Living with Them
Chapter Three: Cora
A.N. So here's chapter Four, This time it's about Cora, yeaah, hope you like her…
Barbara's not the only one that stayed late that night…
As Cora finished with the designing of her new horror game, she save the file, turned her laptop off and walked towards her bed, taking a photo of a red-haired man in military wear, she smiled. Planting a soft kiss on the picture, she set it down beside a picture of an ultrasound.
"Goodnight Richard, I miss you." She said with a sad smile.
That night, she tossed and turned dreaming of her deceased husband, dreaming of what his commander told her.
"Ma'am…I regret to tell you that your husband is…" she hesitated to say..
"What?" Cora asked concern clear in her voice. *Please dear God, no…*
"…Was killed in Action…he stepped on a mine, saving the life of a new recruit." The commander, Karen Grayson said, biting her bottom lip. "He…wanted me to give this to you." She went on, handing Cora a letter that seemed to have no blood stains…"We found it in his helmet." She explained.
The letter read:
My dearest Cora,
By the time you find this, I'll have gone. Don't be sad! Smile and honor my memory just don't forget I loved you and I always will. , Many bombings have been happening recently; I got hurt only a bit. Now here's what I want you to remember when I'm gone is that I loved you more than life itself. You were my life, my world…you are my wife.
Please forgive me if I can't give you the life you deserve…the life WE deserve. Just remember, you will always be in my heart and I in yours.
You're the best thing that has ever happened to me and I hope I did the same to you, one day I hope you find someone else, someone better than me, someone who could give you the life we planned. Once again, I'm sorry for not being there for you. I'm so sorry for leaving just after the wedding…I knew I should have stayed, but I really need to serve our country.
Your husband, best friend and soul mate,
Richard.
Waking up in a cold sweat, Cora ran to her drawer and rummaged through it until she came through a yellowing letter with the same penmanship. Reading through it, tears filled her eyes. Slowly slumping to the floor, she began sobbing helplessly until she fell asleep.
When she woke up, she was on the floor clutching at the letter, her eyes red and her cheeks drenched with tears. How many times she does that in a week, we'll never know. Getting up from the floor, she set the letter on the desk and walked off into the kitchen, washing her face in the sink and then setting about making breakfast for the four of them as usual. While in the middle of making some pancakes Ratigan walked in rubbing his head.
"Miss Reynolds, have you seen Miss Perez anywhere?" he asked, stifling a yawn.
"No, I haven't…" she said, her face turned away from him.
"Oh, well do you have an idea as to where she is?" he asked again.
"Her studio." She said setting all the things she cooked as she does.
On his way to the studio, he heard the door click as if it were being closed. Turning his head to the door's direction, he heard voices.
"So the 'Black Dahlia's case was never solved?"
"Nope, that's why in my story the detective solves the case."
"And who is the killer your character caught?"
"It was actually the Black Dahlia's friend; turns out she's jealous so she sent a killer after her."
Stepping into view, Ratigan saw Barbara talking with Basil while holding a file. Just as he was about to ask Barbara where she's been, Cora entered the living room, putting on a black coat.
"Barbara, put some decent clothes on. We're going somewhere." She said, putting on a black beret.
"Okay, could we bring them?" Barbara asked, gesturing at Ratigan and Basil.
Giving them a mistrusting look, Cora sighed.
"Fine, but you're gonna watch them." She said, stepping out of the house.
Turning to look at them, Barbara just sighed.
"Okay guys, you two just get in the car, I'll get dressed." She said, running to her room.
When the two went outside, they saw Cora, making a bouquet of flowers in the garden, two of them, one with roses, lilies and ferns, the other one with carnations, daisies and lavenders. Standing up, Cora went over to them, tying the two bouquets with bows.
"You guys ready?" Cora asked looking at them.
"Miss Perez is still getting dressed." Ratigan said.
"Okay, just get in the car and we'll wait for her." Cora said, entering a VAN.
When Barbara got out of the house, she was wearing a militaristic outfit, green shirt and pants, black boots, crisp white gloves and her hair's tied up in a bun. Putting on a beret, she ran toward them, carrying a rifle.
"Barbara, please tell me you're not gonna do this." Cora said shooting a worried glance at Barbara's attire.
"Okay. Then I'm not telling." Barbara said, shifting her sitting position.
Rolling her eyes, Cora drove off toward the cemetery. When they arrived, Cora began going around searching for the right grave. Stopping, Cora knelt down and placed the two bouquets on the grave. Just as Cora was about to stand she heard the crunching of boots on the gravel.
"Oh no…" she muttered.
Standing, she turned around and came face to face with Karen Grayson and six of Richard's comrades.
"Hello Miss Reynolds, Barbara just called us to go here for the 21 gun salute." Karen said, gesturing to their M-16 rifles.
"Barbara, I think this time you should do the commands." Karen said looking at Barbara. "You've been firing these for some time, you might have gotten used to the orders by now." Karen finished, taking the rifle from Barbara's hand.
"O-okay." Barbara said weakly.
Getting into the line, Karen stood straight and proud, Barbara straightened her body, took a deep breath and turned to face the men and women.
"READY!"
With that command, the seven soldiers took a step forward with their left foot.
"AIM!"
Bringing the rifle up to their shoulder at a fifteen degree angle, lowered their heads slightly as if they were aiming, and put their fingers on the triggers.
"FIRE!"
All of them pulled the trigger, dropped their rifles across their body at chest level and stepped back to the position of attention.
The next two rounds went more like this though: On the READY command the firers reach up with their right hand to the forward assist and eject the spent casing, letting the bolt slide home, as the bolt is seating, they stepped forward with their left foot, while the rest is still the same.
"PRESENT ARMS!"
When Barbara yelled that command, Taps played.
"ORDER ARMS!"
With that, the seven soldiers vertically held their rifles next to their right legs with its butt facing the ground.
"PORT ARMS!"
Once again, the soldiers dropped their rifles across their body at chest level.
"RIGHT FACE!"
Turning to their right, the soldiers still kept a straight face.
"FORWARD MARCH!"
With that, they began marching out of the cemetery, with Barbara continuously yelling "MARCH!"
Turning around, Cora saw Basil and Ratigan looking rather alarmed at the gun salute.
"Was Miss Perez…"
"She was under the commands of Richard in her fourth year in high school in the Philippines." Cora said quickly. "She wants to do that every time we visit his grave."
"So…your husband was part of the military." Basil finally said, looking at the gravestone. "Is that why you gave him two bouquets of flowers?" he asked Cora.
"No…the other one…the one with daisies was for my dead kid…you see I miscarried when I heard the news…ended up in a catatonic state for ten months." Cora said, looking away. "Anyway, we should get going." She said, sprinting out of the cemetery, leaving Basil and Ratigan in the dust.
When they got out of the cemetery, Cora stopped to see Karen laughing and joking around with Barbara and the others.
"Barbara, time to go." She said, opening the car door for Barbara.
"Okay, nice to meet you again Karen!" Barbara said waving goodbye to Richard's former commander before going in the VAN.
A.N. So what do you guys think? Too cheesy? Stupid? Weird? Please tell me.
READ THIS, IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
So what do you think of Richard's connection with Barbara and Cora?
I thought of doing that connection while I was writing out Cora's info. Plus the thing is, when Cora and Richard got married, he was called to duty just as they were about to cut the cake. During a mission in Afghanistan a new recruit was walking around a minefield and since Richard there was well informed as to where the mines are, he pushed the recruit out of the way and he was blown in half. Karen felt guilty for his death and well just wished that it was Cora holding him in her arms instead if his commanding officer. When Cora got the news, she was actually anticipating his arrival…his alive arrival to tell him the news that they're gonna have a kid…yeah, I'm too cruel to let them have their happily ever after I know. So Karen gave her the medal of valiance, his dog tag, and his letter, his rifle with his wedding ring tied to it, his copy of their wedding picture and pictures of him horsing around with the entire troupe. But because of shock, stress and everything else, she got a miscarriage, blah, blah, blah, and catatonic for almost a year, yadda, yadda, yadda. That's just it, please tell me what you think.
