Page 77 of Hidden Truths

“What’s going on?” Cal asks, scooting forward to sit next to me.

“Cora girl isn’t happy,” I tell him. Cora is snuggled in my arms, sucking on her thumb, but wide awake. She has been for hours. I got to her before she woke Cal so that I could let him sleep.

“What’s wrong, baby girl?” he asks her, stroking her cheek with his knuckle. She reaches for him, and he takes her. I watch as she snuggles into his chest.

“I think the bus moving is bothering her.”

“It’s okay, sweet girl. Mommy and Daddy are here with you. We’ll get used to this together,” Cal tells her. I don’t think I’m breathing. Cal has said I’m like a mother to Cora, and Jasonhas pretty much said the same thing to me on more than one occasion, but it’s different from hearing Cal use that title so freely.

Cal is so focused on Cora that he misses the hot tears streaming down my cheeks, but the loud gasp I make when I finally get my chest to expand and let in air has him turning. He looks alarmed when he sees my face. Then his sleepy brain catches up and he smiles, grabbing my hand and gently squeezing.

“There are very few things in my life I’ve ever been sure of. I always knew I was going to be singing in a band with my sister and best friends. I knew Cora was mine the moment I laid eyes on her. I knew you were meant to be mine the first time you told me I sucked at singing.” I snort, but I don’t argue. He was pitchy, and he knows it. “And I know you were meant to be the mother Cora needs.”

“I just don’t think I ever expected to hear the title.” It still felt like something I wasn’t allowed to say. It almost feels like I’m taking a spot that isn’t mine. Cora’s mom isn’t here. She never got to be her mom, and that’s making me feel guilt I don’t know how to handle.

“Firecracker. Look at me.”

I lift my head and see the understanding in Cal’s eyes. “Bailey isn’t here. Even if she was, you would still be in Cora’s life. There isn’t a single version of life I want to live that doesn’t have you in it. If it’s the title that scares you, we’ll wait. But the life we’re living, the hand we were dealt, it took Bailey from Cora. But it gave her you.”

I take one of Cora’s soft, red curls between my fingers. I love this little girl just like she was my own. She owns half of my heart, and her daddy has the other.

Cora looks up at me with her big eyes. “Dada,” she says.

“Finally,” Cal says, making me laugh.

“Mama,” Cora says. I gasp at the same time Cal chokes. “Dadamama,” Cora says, turning it into a single word.

Cal’s eyes are wide, looking between me and Cora. “Right, baby girl. I’m Dada and that’s . . .” he stops. He just said we could wait on the title, but Cora seems to have made that choice for us.

“Mama,” I fill in. Cora reaches for me, and I take her back into my arms. She settles into my chest, and I drop kisses to the top of her head. “I love you,” I tell her.

“Mama,” she sighs and closes her eyes. She’s asleep within minutes.

“I guess she needed you to know what you mean to her before she went to sleep,” Cal says, kissing my temple. I lean into him, snuggling Cora tight to me. “I love our family.”

His words have me choking up again. “I love our family too,” I croak. Cal puts his arm around me.

We sit like this, Cora in my arms and both of us in Cal’s, until streaks of sunlight break through the gaps in the curtains.

twenty-nine

CAL

“I just got an email,”Jo announces, walking onto my bus.

“You get emails all day. Are you going to announce them all?” Harlow says, not even looking up from the book she’s reading to Cora. They’re both on the floor of the bus with Cora’s stuff spread out everywhere. We’ve only been on tour for a week and Cora has already overtaken every square inch in here.

“I’m going to ignore that, Harry. I can’t use the language required in front of young ears.”

Willa, Belle, Mav, and Kai pile in behind Jo. They take Cora’s toys off the couches that line both sides of the bus and sit down.

“Is this a bad email?” I ask, since she apparently needed everyone before telling us.

“No. I got an email from Asher Cross,” Jo says. Everyone perks up. Even Harlow turns her head to pay attention. “He wants you to play a private show at his hotel in Vegas.”

“You mean the most eligible bachelor in America? The billionaire that no one knows anything about other than he’s hot and single?” Harlow asks.

“You’re not single,” I gruff, crossing my arms.

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