My Period Pain, His Care For His Cousin

Brent took Heidi to the mall and left me to get a cab home by myself. "Since there's nothing seriously wrong with you, I'll take Heidi to pick out a dress. Her birthday's the 10th of next month. Her parents aren't here, so as her older cousin, it's my job to throw her a proper party." My hand froze on the cab door handle. My heart sank. The 10th was the day we'd booked our wedding photo shoot. He'd forgotten. "Thanks for everything, Monica! I've only just come back, and I don't know my way around yet. I'll have to borrow Brent for a little while." Heidi hooked her arm through his and swayed playfully against him. Brent smiled indulgently and brushed a finger along the tip of her nose. "You little brat. You always know just what to say." He turned to me, his expression serious again. "Come help with Heidi's makeup and everything that day. You're pretty good at it, and I wouldn't trust anyone else. Friend each other." I kept smiling. After adding Heidi, I opened the door and got into the cab. Through the window, I watched her skip toward the Rolls-Royce, clinging to Brent's arm. In the cab, I called Sven, the wedding dress designer. "Sven, I'm sorry. Something's come up. Please cancel the shoot on the 10th of next month." "Ms. Porter, what about the wedding dress you ordered...?" My fingers tightened around the phone, and my voice shook. "Cancel that too." After hanging up, I stared at the engagement ring on my ring finger. I finally broke down. Covering my mouth, I sobbed silently in the back seat. 2 months earlier, Brent had proposed to me with great fanfare at a company ceremony. He'd gone down on one knee, tears streaming down his face, his voice trembling. "I, Brent Lawson, swear I'll marry Monica Porter!" Crying, I'd held out my hand and let him slip the promise of a lifetime onto my ring finger. I'd thought our wedding would go ahead as planned. But 2 months later, Heidi came back. Still holding my stomach, I reached our front door. When I opened it, I found an unopened package on the shelf by the entrance, addressed to me. I checked what it was: nutritional supplements and period supplies. I held the box, overwhelmed by conflicting emotions. This was the first period care package he'd ever bought me. Tears dripped onto the cardboard before I realized I was crying. My phone rang, breaking through my daze. It was Brent. "Did you get the package?" "Yes." "Take better care of yourself. You're an adult. Start acting like one." When we'd first started dating, the first thing Brent did before we went out was sling my purse over his own shoulder. When I was thirsty, he'd smile tenderly, unscrew a bottle of water, and hold it to my lips. The first time I had period cramps, he'd brought a basin filled with warm water and washed my feet himself, his eyes full of concern. Once, I'd ended up in the hospital after an allergic reaction to almonds in a chicken salad. He'd been so worried he'd cried. Afterward, he'd cleared everything containing almonds out of the house and refused to touch them himself. When he proposed, he'd clutched the ring in shaking hands, too choked up to get a full sentence out. But everything had changed 2 months ago, when he learned Heidi was coming back. "How's Heidi's hand? Can she still move it?" He heard the edge in my voice and sighed. "Monica, don't be petty. A cut on a finger can hurt more than you'd think. You didn't see her earlier. If you had, you'd have felt bad for her too." Yes, I was hurting. But it wasn't over a cut that a single bandage could cover. It was over the way Brent treated me. "I just remembered next month on the 10th. Didn't we book our wedding photos for that day?" His sudden mention of it caught me off guard for a second. "Yes. You remembered?"