Chapter Text
A sea of cells speckled with black and white characters swam before Corissa’s vision. The summer sun had set, but she had been too glued to her laptop and spreadsheets to turn on the light. The room was a dark cave, illuminated by the blue-white glow of her laptop screen.
She rubbed her weary eyes. Rest beckoned, but this was more important. School supplies, groceries, house payments, credit cards and more balanced against child support and alimony and a feeble salary.
Corissa had never felt ashamed to stay at home and raise her seven boys, but…well, it would have been nice to have an employable skill and work history besides the retail jobs she took on for fun in college.
The room brightened. She blinked rapidly, leaning away from her screen.
“It’s almost midnight.” Eris scowled by the light switch, like he was the parent and she was the child. But her seventeen year old son was too gangly, still too much arms-and-legs to act the adult.
God, seventeen. He’d be off to college next year. How much of the tuition would Beron take on? He was still paying for the boys’s private school, but college?
Eris walked over and put a hand over the laptop. “You should sleep.”
“Let me finish this,” she smiled, plastering on the face that said everything was all right. “First day of school tomorrow. We’ll all be busy this week.”
Eris frowned. “It’s not like you’re the one going to school.”
“Eris.” Corissa put her foot down. “You should be in bed.”
“I’m a teenager, we’re nocturnal,” Eris said. “But fine. Whatever. Just don’t make me the babysitter when you’re tired.”
She watched as he left the room. Her eyes ached when she looked back at her spreadsheet. Then she shut the laptop and went to bed.
Some days, the anxiety drove her to tears. She married at twenty and never had to pay big bills, do taxes without the assistance of an accountant, or buy a house on her own. But she had done it, had figured it all out with minimal help. She received custody of her children, she got their obnoxious mansion and then sold it. Now, Corissa and her sons lived in a more modest house in the suburbs. She had learned how to do it all and still continued to learn.
The anxiety she felt now would never compare to the feeling of living under the same roof as Beron. She would take this every day.
The morning was filled with chaos and uniforms and spilled milk until all of a sudden the boys were hopping out of her minivan in their neatly pressed uniforms, and she could breathe.
“Mommy, I wanna go to school.”
She smiled into the rearview mirror, carefully navigating out of the school drop-off. “We are going, buddy. You just go to a different school.”
Lucien scowled in his car seat. “No.”
“You don’t want to go to a different school?”
His little grumpy face was adorable— and too recognizable. It sent a pang through Corissa, reminded her of vastly different times. All of her children were precious, but Lucien…Lucien was unique.
It was Lucien who had given her the strength to leave Beron. As a baby, he passed for Beron’s son. But the more he grew into his features, she worried others would start to see what she knew. What she was sure Beron had suspected. Instead of waiting around to find out what would happen, she left.
Lucien had been the catalyst, but leaving Beron was the best choice for Corissa and all of her children. She wanted to give her sons a chance to grow into men without the influence of an abusive father hovering over them. So far, the only big sacrifices they had to make were some friends, their old house, and a mom that was a lot more busy with a new job.
Corissa was usually one of the first people in the little office. She had been a supporter of the nonprofit for childhood literacy for years, a little project that Beron allowed since it boosted their reputation. After the divorce, she was fortunate enough to transition from donor and occasional volunteer to employee. Corissa was immensely grateful. She didn’t have much work experience, but she did know how to coordinate schedules and plan parties.
Privately, she wondered if part of the reason they hired her was for networking— unfortunately, they would have very quickly realized that all of her “friends” were Beron’s friends, and she was very alone.
She was in the middle of scanning some documents when she heard the door open, calling out, “Be there in a moment!”
The papers almost fell out of her hands when she saw who was waiting in their tiny little lobby.
Time had been good to Helion. He was wearing a tan suit, no tie, top buttons on his white shirt undone. It only took a split second to catalog those broad shoulders and thick thighs. He looked the part of a man in control, and the brain behind those penetrating eyes proved it.
The first time Corissa spoke with Helion, they were paired in a college class for a quick discussion. Mandated group work in class became late night milkshakes and long study sessions during finals week. Back then, they had been young and full of ideas about the future. But she chose what her family wanted for her and he let her do that, and then love turned sour. Yet like a comet, he’d come blazing back into her life every few years demanding attention. Beauty that could not be ignored.
Now he was in front of her again, just as magnetic.
In the back of her mind, Corissa knew it wasn’t a coincidence he was here. He supported the nonprofit, which may or may not have been part of the reason she supported it too. But in the moment, all she could do was squeak, “hi!”
“Corissa.” At least he looked shocked too. But he recovered faster. “You look well.”
Now would be the moment to laugh and tell him that she got divorced and life had never looked sweeter.
“Yeah,” she said. “And you? I mean— how are you doing?”
He smiled, and she melted a bit. Oh, damn him. “Good. I, uh, wanted to see if I could pick up my tickets for the gala?”
“Oh, right!” It was kind of him. They would save a bit on postage. She opened a drawer and brought out a folder. She found his name, checked it off, and handed four tickets over.
“Thanks,” Helion said, but he didn’t leave. “You’re volunteering here now?”
She shook her head. “Working.”
“Oh. That’s great.”
She nodded with a smile. This would be when normal people would mention the big change in their life, but she couldn’t bring herself to say it. Corissa was raised to keep her personal business to herself. The outward picture always had to be rosy and perfect, and any problems were ignored in public.
It was how she lived her entire life. If there was anyone she should be able to shed her defenses with, it was Helion. But she just couldn’t.
“I’ll see you at the gala?” Helion asked.
“Yes.” He probably assumed she’d be a guest, in one of her designer dresses and red-soled heels. “I’ll be working, probably.”
He nodded. “I think it’s… great that you’re getting so involved.”
She couldn’t help her little laugh. “Yeah…” She tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear, wondering how to transition from that to “well, I’m working because I’m terrified of relying on my abusive ex’s alimony and child support payments”.
Helion cleared his throat, rocked back and forth on his heels. “Everything is all right with you?”
“Everything’s fine!” she said, a little too chipper. But at least it was true. “Busy with back to school and all that.”
“Right. How are your kids?”
She swallowed roughly. Another moment to say something… “Good, growing up fast. Eris is a senior already.”
“Wow,” Helion rubbed the back of his head. “Then you’ll only have what? Five at home? Practically an empty nester.”
“Six,” she corrected him. “Lucien is three, you might not have heard…”
That blushing feeling, the awkward heat in her chest of embarrassment and delight, turned a bit cold. Helion’s expression closed off, and she knew he was doing the math.
“Seven boys, that’s a lot.”
“They keep me on my toes,” Corissa said softly.
“Thanks for the tickets,” Helion said abruptly.
“You're welcome.” The words barely left her mouth before he was out the door.
Corissa sank into her chair and cursed. That could not have gone more wrong.
Helion considered himself a logical person, but so much of that logic seemed to fly out the window where Corissa Vanserra was concerned.
She had been out of his league, from a totally different world when they first met. It didn’t stop them from falling in love or dreaming of a future together.
No, the only roadblock had been her family. And for some reason, he had let her walk away. He had definitely been an idiot, but what 20 year old kid knew what to do when the girl he loved was demanding commitment and maturity that he didn’t know if he could give? In the end, he waited too long and she got impatient. And that was that.
But Corissa inspired all sorts of lapses in judgment. Whenever he stumbled upon her, he made an honest attempt to keep his distance. Then he had convinced himself that her smiles, her laughter, the way that her shell was thawing and the look in her eye when they were together really meant something. When they were twenty he wasn’t the man she needed him to be, but Helion was ready to take her and her kids, the whole package.
A mistake, obviously. Corissa didn’t want him like that, not when she had her rich successful asshole husband.
Or did she?
It wasn’t like Helion saw Corissa regularly, but he never saw her in public without her wedding ring. Except for earlier that day. Corissa was never anything but perfectly put together. Manicured nails, salon-worthy blow out, light natural makeup to cover any miniscule imperfection, and always a necklace and earrings at least. To leave her wedding ring off…
Helion went through the morning in a daze. There was someone he could call to do some snooping. It wouldn’t be that difficult to find out what was going on between the Vanserras, not with the way this town liked to gossip.
But Corissa hadn’t said anything. If she hadn’t said anything, she didn’t want him to know. And if she didn’t want him to know, why the hell would he start chasing after Corissa Vanserra again? It could only end in more heartbreak.