For our love.
39
[Vale]
That night, Cort has his way with me in his Tennessee Terrors jersey, despite the seriousness of Josh’s sudden appearance.
In the morning, he makes all three of us pancakes before I go home.
The secrecy of our relationship is coming to an end, and the revelation is a tad bittersweet. Our time alone has been something special, something just for me. But I also don’t want to hoard Cort. I don’t want to hide our relationship.
Deciding the women in my life should be the first to know, I call an emergency meeting of theSylverSterlets.
Enya and Cadence. Halle and Mavis. And our newest addition, Genie Webster, Judd’s sudden fiancée, whom we met only six weeks ago.
While Stone should be the first person I tell, I value thesewomen for their advice on the best way to explain to my brother I’ve done the forbidden.
I fell in love with Cortland Haven.
Picking Milton Roadhouse as our emergency meeting place, Genie, Enya and Cadence all arrive together. I’ve ordered pitchers of margaritas and water in a margarita glass for Cadence.
“Is this meeting about what I think it’s about?” Genie asks, taking a seat at the table I picked near a wall. The wavy hair of her chocolate and vanilla bob gives her a jovial glow. My brother calls her Firefly.
“What do you know?” Enya asks, sitting beside me but turning toward Genie. With surprise on her face, she glances between another future sister-in-law and me.
“Who knows what about who?” Cadence counters, after taking the chair across from her sister, and glancing between all of us. Ford’s very pregnant fiancée is practically glowing as well. Pregnancy agrees with her and soon Ford will be a father of four.
“I love good gossip,” the superstar teases, sarcasm in her tone, while she rolls her eyes.
“Valeisgossip,” Genie adds, playfully wiggling her brows.
“Valehas some explaining to do,” Enya adds, keeping her eyes on me, sensing the pressure inside me. The need to talk. The reason for this meeting.
“Can I just add, I love our new name? Sylver Sterlets.” Cadence wiggles jazz hands toward all of us. “We need a uniform. And a team motto.”
I groan, but the smile on my face eases the tension of what I have to say.
“We need to make a special date. Just for us,” Genie adds. She loves calendars.
“I think . . .” Enya places her hand on my forearm. “We should let Vale talk.”
When Halle and Mavis arrive, I’m an open well, pouring out all that’s happened minus a few private details. The basics are covered. My long-standing crush. My recent transgression.
“I love him,” I finish, sounding like a love-sick girl, begging for their understanding.
“God, it’s so fun to watch you Sylvers fall,” Cadence teases, a gleam in her eye at the latest of us to be in love.
“Yeah, well, I’m worried about Stone,” I admit.
A heavy haze covers the table, the truth weaving between all of us. I’m going to hurt my brother.
“I think you just need to talk to him,” Enya says after a few quiet seconds. She has a special place in her heart for my brother. A bond formed when Enya had trouble shortly after she met Sebastian.
“Keeping secrets is never a good idea,” Mavis adds, another sister-in-law with a soft spot for Stone. Her secrets once almost got her killed, so she knows how important honesty is.
“The truthmighthurt, but love heals all wounds, right?” Halle offers, her encouragement full of sympathy as her own love story is full of compassion.
“Stone only wants the best for each of his siblings.” Enya keeps her eyes on me. “That means he wants them to be happy. And it sounds like Cort makes you happy.”
