Chapter 18
CHAPTER 18
C ora put on a pair of overalls that Jacob had worn when he’d painted.
“Are you trying to channel Jacob in that?” Muriel asked, knowing her sister all too well.
Cora looked down at the paint-stained pants and sighed. “I’m making dyes today before Brandon gets here, and I want inspiration.”
She had studied all the paintings of her grandfather’s and grandmother’s from around the seaside cottage and used their colors to help with her coloring.
“These are your new designs?” Muriel walked over to the easel where Cora painted her designs the night before.
Cora nodded, watching her sister examine her work. “What do you think?”
“They’re beautiful,” Muriel said, air tracing the lines of the rippled waters piece. “But you’re missing a lobster.”
“I’m missing a lobster!” Cora slapped her forehead. “I’m going to have to add another design. I can’t have a seascape collection from Maine without a lobster.”
Cora grabbed her notebook when there was a knock on the door.
“Oh, it’s my fitting,” Muriel said, rushing to the door. “Good morning, Kay.”
A petite woman with short brown hair came into the house.
“Hello, Muriel.” Kay carried a toolbox. She looked at Cora.
“I’m Muriel’s sister, Cora,” she said, moving her stuff out of the way.
“Ah, you’re the one who needed the bodice brought in at the waistline,” Kay said.
Cora looked at Muriel. “Should I grab the bridesmaid dress, too?
“Let me go get my mom, and I’ll put on my dress,” Muriel said to Kay. “Then my sister can get fitted next.”
“Sure, take your time,” Kay said, placing the toolbox on the table in the middle of the room.
“Would you like a cup of coffee?” Cora asked, heading to the kitchen to get her own.
Kay shook her head. “I’ve never liked it.”
“That’s probably good,” Cora said. “Would you like something else? Tea, a glass of water?”
“I’m good, thank you.” Kay put a pincushion on her wrist and clipped a tape measure to her waist.
As Cora poured a large cup of coffee for herself, she said, “In Boston, our seamstresses do not make house calls.”
Kay smiled. “I do this stuff more as a favor than for business.”
“Oh, wow, that’s thoughtful.” Cora had meant it. Muriel loved her wedding dress and must trust this woman.
“I’m a Queen, and I just love your family,” Kay said.
Cora should have known. The gardening club, the Queen Bees, did everything around the little town. When word spread that Cora needed help with her project, many of the women came to her with ideas and names of people they knew who might be able to help her.
The club may be centered around gardening the blueberry bushes on the property, but it really was so much more than a gardening club. Like a Builder’s Club or the Key Club, she had joined in school, the Queen Bees were mostly about supporting their community. The money they earned from the Blueberry Festival all went back into the community. It kept the food pantry stocked. It paid for the children’s school lunches, school supplies, and clothing for families in need. It covered heating costs and meals for senior citizens. The motto of the gardening club should have been, “How can we give back?” Not “Sunshine brings happiness.”
“That’s really nice of you,” Cora said as Muriel came into the room in her wedding dress.
Cora’s breath got swept away. She covered her mouth with her hands. “You look beautiful!”
Meredith followed in with a full-length mirror in her hands and placed it up against the wall. Muriel stepped in front of it and twirled around in her dress.
“You look stunning,” Meredith said, tears forming in her eyes. “My baby girl is getting married.”
Cora thought about their father and whether he would bring Rylie and Britney to the wedding. Muriel looked so happy, and so did Meredith.
“Have you talked to Dad?” Cora asked, not sure if she should bring him up or not.
Muriel shook her head. “He said he’s coming up and staying at an Airbnb, but I haven’t heard where or when he’s coming.”
Cora nodded, but she could feel her anxiety grow in the pit of her stomach. He still hadn’t told her about Rylie and Britney. “Good.”
Muriel looked at Cora through the mirror. “Good?”
Cora shrugged, feeling burdened by all her secrets. “He came by the restaurant one night and asked me to babysit again,” she said.
She snuck a look at Muriel. The last time they’d talked about their father asking Cora to help with their baby half-sister, Muriel had been devastated and felt left out.
“Are you going to?” Muriel asked.
Meredith hadn’t chimed in, which meant she either didn’t feel comfortable discussing the topic or didn’t know what to say.
Cora shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“Why are so upset about it?” Meredith asked, folding her arms. “You used to love babysitting Muriel and Ryan when they were younger. I bet he just remembers that and doesn’t understand why you wouldn’t want to babysit your little sister.”
“Because she’s not our little sister,” Cora spoke faster and harsher than she intended. She could hear how nasty it sounded even before Kay’s audible gasp. “Sorry, I know that sounds bad, but she’s his new daughter.”
Meredith looked at Cora and made her look into her eyes. “She is your sister. Britney will always be your sister. And someday, she might need you both as sisters.”
“I’m sorry,” Cora said. “But doesn’t it bother you that he’s got this new family? Because it bothers me.”
“It doesn’t stop us from being a family,” Meredith said. “I know change is hard, believe me. But I’ve learned since the divorce that they’re called growing pains for a reason. You are growing as a person through the good and bad, and you can either allow this to help you grow or you can sit in the pain.”
Cora bit her bottom lip, holding back what she wanted to say if Kay hadn’t been in the room. Meredith didn’t need to know the whole story. She didn’t need to know about Rylie's not wanting to be around her, or how Rylie didn’t “get along” with Ryan and Muriel, or that Rylie thought Meredith was a problem in Phil and Rylie’s marriage.
“Maybe we can babysit sometime together,” Muriel said, who seemed too happy standing in a wedding dress to notice she hadn’t been asked.
Cora could tell the truth, but instead, she kept quiet. Muriel went back to twirling around in a wedding dress in front of the mirror, Meredith looked on at her daughter dotingly, and Cora returned to being the supportive sister, telling her sister how beautiful she’d look on her wedding day, trying to ignore guilt rolling in like the high tide.
When all the measurements were taken, and the dress put away, Cora sat with Muriel in the piano room as Muriel graded papers, and Cora worked on a new design of a lobster.
“I’m really happy you’re marrying Oliver,” Cora said, looking up from her sketch. She really liked Oliver with Muriel, but she hadn’t felt that way with her sister’s ex, Zack. “You two really do seem perfect for each other.”
“We are each other’s biggest cheerleaders,” Muriel said. “I support everything he does, and he does the same for me. That’s what you want in a relationship. You shouldn’t be chasing anyone for their attention.”
How did her sister know everything without knowing anything?
Maybe that was how relationships worked. Two people working as a team instead of in secret worlds of their own.
“Sorry if I’ve been caught up in my own world,” Cora said.
“It’s okay.” Muriel gave Cora a half smile. “Sorry if I’m always talking about the wedding.”
“There’s no one in this world I’d rather see happy than you.” The sisters hugged each other as the fire crackled in the woodstove.
“Does it get colder here in the winter?” Cora asked, going back to her sketch, feeling a chill in the house lately.
Muriel shrugged. “I don’t remember. I haven’t been here in the winter before, besides for visits. I guess we’ll figure that out together.”
Cora nodded, thinking about her wedding gift for Muriel. She had collected some of her favorite pieces from the boxes of fabric upstairs and started making them into a wedding quilt. It would be needed more than she thought.
“Do you and Oliver have a place to live once you get married?” Cora asked. Would they move into the big house on the cliffs that Oliver’s family owned?
Muriel nodded. “We’re going to rent this little cape on the other end of town.” Muriel raised her shoulders as she hugged herself. “That’s what I’m most excited about—creating a little family with Oliver in our own little cottage by the sea.”
“Tell me it has clapboard,” Cora said.
“With window boxes!” Muriel squealed. “Do you want to drive by and see it sometime?”
“Absolutely!” Cora said, excited for her sister. She looked at her watch. “Want to go now?”
And they did just that. The sisters drove by where Muriel and her future husband would live. A small cape nestled on a hill close to downtown with an unbelievable view of Blueberry Bay. The little village of Blueberry Bay sparkled at night.
“I want to put Christmas lights around the porch and have chairs looking out,” Muriel explained, using her hands like a conductor of an orchestra.
The rest of the night, Cora stopped working on the designs, Muriel stopped talking about the wedding, and the sisters hung out together just like old times. They watched movies and reminisced about their childhood. They video-chatted with Ryan, who had been out with his friends in the city. And they had the best time together.
When they went to bed, Cora decided she needed to do one more thing to make the wedding perfect for her sister. She needed to call her dad to get through the growing pains.