The Love of Lies

Plot

Ashton’s POV

I know where my father’s mind is going because Cori’s belly is a little too big, IF, she was carrying one baby.

Fortunately, she doesn’t notice, and answers his question innocently, adding that she still needed to gain a few pounds, but after a while, everyone notices that I’m clearing my throat to get their attention.

“Cori and I have something to show you.” I grab Cori’s hand and pull her next to me, but instead of speaking, I open the draw of the end table and pull out the sonogram pictures. I’ve had them there since I took them out of Cori’s bag, simply because I wanted unfettered access to admire them.

“Oh! Pictures!” My mother practically snatches the images before they even touch my father’s hand, while moving closer to an excited Julia.

It’s Troy that notices the wording on the very top of the scan, and he bumps his fiancé out of the way so that he can take a closer look.

“What!?” My mother asks, annoyed that her praise partner has been pushed too far to see. Julia is also annoyed, but the way she’s looking at my brother tells me that she’s eager to hear whatever he’s about to say. “TWIN A?” Troy lifts one set of images.

He looks at me expectantly while my father nudges my mother out of the way, finally reading the scan instead of just looking at it.

“TWIN B!!!” My father shouts, showing genuine excitement on his face as he looks up at Cori.

My mother is dead silent, not the reaction I was expecting, but my father, Julia and Troy are so lively that Cori hasn’t noticed.

“No wonder you're so huge!” Cori pouts, and for the first time since she came, my father actually hugs her. “I’m so happy you didn’t listen to us.” He whispers, making me frown because I don’t know why he’s brought that up.

“You okay dad?”

“I’m fine; just overwhelmed. I can’t believe I’ll be here long enough to meet two of my grandbabies.” He whispers the last part, holding Cori’s belly with slightly red eyes.

“What are you talking about?” The woman asks, looking just as depressed as my father.

“Never mind me, Cori. I’m getting old, and I didn’t think I’d see this moment.” Cori doesn’t know that my father is sick, and being that he’s being so emotional, he must not be feeling very well.

However, more than anything, I’m concerned about why my mother’s eyes haven’t left Cori’s form, and her non-reaction to my father’s near breakdown.

“Mom… Are you okay?”

“Ashton, Cori is young. Two babies will… What are your plans?” When my parents left, Cori and I weren’t getting along, so I’m sure they were anticipating the worst, but I still didn’t expect my mother to be so blunt.

“Mom, Cori and I agreed to go to couples counseling. We know that it’s going to be hard, but we’ve agreed to try to work toward becoming a real family.” I watch my mother release a heavy breath before moving in to hug us together. “I’m so happy for you both.”

My mother releases us with tears in her eyes, and based on Cori’s expression, she’s extremely put off by the display.

“Mrs. Lewis I-”

“Meredith,” my mother corrects.

“Mrs. Meredith, I’m sorry about what happened before, but even if Ashton and I don’t work out, I’ll never keep the twins from their family.” After another hug, my mother pulls Cori to the couch, where they sit with Julia.

I’m extremely happy to hear what Cori said, but I’m also sad about my father’s reaction, so when no one’s paying attention, I get his attention, and move to the kitchen area with him.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine. I just realized how fleeting life is.”

“What does that have to do with twins?”

“That… because of us…. two innocent… Cori could have, but for whatever reason, she didn’t.” Although we’re in another section of the house, my father is still looking at the woman, who now has my mother crying happy tears. “Are they identical?”

“They aren’t.”

“I hope at least one of them is a girl. I would love to see your mother with a daughter of her own, even if it’s only a grandchild.”

“Dad, you’re scaring me.” My father takes a deep breath and pulls me in for a hug I didn’t realize I wanted.

“I thought I was going to come home to a war zone.”

“You almost did.”

“Is that the result?” My father points to my brow, and I shamefully tell him that I fell in the shower. “Ashton, I’m really proud of you.”

“For getting a twenty-one-year-old pregnant?”

“No. I’m proud of the man you are.” Now, I’m really scared because my father doesn’t randomly compliment me, ever.

“Did something happen?”

“I’m just emotional because I’m watching my little boys become men.”

“Dad… Please tell me the truth.”

“The truth is just what I said. I’ve never seen you try so hard in any situation, and truthfully, I wouldn’t have blamed you if you failed, but the fact that you're willing to go to counseling for that girl shows me that I did a good job after all."

I don't know what's going on, but I know that my father being emotional has me emotional, and the only thing that stopped us from crying is the arrival of Troy.

"Twins?" He says in a shocked tone, shaking his head as he walks toward the fridge. "Aren't you glad she was invited that night?"

"Invited?" Our father already rejoined our mother in the living room, where he's now smiling brightly, but I'm still whispering.

"You didn't know?"

"Know what?" My brother tries to change the subject, but I'm not dropping it.

"Ash bro, before you get angry, just know that I only did it for you."

"Did what?" I whisper-shout, scared that my brother is going to tell me something crazy.

"Well, when you suggested that little bar, I thought the owner was a friend, so I contacted him and kind of found out that it wasn't the place you liked."

"Troy…" I feel my heart rate increase as I consider what Cori is going to think if she finds out that she was ‘summoned.’

She and I have talked about how shocked I was to see her at a nightclub, and how much of a coincidence it was for us to meet that night, so I know she has no idea that my brother played a role in it.

"Troy, no one invited her to your party. She was working."

"What?!?" My brother already knows the implications without me saying anything, and he’s so loud that I have to shush him. “Ashton, you have to tell her.”

“I can’t,” I growl, telling the man that Cori and I are only just recovering, and that information can, and likely will make all of my actions the night we were together look like a giant sinister plot to screw her; it’s far-fetched, but she’s got enough trauma in her life to believe it. “You should have told me sooner. Don’t you know what happened while you guys were gone?”

I’m not a fool, I know that Julia and Troy stayed in the loop even if they were gone, so I know my brother understands what I’m saying.

“So, we just keep it a secret forever?”

“Not forever, but we’ll wait until she trusts me more than she does now. If I’m going to tell her that she wasn’t working by chance, I have to at least make everything that happened afterward worth it.”

“Twins not enough?”

“Don’t be a d*ck. You know just as well as I do that those babies have already ruined Cori’s life.”

“Have they?” My brother has a point.

Cori is twenty-one-years-old; her life has only just begun, and like my father said in the past, I have the power to build her up, or tear her down.

Cori’s POV

When Ashton returns, he shoos Julia away so that he can sit next to me, and when I’m not expecting it, he presses a kiss to my lips.

“Everything okay?”

“Perfect,” Ashton replies, interlocking our fingers as he does. “Ma, what do you think Cori can do while she’s home and waiting to give birth? She wants to get a job, and I don’t want to stop her, but like her doctor, I would prefer for her to rest.”

“Cori, have you ever thought of continuing your education?” Meredith asks.

“I have, but I can’t afford it.”

“But my son can.” I look at Ashton, not really liking this idea, and because I don’t want him to misunderstand, I squeeze his hand as I respond.

“I would like that, but not yet. Ashton and I have a lot to work on as a couple. When the twins are older, if we’re still together, I would like it if he helped me, but not now. It feels too forced.”

Ashton kisses my hand in approval, and Julia dramatically pretends to sob, drawing our eyes toward her.

“As much as I love to see you two working together, there's something much more important for us to talk about.”

“What’s that?” Meredith questions, but I already know, and so does Ashton.

“When are we making it official?”

“That’s right,” Ashton’s mother says, looking at her son expectantly. “It would be good for the board to know that you and Cori have worked things out as well.”

“I don’t think that’s what Julia meant, Mom.”

Troy’s POV

All this time I thought Cori knew that she was invited specifically because I wanted to meet the woman who I’d often overhear my brother talking to Chris on the phone about, but she was never told, and now, I feel like a pimp.

It’s common for clubs to hire women who are willing to say yes because it keeps the men coming back, and I inadvertently turned Cori into one of those girl.

I won’t even dare to tell my fiancé, because if she finds out, she’ll tell Cori, and it’ll ruin whatever progress my brother’s made, and I don’t want that.

My brother deserves to be happy; he’s spent a long time miserable because his life was chosen for him, but when he used to go drinking at the bar Cori worked for, he would always wake up in a better mood.

I once asked him about it, and he told me the truth. He was afraid to ask the girl out because it could ruin the dynamic of their friendship, something I know all too well.

Now, I’m watching him struggle to put on a loving act when I can see in his eyes that he’s scared. Terrified that if Cori finds out the truth, he’ll never get the chance to make things up to her, ever.

“When are we making it official?” Julia suddenly asks, snapping my eyes up toward where she’s sitting on the armrest of my chair.

“That’s right. It would be good for the board to know that you and Cori have worked things out as well.”

“I don’t think that’s what Julia meant, Mom.” I’m so taken aback by my fiancé’s remark that I immediately want to stop her from talking.

“Babe, I told you not to be greedy.”

“I’m not being greedy, and since there are two of them, I’m willing to share with Chris, but I want first dibs.” Cori giggles, completely unaware of my inner turmoil.

“Actually, if Ashton is okay with it, I would really like Julia and Troy to have a key role in the twin’s lives. After all, it’s kind of their fault I’m here.” Cori is joking, but guilt makes me flinch.

I glance toward Ashton, expecting to see him glaring, but there’s no malice in his eyes, no anger, and no dread. He’s just smiling at Cori.