” She leans back and wipes at a tear that has fallen down her pretty cheek. Always our softie.

“Gigi? What would youdo?”

Gillian leans back and lays one hand over her bump and the other on the table, one finger making the rim of her virgin margarita glass sing. “I’d hold on to him with everything I have. We all know how hard it is to hold on to true love. It has gossamer wings and can fly away at any moment. It’s up to us to capture love and cherish it every day. What does your heartsay?”

“That being with Carson, getting back together, is what itis.”

“And what’s that?” She tips her head, her fiery red hair tumbling over the side of her shoulder.

“Fate.”

To: Kathleen Bennett

From: Carson Davis

What’s cooking, hot stuff?

I chuckleat the text Carson sent me. We’ve been seeing one another twice a week for the past two months and talking nightly as well as texting regularly. On Wednesdays, when we both have a light day, I meet up with him and Cora for what he dubs “family time.” We usually take Cora to the park, or to Gillian’s to play with the twins, or to Bree’s to play with Dannica. We have dinner, spend quality time with one another, and then I retreat back to my apartment. Alone.

Carson has what he thinks is a “stellar plan” for solving the problem. He wants me to just sleep over at his house. But I can’t. Not with Misty there. It feels wrong somehow. As if we’re having some type of tawdry affair under her nose. I don’t want to feel that way when I lay my head down in Carson’s bed. I want to feel as if I belong there, with him and Cora. The three of us. Until Misty has her own place, I’m firm on my stance. It’s driving Carson crazy, but I think moving through this scenario slowly is working for us. For all of us, including his daughter.

---