Till death do us part

Chapter 17: A letter from friends - Age 23

Rose's POV

I had been having tea while I was watching TV. I was able to enjoy my free time like this, it relaxed me. Unlike Cora, I was able to just do nothing for a while.

I was pulled out of thoughts by the doorbell. I looked in the direction of the front door and sat up. I walked to the front door and opened it. I smiled. "Hey, get in."

My fathers smiled at me before entering the house. They looked around while they took off their coats.

I motioned them to follow me to the living room, which they did. We walked to the couches and sat down. "Nice to see you two."

They smiled at me. "It's nice to see you too, princess," Papa said. "It's great to see how happy you are."

I smiled.

"How are you doing, honey?" Dad asked.

I shrugged a bit. "Things have been... going well," I slowly nodded. "Cora has been working while I've been busy with the house."

My fathers looked at each other, sharing a look, before looking at me. "Honey," Dad started. "You've been to college too, how come you're not looking for a job?"

"We understand you need some time to get the house on point but..." Papa paused a bit. "It's been a while now..."

"It seems like you're waiting for something," Dad went on. "Are you?"

"No," I looked away. I gulped. "I've just been busy with the house," I shrugged. "It's just taking some time, that's all."

They looked at me and I could tell they didn't really believe me. They seemed worried, perhaps even concerned about me. 

I gulped. "It's been hard," I sighed. "I've been going through job offers, I've applied to them, I went to job interviews..." I looked down. "I got denied every time," I looked up at them then. "I tried."

They looked apologetic at me. "I'm sorry," Papa said. "We didn't know."

"Keep trying, honey," Dad went on. "Don't give up."

I nodded.

"Have you told Cora about this?" Dad asked.

"Yeah," I sighed. "She told me the same as what you just did. She's been helping me. She's great." I smiled then.

They smiled too.

Right then, as if on cue, Cora entered the house. "Rose," She said while probably hanging her jacket away. "I'm home," She walked towards the living room. "Do we have company?" She asked and then spotted me with my fathers. "Oh, hey." She walked to them and greeted them with a kiss on the cheek.

"Hello, Cora." My fathers said simultaneously.

Cora sat down next to me, wrapping her arm around me. She looked at me. "Hey," She smiled at me before kissing my lips. "How was your day?"

I smiled at her too. It's incredible how good I felt when she was near. She was able to make any bad thoughts go away. "It's been ok."

She nodded, I could tell she wanted to talk to me about it. Maybe she noticed I wasn't that happy.

"So, how have you two been?" Dad asked.

Cora and I looked at my dad. "We've been doing great," Cora said, pulling me closer to her. "Having our own home, living together..." She looked at me. "It's been perfect."

"Yeah," I smiled at her. "Living with Cora feels great," I looked at my fathers. "She makes me feel safe."

They smiled at us. "That's wonderful to hear."

For a while, we were talking about things in our lives. My fathers were talking about the changes in the house. Apparently, they're using my old room as a storage room now...
Cora told them a bit about her work. My fathers were listening carefully, I was happy to see how invested they were in what she was saying. They really embraced her as part of our family.

At some point, Cora got up to get drinks for us. I watched her go to the kitchen and smiled.

"She makes you really happy, doesn't she?" Papa asked.

I looked at them. I smiled then. "She does," I smiled more. "She really does."

They smiled too. "Good."

"Here you go," Cora came back and handed my fathers their drinks before giving me mine. She sat back down and looked at me. "You'll never guess what was in the mail today."

"Uhm..." I shrugged. "What is it?"

She chucked. "We have gotten a letter from Dara," She said, making me raise my eyebrows. "Remember Dara?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "Of course. What did she have to say?"

"Well," She took the letter, which she apparently had taken with her. "She and Naheed are getting married," She handed me the letter. "We're invited."

"No way!" I took the letter and looked at it. "That's so great!"

She chuckled. "Who would have thought that they would stay together..."

I chuckled too.

"They are your friends?" Dad asked.

I looked at dad. "Yeah," I paused. "Well, Naheed was my friend, Dara is Cora's friend."

My fathers nodded.

"So, can I let them know we'll be there?" Cora asked me.

"Of course," I smiled as I saw the picture in the letter. They had aged, obviously, but were still the same goofy people we knew. It was amazing to see their faces, after all this time. "I'd love to see them again."

"How come you haven't seen them since high school?" Papa asked.

"We kind of lost contact when we went to college," Cora replied this time. "But it seems they're trying to build our friendship again," She smiled. "It's great."

I nodded. "We should go."

"I'll let them know." She said before putting the letter aside.

My fathers once again looked at each other, sharing a look. They then looked at us. "So, your friends are getting married..."

Cora and I nodded.

"Marriage is an important step in many people's lives..." Papa said.

I frowned while Cora kept nodding. I had an idea what was going on here...

"Most people do that after a relationship of a couple of years..." Dad went on.

Cora now too seemed to get what my fathers were doing. She looked at me, I nodded.

"Especially when the two people already live together..." Papa concluded.

I sighed. "Just say it."

They looked at each other again before looking at us. "Do you two ever think about marriage?" Dad finally asked.

I didn't open my mouth, I wasn't planning on saying anything. I often thought about marriage. I often wondered if we would ever get married. I knew I wanted to. But I knew Cora wasn't a big fan of marriage...

"We talked about it." Cora said politely.

My fathers nodded, clearly not understanding what Cora tried to say.

"We talked about it but I don't think we will." I said. My fathers were seemingly upset to hear that while Cora just looked at me.

"Why not?" Dad asked. "Rose, I remember how you always told us you wanted to get married."

"It's just not our thing." I said, once again I felt Cora look at me.

My fathers nodded and let the topic go. Cora immediately started a different topic while I just sat there, dreaming about the wedding I'll never get...