My Husband's Child: An incredibly emotional and heartbreaking family drama by Alison Ragsdale

Author:Alison Ragsdale [Ragsdale, Alison]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2025-03-04T00:00:00+00:00

Her chest aching from reliving those life-changing moments, Cora twisted the rear-view mirror towards her and checked her face. Her green wax jacket was making her eyes look bluer than usual, and the dark-brown fringe that had grown out was tucked neatly behind her ear. As she touched her fingertip to the cochlear implant, feeling a slight buzz fizz across her skull, she noticed the new lines around her mouth, like parentheses that framed the full lips, speaking to time passing, and all that entailed.

She ran a thumb under each eye, where her mascara had begun to smudge, then pulled her shoulders back, whispering, ‘You’re OK. You’ve got this.’

As she locked the car and approached the door of the café, her heart was pounding. It had been so long since she’d seen Fraser that she wasn’t sure how she’d feel. Aside from her anger that was simmering dangerously close to the surface, she was desperate to learn what had motivated him to walk away from his wife and children, something that Cora just couldn’t reconcile, no matter how hard she tried.

The café was mercifully quiet, with only three tables occupied inside the low-ceilinged space. At the far end was a long counter with a glass display cabinet housing various cakes and pastries, and there was a sophisticated coffee machine dominating the top of it, along with stacks of shiny white cups next to an old-fashioned cash register, there purely for decoration.

Cora could hear music playing in the background, but it was quiet enough not to cause her problems. As she scanned the room seeing a mother with her young daughter at one table, and an elderly man reading a newspaper at the other, she spotted Fraser sitting in one of two armchairs in the far corner, next to a bay window that overlooked the narrow garden at the side of the building.

Fraser looked up just as she saw him and raised his hand. His fair hair was shorter than she’d ever seen it, cropped closely to his head, and even from across the room, the piercing blue of his eyes drew her gaze. He wore a round-necked beige sweater and dark-blue jeans, and a leather jacket was slung over one arm of the chair.

Her stomach twisting with both nerves and frustration, Cora walked over to him, then hesitated as he stood up and made to hug her. On a reflex, she pulled back, her hand coming up in front of her, and she saw a flicker of embarrassment in his eyes.

‘Sorry. Old habits.’ He dropped his eyes momentarily to the floor, then looked up again. ‘Thanks for coming.’ He gestured towards the other chair and, as she took off her jacket, he sat back down, nervously running a palm over the back of his head, something he did whenever he was uncomfortable.

As soon as she sat down, he stood up again, startling Cora.

‘What can I get you? Coffee? Tea?’ He pulled a slender wallet from his back pocket.

‘Decaf latte, please.’

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