“When I was eighteen I went to a party with some friends. I got a little tipsy and called Liam for a ride home. He was twenty-four and was on leave.He was hanging with some girl he found at a bar at the house but didn’t want to be bothered with me. I had to get home somehow. I had my friend who brought me to the party take me home. She should never have been driving. I was much more sober than she was but she refused to let anyone drive her car but her. A few miles away from the party my friend swerved and hit a tree. She was ejected and killedon impact. I was pinned in the car and the front end pinned my legs. I was there so long that by the time an ambulance came, and I was taken to the hospital they didn’t have any choice but to amputate my legs. On top of that I fractured my spine, doctors say that it won’t take much to completely break it then I’ll be paralyzed so here I am stuck in this bed broken but not completely, just enoughto have everyone treat me like precious glass. Liam blames himself that if he hadn’t been so self-absorbed in getting laid I wouldn’t have had to get in my friend’s car and ended up like this.” June waved a hand over herself. “So now he dedicates himself to seeing to my care and coming when Rosa calls him over the littlest things.”
Cora absorbed this new information and looked at Liam with anew set up eyes. It explained why he was always so driven and focused. He never let himself have more than one beer and always made sure the guys had a place to crash before they started drinking. She knew he had a rep for being a ladies’ man, but she bet that because of June he just put on a face around his friends, played a role. He didn’t make love like a novice, but he never treated her likeshe was another notch in his belt.
“You’re not going to break up with him again because I told you, are you?” June asked softly, chewing on her bottom lip nervously.
“No,” Cora didn’t bother correcting June that they weren’t dating. “So why did the nurse call him this time?”
June sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. “I love Rosa, but I swear she is worse than a mother hen. I had a mild seizureand she immediately called to notify him. She thinks if he comes to the rescue it will make him feel better about what happened. I think it just makes him feel worse.”
“Why would you say that?” She knew from experience whenever Liam came home after visiting here he was drained but he never looked depressed. Where did this girl get that kind of idea?
“Because in his mind if he had come to pickme up that night he wouldn’t be getting phone calls about me having seizures or other complications.”
“He loves you, June. He wouldn’t drop everything to be here with you if he didn’t care.” She wasn’t one to fight someone else’s battles, but someone needed to set June right about her brother.
“I know he loves me. He’s my brother he has to. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel I’m more ofan obligation than a sister. When he looks at me sometimes I don’t see my brother I see a care provider. Like a wall goes up whenever he’s here. That he must play a part to keep it together for my sake. I want him to be here because he wants to be not because he must. With him not telling you about me tells me I’m an embarrassment to him. Most of his team knows about me, but do you think I’ve evermet any of them? Not a chance. I’m his atonement.”
June was a smart girl, Cora would give her that. She saw far more than most people. Cora still didn’t get the embarrassment part but now that she knew what was going on she would talk to Liam. “I’ll talk to him. I don’t think it’s embarrassment as much as he’s ashamed of himself and doesn’t want others to judge him for his one single mistake.He’s a proud man June and he’s never been one to wear his emotions on his sleeve. He’s trying to keep a brave face, not only for himself but for you.”
“If you can do that it would be a miracle. I forgave him years ago. It was all just rotten luck and judgment. I could have called a million other people or a cab. It was more my fault than anyone’s.”
“He just needs to come to terms with that.You both could play the what-if game until the world ends but it won’t change anything. Would it be okay if I came to visit you?” Cora found she really liked talking to June and felt the girl was to sequester, and that’s where her attitude was coming from. The girl may not have her legs, but she wasn’t dead.
June looked at her wide-eyed. “You wouldn’t mind?”
“Not at all.”
June looked ather as if she just handed her the moon. She might as well have. June didn’t seem to have any friends. Cora knew what that was like, but she stayed home a lot by choice. June didn’t have that luxury. “I’d like that.”
“Then it's settled. I’ll talk to Liam about loosening the reins on you and I’ll start coming by. Maybe we can go shopping or something.” June was twenty-four. She needed to feelas normal as she could for her age. Cora was a bit older and she knew Hannah would love hanging out with her too. Maybe when the men would go on missions, they could kidnap June and take her places. Liam may not approve at first, but she bet once June got to see more than these four walls she would blossom.
Cora could see that June was getting tired and so excused herself, so she could rest.Liamwas waiting on the couch and stood up when she entered.
“I’m sorry I walked out like that. Sometimes June can be a bit much and it’s best to just walk away before upsetting her.”
“I survived.” She waved off his excuse.
“Is she okay?”
“Fine, sleeping. I’d like to visit her again and more often, if that’s alright with you?”
“You want to spend more time with her?”Liamasked shocked.Cora didn’t know if it was because of June’s hostile reception of her in the beginning or what.
“Yes, she’s a bright girl and we got along with each other quite well after you stormed out. I think she needs to be able to get out more and feel more normal and then she won’t be so hostile towards you.”
“You do realize she can’t do normal things anymore. She is missing her legs and any strainon her back could paralyze her. She can’t do half the things girls her age normally do. People will cut her directly or whisper behind her back. I won’t tolerate that for her. She’s been through enough.”
“I know that but that doesn’t mean she’s not still a person, Liam. She needs more than to be holed up in this house with only Rosa for company. She’s an adult. She wants to go shopping and goto movies. How do you know what she can’t do until she tries them? Keeping her in that room is slowing killing her.” Cora could see that Liam was only trying to protect his sister. The world was cruel to anyone that was different. But Liam had to see that in his mission to protect his sister he was slowly killing her spirit. It was up to Cora to help her.
Liamseemed to debate her words. Sheexpected him to outright say no and tell her she didn’t know what she was talking about. “You can come visit. If she starts getting sick or has a seizure the trips stop immediately, and it will only be room visits.”
He sounded like such a father right there Cora had to bite her tongue to stop herself from chuckling. “Okay, after we get this Alejandro business over with I’d like to start visitingher. Maybe even bring Hannah over.”
“Oh no, that will be the end of the neighborhood. It’s a deal.”Liamsmiled and showed off a set of dimples that had Cora’s heart racing.
