Billionaire Flawed 1(81)
“Congratulations on the start of a new chapter in life. With all of this merriment, we still have yet to hear the story of how the two of you came to know on another…”
Joshua and Cora exchanged a wary glance.
“Oh, it’s not really exciting,” Joshua cleared his throat.
“But Joshy, we’re all dying to know,” Walter’s eyes glinted, the crows feet around them crinkling with glee. “Or perhaps your lovely bride can share with us.”
Joshua’s mother clapped her hands together happily.
“Please, Cora, you must tell. I bet it’s a fabulous story…”
“Like Joshua said,” Cora smiled, her heart beating. Where was Walter going with this? “It’s not terribly interesting…”
Walter’s laugh bellowed. “Dear Cora, please enlighten us. How could it not be interesting. Tell me just this one thing--what went through your mind when you first saw an ad in the local paper for a mail-order bride?”
Confused murmurs hushed through the room. Cora’s eyes grew wide and Joshua stood up.
“Mail-order what? Joshua, what is Walter talking about?”
“Enough of this,” Joshua said firmly.
Walter’s brow furrowed as he peered at Cora.
“It must have been quite the opportunity for a poor, orphan hosiery girl,”
“Stop this at once!” Joshua’s fist pounded at the table, and gasps of surprise rippled throughout the room.
Cora’s eyes began swelling, and her chest tightened up, as if she were unable to breath.
I didn’t want any of this, Cora thought.
She looked up at Joshua who was shouting at Walter to get out, to leave her alone, to leave his family alone.
Cora didn’t want to cause so much trouble.
“The board of trustees will hear about this,” Walter said on his way out. “Say goodbye to your precious orchard, Joshua. A mill is what’s going to bring business. A mill to get rid of all that darned wasted-space and pointless cherry trees of yours. Your father was a sap, and so was your grandfather. But I--”
Joshua walked toward Walter, and a few other guests stepped in front to hold Joshua back as Walter slunk out.
His heart was pounding. His mother, confused, kept demanding questions from him, and all he could think to do was protect Cora. It was over. All of it. He lost everything.
Joshua turned around toward his table, only to stop in his tracks. He looked amongst the room, which was now in chaos of people muttering, not knowing what to make of the scene.
“Cora?” he called. She was gone.
The Lil’ Miss was making her way back east, and stopping once again for Cora. This time, though, she seemed less a fantastical vision of adventure and freedom, and more like the old hunk of metal that she was.
“Just one ticket,” Cora received the stub through the window at the station.
Mr. Stanfield’s brow furrowed upon seeing the face at the booth, his gray eyes glinting underneath his spectacles.
“Miss Cora…”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Stanfield,” Cora’s eyes glistened, but she held back tears. “It didn’t work out…”
Mr. Stanfield sighed.
“I’m awfully sad to hear that, Miss Cora. I thought for sure that you were the one.”
“The one?” Cora perked up curiously.
“Oh, yes’m,” Mr. Stanfield said. “I’ve known Joshua Dansby for a long time, since he was a wiry young boy. Knew his grandfather very well, God rest his soul.”
He sighed and came out from the door of the station house to meet face to face with Cora.
“Joshua was always driven. Probably the sense of responsibility he took when his father passed, and he was left to tend to everything. But you know, as good lookin’ as he was, there was never a gal that could love him.”
Cora laughed amidst the emotions swelling.
“He’s really difficult.”
Mr. Stanfield let out a chuckle.
“He is. But I think it’s more than that. Part of it is, I think, he never knew how to love himself. He always had a higher expectation for himself that he never placed on anyone else...and it drove him to loneliness.”
He sighed and looked at his feet.
“I saw how he looked at you that first day, when he realized you were the one he was supposed to meet…”
“With disappointment?” Cora pursed her lips.
“With hope.”
“I just made things more complicated,” she looked away.
The train’s engine began to whir.
Mr. Stanfield tipped his hat.
“It’s time.”
Cora nodded, and gestured to the side of the platform.
“Make sure that Kan gets back to Joshua. And--and tell him--” She pursed her lips. “Tell him I said goodbye.”