Page 91 of Fighting For Light
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Kai
I pull into thedriveway, and she waits for me to walk around to open the door and help her down. We get in the house, and I enable the security system to go into home mode. I immediately walk the house and then look out the front window. Back in the kitchen, Cordi is cutting up an apple and has the kettle on the stove.
She turns and takes a bite of her apple, leaning her back against the counter. Her eyes scrutinize my face as she chews it slowly, still staring at me.
I grin and walk up to her, placing my hands on either side of the counter. “What’s that look for?” I ask her.
She smiles and takes another bite of the apple.
“I was thinking about you and I being Mr. and Mrs. Smith.” She laughs. “The picture in my mind is just —“
My phone rings, and I pull it out of my pocket. I smile at Cordi, who is still laughing at herself.
“It’s Mom,” I tell her.
She nods and takes another bite.
“Hey, Mom. How’s Bali?” I ask her.
Cordelia frowns and tilts her head.
“Hi, Kai. Liam and I are back. Your brother is quite the surfer; he won a competition he entered the day before.” I smile at that. Liam knows how to shred the gnar, that’s for sure. “I got some sun and had too many daiquiris, but it was nice to spend some time with him. I’d like to spend some time with Emerson. Maybe I can get him to come to the Malibu house with me.”
“You know how he is, Mom. He’s focused on that gym and his fights.”
She sighs. “Yes, I’ll have to talk to him. But that’s not why I’m calling. I wanted to let you know we were home, and Liam decided to come all the way back with me. And while we were on the plane, I thought about a few things. Is Cordelia there with you?” she asks.
“Uh, yeah. Why?” I ask her.
“Put me on speakerphone, please,” she commands.
I drop the phone from my ear and hit speaker before setting it on the counter.
“Okay, Mom.”
I glance at Cordi. She stopped eating her apple and flipped the stove off.
“Cordelia, honey?”
“Hi, Esmarie. How was Bali?” she asks.
“Oh, it was wonderful, thank you for asking. Your brother-in-law is quite the surfer,” Mom says, and Cordi smiles at the phone. “I’m calling because we need to plan your and Kai’s big wedding. I’ve prepared the announcement, but the longer I thought about it, the more I think mildly publicizing the event will be the best choice. This will double as your debut into society. How do you feel about that?”
Cordi looks up at me, and I walk over to her side and tap mute on the phone. “Whatever you want, gem. If you don’t want to have a big wedding, we don’t. Mom means well, and she hasgood reason to keep up appearances for the family, but if you don’t want it, then we don’t do it. It’s that simple.”
She looks at me for a long moment, and I nervously run my hand through my hair. She taps unmute on my phone. “Esmarie, I have to ask you. Why do we need to publicize anything? What’s the point?”
“Well, sweetheart, that means magazines. We’d possibly work with one of the wedding magazines to stream it online and feature the flowers, the dress, and some celebrity attendance. People from our world would pay attention, in other words. As I said when you first got engaged, if we don’tannounceyou as Kai’s new wife with a baby on the way, it does one of two things: creates rumors or makes it appear as if we have something to hide, which would not work in our favor.“ She pauses, and Cordelia messes with her fingers nervously.
I don’t know what to say. I don’t care either way. Our courthouse wedding was perfect in my eyes. But if this will make her happy, then so be it.
Cordi reaches for my hand. I hold it tightly, hoping she will be honest about what she wants. “Okay, if you think that would be the smartest thing to do, then yeah, we can have another wedding, I guess. But, um, I have one question, and maybe it won’t matter, but I need to know.”
“And what’s that?” Mom asks. Cordi’s hand goes to her belly and tightens in mine.
“My son is not Kai’s by blood, as you know, but as far as I’m concerned, Kai is his father.”
