The Little Decisions Series (Jai Courtney)

Pursuit of Happiness

"Honey, before you say anything maybe you should think about this carefully." Jai cautioned with a hand on his wife's shoulder.

"What's there to think about?" She smiled meekly with a shrug. "This is good, really. It is."

"Good?" Cora echoed from her side of the screen. "I tell you that Richie and I are engaged and that is all you have to say?"

Nodding, although feeling a little unsure of her reaction, she spoke again. "What did you want me to say? Obviously this is good, it's great, really. How could it not be? You guys are in love and why not?"

She was caught between a rock and a hard place with Cora's news. If she reacted by throwing a tantrum, then she became a hypocrite. If she kept calm and remained quiet, then she risked giving herself and Jai away. They weren't entirely ready to tell people about their marriage.

They had been home from Paris for three days. In those three days, everything remained as normal. Denzi went about his daily routine, while she went to work, and Jai tinkered away around the house while hunting down his next job.

Perfectly normal, absolutely no suspicion to be had.

Something was amiss, Cora wasn't stupid. She knew her daughter too well, this was the very news that would send her only child into a fit of rage and selfish behaviour on any other day. At 33 years old she was an adult, but one didn't change their entire behaviour over night.

If Cora were any other mother, to any other daughter, then a birthday trip as extravagant as Paris would have her Mommy Senses tingling. Seeing as she wasn't any other mother, to any other daughter, a well planned trip was just that.

Birthday trips were common, as common as her daughter going to visit Jai on a filming location. If anything out of the ordinary was playing part in this reaction, the photos that Cora saw would have indicated something.

Trying to pull up the memory of the photos that had been posted to social media, Cora furrowed her brow. Aside from one of the pair standing on a balcony in bad lighting, Cora had nothing.

Scratching her head, Cora narrowed her gaze.

Ah ha!

No.

"Are you...Nevermind, BoC if this is you trying to save face then you may as well let us have it. Jai will only tell us about the fit you throw, later on," Cora replied glancing away from the camera. "Hold on."

In the background, off of the screen, Cora could be heard. Based on the few words that she and Jai had caught; Cora was talking to Richie. When Cora had made the call, she had explained that they wanted to tell them together, but Richie had a business emergency and Cora simply could not wait.

In truth, she knew that Richie had opted out of the announcement, because every time he tried to do something nice for Cora, her daughter threw a fit like a toddler. She couldn't fault him, it was pathetic and yet that hadn't stopped her before.

"Roo, if you have anything to say..." Jai began.

"I don't." She cut him off immediately. "I'm happy for them, really. Why can't you believe that?"

"Well, babe, you didn't exactly cry tears of joy when your mum moved." Jai hated to drag that up and yet, it summed up everything perfectly.

"I know, I know." Running her fingers through her hair, she folded her hands behind her head. "But trust me, I am happy about this. He's perfect for her and mom deserves someone nice."

Whoever the woman on the screen was, Cora was certain it wasn't her daughter. Listening to her daughter insist that this was fantastic, in an odd way, made Cora want to tear up.