“And Cora…” Nate swallowed hard, his throat bobbing convulsively. “You won’t be alone.” And suddenly, she knew. As surely as she had recognized him at the soiree, by touch alone, she recognized the words he was holding on his tongue. Nate leaned forward, cradling her chin between his fingers. “I love you,” he whispered. At the bewildering sensation of saying it out loud, he couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m in love with you, Cora.” Something tenuous and stubborn rooted inside her, finding purchase on untended ground. The roots dug, the branches spread. Cora was splitting, a birth as painful and
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