Chapter 29 Reunion 2
The café felt smaller suddenly, the walls closer. Nora gripped the edge of the table, trying to steady herself as she looked at the man sitting across from her. Her husband.
“My children,” Nora said, her voice tight. “Where are Thomas and Emma? Are they safe?”
“They’re safe,” Ben said immediately. “I promise you, Nora. They’re with my mother. She’s been taking care of them.”
“I want to see them. I want to talk to them right now.”
“I know you do. But…” Ben hesitated, his expression pained. “We can’t just call them right now. Not like this.”
“Why not? They’re my children, Ben. I’ve been gone for five years and you’re telling me I can’t even hear their voices?”
“It’s not that simple.” Ben leaned forward, his voice urgent. “Nora, they think you’re dead. They mourned you. They’ve spent years learning to live without you. If I just call them up out of nowhere and say ‘surprise, your mom’s alive,’ it would be traumatic for them.”
“I don’t care about—”
“And they’re not near a phone right now,” Ben continued. “My mother took them on a trip. To the coast. They’re probably at the beach or hiking or something. She doesn’t always have her phone on her when they’re doing activities.”
Nora stared at him, trying to determine if he was lying. But his expression was earnest, concerned. Like a father worried about his children’s wellbeing.
“When will they be back?”
“A week. Maybe a little more. But Nora, even when they’re back, we need to prepare them. We need to do this carefully. With a therapist, maybe. Someone who can help them process the fact that their mother isn’t dead after all.”
Every fiber of Nora’s being wanted to argue, wanted to demand he call them immediately. But a small, rational part of her understood. If someone had told her that her own mother had come back from the dead, she would have needed time to process too.
“One week,” Nora said finally. “You have one week to prepare them. Then I want to see my children.”
“I promise. One week.”
Nora took a shaky breath, then changed the subject because thinking about her children was too painful. “What about you? What about your life? You said you remarried.”
Ben’s entire demeanor changed. His shoulders slumped, his face darkened with grief. “I did. Her name was Caroline.”
“Was?”
“She died.” Ben’s voice was barely above a whisper. “A few months after we got married.”
Nora felt her chest tighten. “What happened?”
“Car accident. She was coming home from work. A drunk driver ran a red light.” Ben’s hands trembled as he picked up his coffee cup. “She died instantly. Didn’t suffer, they said. But I don’t know if that makes it better or worse.”
“Ben, I’m so sorry.”
“I thought I was cursed.” Ben’s voice cracked. “First you disappeared. Then Caroline died. Everyone I love just… leaves. Gets taken from me. I started to think maybe I wasn’t meant to be happy. Maybe I was being punished for something.”
Tears streamed down Ben’s face now, and he made no effort to hide them. His grief was raw, real, the kind that couldn’t be faked. He covered his face with his hands, his shoulders shaking with silent sobs.
Nora felt something twist in her chest. Despite everything, despite her suspicions and fears and the five years of hell she’d endured, she couldn’t watch him cry without feeling something. Old instincts, old patterns, old love that hadn’t quite died despite everything.
She reached across the table and touched his arm. The gesture felt automatic, muscle memory from years of being his wife.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “That must have been terrible.”
“It was,” Ben said through his tears. “Losing you broke me. Losing Caroline shattered what was left. The kids were the only thing that kept me going. Knowing they needed me, I had to do everything within my power to ensure they're safe and happy.”
He wiped his eyes with his sleeve, trying to compose himself. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall apart like this. It’s just… seeing you again. Knowing you’re alive. It’s bringing everything back.”
“It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not.” Ben took a deep breath. “Umm...Nora there's something else. Someone else actually, who's been waiting to see you.
Someone who can help explain things, help you understand that I’m telling the truth.”
Nora frowned. “Who?”
Instead of answering, Ben pulled out his phone and sent a quick text. Then he stood. “Just… please don’t leave. Please stay and talk to her. For me.”
“Talk to who? Ben, what are you—”
The café door opened with a soft chime.
A woman walked in. Tall, elegant, wearing an expensive coat and designer boots. Her dark hair was pulled back in a sleek ponytail, her makeup perfectly applied. She looked successful, polished, like someone who’d made something of her life.
And Nora recognized her immediately.
“Sussie?”
Her sister. Her older sister whom she hadn’t seen in fifteen years. The sister she’d fought with, competed with, eventually stopped speaking to entirely.
Sussie’s eyes found Nora and went wide with shock. “Oh my God. Nora?”
Nora stood up so fast her chair scraped loudly against the floor. “What is this? What is she doing here?”
“Please,” Ben said, moving toward the door. “Just talk to her. She’s been worried about you too. She’s been helping me look for you.”
“I don’t want to talk to her. I want to leave.”
“Nora, please.” Ben’s voice was desperate. “I know you two had your issues. But she’s your sister. She’s family. And she deserves to know you’re alive.”
Nora looked between Ben and Sussie. Her sister was walking toward her now, slowly, cautiously, like she was afraid Nora might bolt.
“I can’t do this,” Nora said. “Ben, I can’t—”
“Just ten minutes. Please. If you still want to leave after that, I won’t stop you. But give her ten minutes. She’s been carrying guilt about how things ended between you two for fifteen years.”
Nora wanted to run. Wanted to leave this café and go back to Noah and pretend this entire encounter had never happened. Her sister represented everything from her old life. All the family drama, all the competition, all the pain.
But Ben was looking at her with such pleading eyes. And Sussie had stopped a few feet away, her own eyes shining with unshed tears.
“Please, Nora,” Sussie said, her voice breaking. “I know I’m the last person you want to see. I know we didn’t part on good terms. But please. Just a few minutes. That’s all I’m asking.”
Nora looked at the door. At her escape route. At the life with Noah that was waiting for her outside this café.
Then she looked at her sister. At the family she’d lost. At the questions she still needed answered.
“Fine,” she said finally, sitting back down. “Ten minutes. That’s it.”
“Thank you,” Sussie breathed.
Ben moved toward the door. “I’ll give you two some privacy. You have a lot to catch up on.”
“Ben, wait—” Nora started.
But he was already leaving, the door closing behind him with a soft chime, leaving Nora alone with the sister she hadn’t spoken to in fifteen years.
Sussie took the seat across from her, where Ben had been sitting moments before. For a long moment, neither of them spoke. They just looked at each other, taking in the changes that fifteen years had wrought.
Sussie looked older, more polished. Success seemed to cling to her like expensive perfume. But there was something else in her eyes too. Sadness, maybe. Or regret.
“You look good,” Sussie finally said. “Considering you’ve been dead for five years.”
“I wasn’t dead. I was taken.”
“I know. Ben told me some of it. Not all, but enough.” Sussie’s hands fidgeted with her coffee cup. “Nora, I don’t even know where to start. There’s so much I need to say. So much I need to apologize for.”
“I don’t want your apologies, besides how did Ben just tell you some of it when we just had the conversation for the first time today?”
Sussis fidgeted a bit.
“Ummmm...He..he was texting in between actually. I know you don't need my apology or explanation but I’m going to give them anyway.” Sussie took a deep breath. “What happened between us, before you disappeared. The fighting. The competition. Me being jealous because Mom and Dad wanted you to date Ben when I was the one who had feelings for him. All of it. I was wrong. I was petty and jealous and I let it destroy our relationship.”
“It was a long time ago.”
“It was. But I never got to apologize. Never got to tell you that I regretted how things ended between us. And then you disappeared and I thought I’d never get the chance.”
Sussie’s voice cracked. “I thought you were dead, Nora. For five years, I thought my sister was dead and the last conversation we had was a fight about a man. About Ben. How stupid is that?”
Nora didn’t respond. She just sat there, arms crossed, her defenses up.
“Mom and Dad,” Sussie continued. “They were wrong to push you toward Ben. It created this rivalry between us that never should have existed. I should have been happy for you when you married him. I should have been your maid of honor, your supporter. Instead, I was bitter and resentful.”
“Why are you telling me this now?”
“Because I need you to know. Because you’re alive and sitting in front of me and I have a chance to say all the things I should have said fifteen years ago.” Sussie reached across the table like she wanted to take Nora’s hand, then thought better of it. “I’m sorry. For all of it. For being a terrible sister. For letting jealousy ruin our relationship. For not being there when you needed me.”
Nora felt something crack inside her chest. All the anger she’d been holding onto, all the resentment from their childhood and teenage years and early adulthood. It was still there, but it felt smaller somehow.
“I don’t know what to say,” Nora admitted.
“You don’t have to say anything. I just needed you to hear it.” Sussie wiped at her eyes. “Ben said you’ve been living in Toronto? That you have a new life?”
“How did you know I was here? How did Ben find me?”
“He didn’t give me all the details. Just said he spotted you one day and couldn’t believe it was really you.”
Nora studied her sister’s face, looking for signs of deception. But all she saw was genuine emotion. Genuine relief that Nora was alive.
“Are you and Ben…” Nora trailed off, not sure how to phrase the question.
“Together?” Sussie laughed, but there was no humor in it. “No. God, no. That ship sailed a long time ago. I’m married now. Have been for eight years. His name is David. We have a daughter.”
“A daughter?”
“Emma. She’s four. Named her after your Emma, actually. Thought it would be a way to honor you. To remember you.” Sussie pulled out her phone and showed Nora a photo of a little girl with dark curls and a bright smile. “She’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Nora looked at the photo and felt tears prick her eyes. A niece. She had a niece she’d never met.
“She’s beautiful.”
“She is. And she’ll be so excited to meet her aunt. The aunt we told her about. The aunt we said was watching over her from heaven.”
The weight of those words hung in the air between them. All the years lost. All the moments missed. All the family connections that had been severed and were now, impossibly, being offered back.
Nora didn’t know what to feel. Didn’t know if she could trust this reconciliation or if it was just another manipulation. But sitting across from her sister, looking at a photo of a niece she’d never known existed, she felt something shift inside her.
Not forgiveness, exactly. Not yet. But maybe the possibility of it.