Chapter 28 Chapter Twenty Eight
CANDY’S POV
At the close of work on Thursday night, when I’d ran like a deranged mother whose only purpose in life had been to get to her child and protect it, when I’d caved in, swallowed my pride and begged the devil’s advocate Adrian Cunsulo, who’d spent the entire day torturing me, to please get me to Rochelle’s, I’d had no idea what to expect.
All I’d know was Peach’s text saying she needed me.
And then I’d found my way inside my favorite diner in this small side of this town of ours and I’d found my baby sister all teary and distressed and the whole hassle had suddenly been worth it. The tedious hours of work had melted away in the face of her distress, the ache all over my body forgotten, the blisters burning my feet from friction against the only dress shoes I have, pale in comparison.
I’d spent the hour, consoling her, listening to the problem, talking through it, devising plans to save her from this unrecognizable destructive time bomb our father has slowly morphed into and it’d all started to look up, to seem feasible.
So tell me why the fucking hell my sister, the same person who’d come running to me in tears that night is seating here, before my dressing mirror, barely two days later, dolling herself up, happy to walk right into the same noose she’d cried in my arms about.
“I hate the way you’re looking at me, Cay” She says resignedly, meeting my furious eyes in the mirror. Sighing, she drops her hands from dusting on the gentle touch of red to her cheeks she’d been busy with.
“You came to me, Peach, in tears, dare I remind you.” I enunciate slowly, like that would help her brain digest the situation better.
“I know. I was overwhelmed at the time, but now, I’ve had the time to think it over and it’s honestly not the worst thing that can happen to me.” Her shoulder drops before her eyes meet mine in the mirror again.
Hers, in all their gorgeous aqua blueness, are calm and thoughtful, nothing like my darker, turbulent ones that mirrors the middle of a dark tempest.
“Getting married to some stranger you’ve never met in your life just so you can clean up after dad is not the worst thing that can happen to you?” I question with venom, angry and sad and disgusted and pained all at the same time.
“If it’s what I have to do, then yes, it’s not the worst thing, Cay.”
She picks up her brush again to continue her make up but then tosses it back on the dresser with visible frustration. Abandoning her almost finished look, she turns to me.
“When I came to you, I didn’t know what all this meant for me, I didn’t think about the positive sides of this whole arrangement beyond saving this family like dad so eloquently puts it, but I’ve had time to think, to consider and it’s something I can live with.”
“Marriage is not something you jump into because it’s something you can live with, sis. It’s a life long commitment, Peach. And what happened to becoming your own woman first before settling like we always wanted. I thought we were both trying not to be like mom.”
With a scoff that turns into a mirthless laugh, I watch my sister move to the windows to get away from me and the stark truth I’m confronting her with.
“That was all you, Cay.” She says under her breath but I hear it loud and clear like the heaviest, dirtiest accusation ever.
I gawk at her, feeling like she’d just slapped me across the face with that one.
“All me?”
“We were not all born with your big brains and Einstein’s IQ, you know. From when we were kids, you’ve always been the smart Kane, made for that kind of big dreams, and all I’ve had was being the pretty Kane. That, won’t win me businesses and all that front cover of Forbes thing you dream about but at least it can get me a stable life just like the one mom has.”
Her voice breaks at that last part, tears escaping her eyes to run down her face, washing the impeccable make up she’d spent hours putting on its path and I just watch, dumbfounded by everything that’d just come pouring from her mouth.
It hurts me that this is how my baby sister sees herself and that pain is worse because I can see it in that proud hold of her head and that determined look in her teary eyes that she’s going through with this no matter what I say even without her uttering any words.
“Peach……”
“Just be here for me, Candy. Hold my hands and let me make this choice for myself. I know exactly what I’m walking into and I want it just the same. Some of us are born to win trophies while others are born to be trophy wives, let’s respect each other’s roles.”
“But Peach…….this is…..”
“Just. Hold. My. Hands and let me make decisions for my own life, please………..don’t let this be Quince all over again.”
The mention of that name zaps everything out of me in one breath, the air, the words, the fight.
It’s a name no one in this house has dared to mention in a few years now and hearing Peach use in the way she just did is all the threat and warning I need to shove my opinions and thoughts and savior complex back inside me, even if it kills me.
Swallowing everything I had to say, biting back every shout and anger and repulsion at this whole arrangement, hating the fact that there’s nothing more I can do right now to defuse this ticking time bomb waiting to explode and take my baby with it, I go into the room and give my sister a hug.
If I can’t stop her from taking what I still think is the dumbest decision of her life, I might as well obey her wishes and hold her hands through it, be here for her like a good sister would.
“I love you, sis.” I say as I release her from my hug.
“Promise me you’ll tell me the second you feel any different than you do now.”
She smiles.
“I know I won’t, but I promise. And because I love you too much not to put you out of your misery, I’m going to let you know that the marriage is not fixed yet, only the engagement is. I get to meet him today, get to know each other a bit before we walk down the aisle and all.”
I nod, my eyes wide with a tinge of relief, because if I open my big mouth, we’ll end up right back where we started, arguing.
“Saw his pictures, oh lord, Cay, I don’t think I’ll be able to keep my head around that hunk of a man. Daddy did good.” She laughs as she goes back to fix and finish her make up. “I couldn’t have done better for myself.”
Of course he did, it’s the least he can do after tossing his own daughter to the wolves to save his skin. I should have known this was the reason he shut me out, trapped on the other half of the rift he created, while he took Peach in like a newly employed shadow. He’d probably been planning to sell her off to the next rich family to want to part with a good chunk of their money.
Every day since I got back to this house, I learn a new facet of the man I’ve called father my whole life and I genuinely hate all the new facets popping up like the annoying acne on my face the morning after I go to bed with my make up on.
I’m wondering what he promised her to have her so dedicated to ruining her life for him!