Page 77 of Gravity of Love
None of this made any sense to Liam. Had his dad really turned a blind eye to his mom having an affair? Could his mom really have carried on an affair herentiremarriage? Tristan’s appendix burst when Liam was fourteen. Could his mom have been in contact with his biological father all those years andneversaid anything to him? She went on those trips up until the year she passed.
“Is that why…?” Liam didn’t even want to think about the question he was about to ask, much less say it out loud.
“Is that why what?” Cora prompted.
“How did henot knowMom was sick? He’s the leading expert in brain tumors and neuro-oncology.”
“Liam, no oneknew. By the time?—”
“I would have known. If I were home,Iwould have known.”
“No, I’m sorry. You wouldn’t have.” Cora spoke to him in a tone she never had before. It was firm and left no room for argument. “I was there, every day, with your mom. She showednosigns,none. No behavior changes. No weight loss. She was completely asymptomatic until the Friday before she went to the doctor. She went to yoga that morning and volunteered at the shelter that afternoon. Then in the evening she complained of aheadache and nausea. She thought she had the flu. She rested all weekend. On Monday she felt better and decided not to go to the doctor. She went grocery shopping. She went for a run. Tuesday morning, she slept in. I went to wake her up andthat’swhen we knew something was wrong. I rushed her to the ER. They sent her in for an MRI. I was there when they walked back in with the news. I saw the look on their faces. Eventheydidn’t believe it.
“There wasnothingthey could do. The tumor was wrapped around her brain stem. It was inoperable. Your dad was in New York. He was in surgery when she called him, he left, he didn’t finish the surgery. He got on a plane and came straight to the hospital. She’d been admitted by then. I was in the room with her when he got there.” Cora’s eyes filled with tears. Her lips trembled as she exhaled, and two teardrops slipped down her cheeks. “He didn’t even speak to her. Didn’t say anything, just told the nurse to prep OR eight, and he started wheeling her out of the room. The nurses tried to stop him, tried to reason with him, but he wouldn’t listen. He just kept saying he was going to cut it out. Your mom begged him to stop, he wouldn’t listen to her. He was rolling her down the hall, and they had to call security. He was screaming and fighting them. He broke one of the security guard’s noses, and he dislocated the other one’s shoulder.”
Liam remembered the security guards at his hospital,noneof them were small guys. He couldn’t imagine his dad doing that. He’d never seen his dad raise his voice, much less physically fight someone.
“They ended up having to restrain your dad and then sedate him. Because of who he was, the guards didn’t press criminal charges, but they did get quite a nice payout from the hospital in a civil lawsuit that your dad paid back in donations to the hospital.” Cora shook her head as she wiped more tears that fell down her face, but the second she did more followed.
Liam pulled his handkerchief out from his back pocket and handed it to her, something his dad had instilled in both his sons to always carry with them. He had no clue if Tristan did or not.
“Thank you.” She patted her face, taking care to tap beneath her eye to remove any evidence of their emotional talk. “Your dad sat at your mom’s bedside, crying, sobbing, wailing, begging her to fight, to do radiation, chemotherapy for four days straight. It didn’t matter what the doctors the specialists said. He wouldn’t listen. He didn’t eat, sleep, or drink. At one point they had to give him fluids through an IV because he passed out. I saw his colleagues come to the door, one by one, but they wouldn’t come inside the room. They would just turn around and leave before he saw them. I think they were so freaked out by how he was behaving, they didn’t know what to say or do.” Cora took another breath. “And he wanted you and Tristan to know immediately. He begged her, but she forbid him to tell either of you until that weekend. She wanted to get enough medication in her so that she could be strong enough to go home to be in hospice before either of you saw her. Sherefusedto let either of you see her in the hospital. That wassoimportant to her. She didn’t want her sons to see her like that. Also, she wanted him, and I quote, to get his shit together and be strong for you two.” Cora smiled as she took in a shaky breath and patted her face as more tears escaped down her cheeks.
“That does sound like her.” With the back of his hand, Liam wiped away a single tear that fell down his face with the back of his hand.
Cora nodded as her lips quivered again. “It broke him, Liam. Not being able to save your mom when he savedsomany other people broke him. You haven’t been here, and I know you have your reasons for that, and they are valid, but you haven’t seen what losing her, what not havingyouin his life has done to him.Whatever you are punishing him for, believe me, he’s punished himself for it, too.”
“Cora! Cora! Cora!” Yaya yelled across the restaurant.“Come! Come! Come!”
“I’m being summoned.” Cora lifted her hand in acknowledgement to Yaya before turning back to Liam. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Liam assured her.
She squeezed his hand. “If you want to talk about anything, ever, I’m here.”
Liam nodded as she stood and walked to the bar, where Yaya launched into what sounded like a bet she’d made that Cora needed to settle.
As he sat processing the information he’d just been given, he felt like he was living in aBlack Mirrorepisode. It was as if he was hearing about an alternate version of his life. It would make more sense to him if Cora was describing a parallel universe to the one they were in.
Frankie’s laughter rang out, and he felt it wash over him and instantly soothe him. Her laughter grounded him. It centered him.Shedid that to him.Shewas his safe place.
He lifted his head and saw her on the dance floor with Tristan. He was spinning her around and dipping her. It wasn’t particularly romantic, in fact, it was the opposite. It was more goofy than anything else. Still, watching his brother’s hands on her waist caused his blood pressure to rise and his fists to curl.
No matter what universe, alternate version, or sci-fi television show that he was actually in, the only thing that mattered to him was that he ended up with Frankie. He knew that for him, she was his happily ever after, and he hoped to God he was hers.
22
The bathroom’spale light made the room feel like it was submerged in a fishbowl. Or maybe that was a side effect of the migraine she was currently nursing. It had been years since she’d had one, but it had also been years since she’d drunk red wine, so she only had herself and her cousin Angelo’s wife, Athena, to blame.
Frankie braced her arms on the counter and squinted at her reflection, tracking the bloom of redness across her cheekbones. She’d never figured out how to do “subtle” with her feelings, internally or externally. If she was mad, embarrassed, anxious, turned on, or jealous, she went lobster. Right now, she looked like she’d just run a marathon, all flushed and wild around the eyes.
She splashed her face with cold water and let the droplets collect at the end of her nose. The throbbing in her head was making it difficult to focus on the details of the evening, her brain worked overtime untangling every moment like the knots in her wired earbuds. When Liam, in a white button-down shirt and slacks, entered the restaurant, the atmosphere shifted in the room. Even the back view was sexy, with his broad shouldersand the way his hair curled at the nape of his neck. And when he saw her, she’d gotten the reaction she’d hoped for. He looked at her in that dress like he’d been struck by God himself. Then nothing. He’d steered clear of the rest of the night, third-degree duck-and-cover, not even glancing in her direction during dinner where she strategically sat herself in his direct eyeline. He had to actively avoid even an accidental glimpse at her, and he did.
She checked her phone again. No calls. No texts. Nada. He’d gone from messaging her multiple times per day up until a few hours before the rehearsal dinner, to nothing. What had happened? Why was he avoiding her like the plague? Had she done something?
The situation was uncomfortable, sure, but she thought that they both were going to try and make the best of it. Maybe he was regretting the night they’d spent together. Or maybe he was distracted by the busty bartender who rubbed up against him like a cat in heat. The blonde with cleavage for days who looked like the villain of a love triangle in a CW show. Frankie felt the old, familiar rage cramp in her gut, tight and mean. It was the same feeling she had growing up every time she’d seen a steady parade of girls sneaking in and out of Liam’s room.
She braced her hands on the counter and exhaled, hoping it would shudder the feeling out of her. Two large drops of water dripped onto the marble counter. She dried her face, and her phone buzzed.
