Best of Me

Chapter 4

Cora was late arriving to the dining room, Garrett had already been served when she got there. She couldn't help but think that maybe it was for the best since they only had a chop for him. She slid into her seat silently as she felt his cold eyes take in every detail of her appearance.

"You're late," he said as he took another bite of food.

"Yes, I apologize. I had to serve Aunt Mable her dinner."

Margie came through the door carrying a bowl of soup that Cora knew came from a can, but Margie had served it up prettily and Cora was hungry enough that it tasted like cordon bleu.

The two of them ate in silence for a few minutes and Cora couldn't help sneaking the occasional peek at Garrett, she was fascinated with his strong jaw and how it moved when he chewed his food. He had the beginnings of a shadow on his cheeks which gave him a dangerous air.

"Are you a vegetarian?" he asked, looking pointedly at Cora's bowl. She jumped at the sound of his voice. He stared at her while he waited for an answer and she wondered if he knew that she had been thinking about him. He must know that women did.

"No." She cleared her throat as she reached for her glass of water. She wasn't going to explain that they only had one chop, he wouldn't buy it. Cora had no doubt that Aunt Mable had been filling his head with all kinds stories about her and Margie.

"Tell me about the house?" he asked, she guessed as a way to continue to make conversation.

"It was built in 1888 by my father's family."

"But he wasn't really your father." He leaned back in his chair watching her reaction.

Cora felt herself turn red, Aunt Mable had been telling him a considerable amount.

"He adopted me when I was about six months old, so yes, he was my real father."

There was a tense silence as he continued to watch her. After a few moments, she could no longer stand his eyes on her bent head and she looked up, meeting his gaze. Their eyes met and there was a heavy silence as something in Cora's stomach twisted. It was as if her eyes were glued to his and she couldn't have looked away even if she had wanted to. The moment was frozen until Margie entered taking the empty plates from the table.

Taking the distraction, she broke eye contact, watching Margie as she placed a dessert in front of them. Cora couldn't pick-up her spoon right away, her hands were shaking too badly. She was confused as to what had just happened. Something in her universe had just altered but she wasn't sure what it was yet.

"So, the house, it doesn't look as if it's been touched in over one hundred years." He had no trouble picking up his spoon. His hands were as steady as rocks as he dived into what was probably a boxed pudding. If he realized that was what it was, he didn't let on as he ate it.

"It hasn't, not really. The latest addition was the atrium, it was added in the 1920s and the kitchen was updated in the 1950s, although now it looks as if a bottle of Pepto-Bismol exploded all over it." Cora was too busy eating to notice the twitch of his lips at her description.

"It can't be a cheap house to run."

"It's not." She didn't let anything in her voice betray her nervousness.

She felt his gaze on her head again, "Do you know why I'm here?"

He caught her by surprise and she dropped her spoon on the white table cloth. The chocolate stain would be hard to get out she thought inanely. If he was going to be honest with her then she should be equally honest. She just wished she knew if she could trust him or not. Her natural tendency was to trust until proven otherwise but this time it was more than just her future at stake.

His eyes narrowed as he watched her, as if he suspected her of trying to hide something.

"Yes, I know why you're here."

"And don't you care that your Aunt doesn't trust you?"

Cora shrugged. "No, Aunt Mable has never liked me, she didn't like my mother either." She placed her spoon on the plate under the pudding glass.

"And you stay and take care of her knowing this?" he asked with disbelief.

"It's my home." She raised her eyes to look at him trying to convey as much honesty in her gaze as she could. She couldn't tell him that her father had gotten sick and she had had to give up her schooling or that Aunt Mable immediately threatened Leon and Margie with termination as soon as she left.

Cora knew that her Aunt was, in her sick mind, getting even with her mother for stealing her brother and her home from her, by taking it out on her daughter, but Aunt Mable wouldn't live forever and the house would have to go to her when she died. How she would afford to run it when she passed on was a mystery her but at least it would be hers.

"Your Aunt is leaving me the house and her money when she dies. She's already told me this." His blunt revelation made Cora flinch. It was as if he had read her mind.

"She can't, it has to be left to someone in the family."

"I am family, her family." He stood up, throwing down his napkin. "Let me make this clear so that we are on the same page, I have been asked to stay here until her death, after Aunt Mable's passing everything will be left to me, so whatever schemes you're up to are pointless. I'm here now to safeguard my inheritance and if there is any...wrong doing, I will find out and I won't be as nice about it as Aunt Mable has been."

Cora felt hot and then cold all at once, she could hear the blood rushing through her ears and she had stopped breathing. None of it would be hers, none of it. She needed time to figure out what it all meant. She felt as if she had been kicked in the stomach and she thought she was going to be sick.

She had a feeling she had just been dropped from one hell into another.

"I need to leave Roxi here during the days while I'm at work. Will that be a problem?"

Cora wanted to scream, was the man completely oblivious to the bomb he had just dropped?

"No." she said softly, it was barely a whisper.

He nodded and walked out of the room without a clue that he had just ended her world as she knew it.

*******

Garrett knew what he had done, he hadn't meant to do it but he was trying to throw up a wall between them, make it so that they were enemies not friends. He had felt something he shouldn't have when their eyes had met. He knew he was being abrupt and cruel but he couldn't help it, it was self-defense.

He went back to the study to get some work done. He knew he wouldn't sleep, not after the way she had looked when he had told her about the house. She had looked as if he had kicked her. If he tried to sleep all he would see was a pair of devastated brown eyes staring back at him in his dreams.

He slammed the study door behind him and let loose with a stream of curse words. Damn his mother, damn Aunt Mable and damn the devastated fairytale princess he had just left sitting, broken hearted, at the dinner table.

He didn't need any of it.

The thing that angered him the most was that he knew that Aunt Mable would be pleased at the way he had acted. She would have enjoyed seeing Cora's spirit crushed and he knew he had crushed it.

What he couldn't figure out was why she continued to stay knowing her aunt felt only disdain for her. Perhaps she would leave now and it would end this whole sorry business, he could go home, and Aunt Mable could die in peace.