Love In the time of covid

Chapter 49

**Make sure to listen to the song**

"Can I borrow one of your dresses?" Giselle asked Gabby as she sat across from her at the breakfast nook. "For my date with Dion tonight?"

"No." Gabby said quickly without looking up from her laptop as she continued to type away.

"What do you mean no?" Giselle questioned, shocked that her cousin denied her something she knew she had.

"No. I'm not enabling you to step out on a man that you love and you know loves you." Gabby stopped typing and took off the glasses she was wearing to make the point that she was serious.

"Why is that any of your business?"

"Because as part of the only family you have left, it's my responsibility to tell you the truth." Gabby said in a very matter of fact way. "I may have only met him once when we buried your mother but that boy...that man." She took a moment to correct herself. "He loves you. There's almost an energy around the two of you. Something that's undeniable."

Giselle scoffed at what she was saying. She felt like this was the last thing she needed to hear. "Then what about how he lied to me. He put me in a situation that where I had to defend myself. I was embarrassed in front of everyone he knew." She said frustrated as she pushed her plate with toast away from herself and stood up from the table. "If he loved me so much, why couldn't he theaaq just be honest with me."

Gabby closed her laptop and stood up to join her. "I don't know. But is one lie, one omission; worth throwing away the past year?"

"I don't know." Giselle nearly shouted but her voice cracked at the end. "I don't know." She repeated as she lost herself completely when tears broke through.

Gabby seeing how much pain her cousin was in stepped closer to bring her into a hug. She guided Giselle's head down to her shoulder while she rubbed her back. "Shhh."

Giselle cried for a few minutes, soaking  Gabby's shoulder with her tears. She pulled back to look at her with her eyes red and puffy. "I love him...I do. There's just things I can't look past."

"Like what honey?" Gabby said softly as she raised her hand to take each side of her face in between her hands. "Talk to me so I can help."

"How do you and Duane do it? Do you trust him fully? Have you ever doubted that he loved you the same way you loved him?" Giselle questioned in between sobs.

"To tell you the truth, you never really know for sure." Gabby started. When she saw Giselle's twist up again she continued exposing herself. "I trust myself and the way I feel about him and frankly that's all I can do."

"But what about the doubt? How do you handle the unknown?"

"I only worry about things I can control. Love is about taking big risks. You don't know what will happen or how it will end but you have faith. And in the end if it doesn't work out, as long as you were honest about your feelings, then you know it wasn't all for nothing."

Giselle nodded silently in understanding. She hiccuped a few times before pulling away. "Thank you. I've have to get ready. Dion will be here in two hours." She stated as she unraveled herself from Gabby's arms and walked toward the stairs.

"I understand you need to do this so that you're sure of your own feelings but don't doubt his, I've seen them firsthand and it's hard to deny what I saw with my own two eyes." Gabby says to her cousin that was walking away.