Page 23 of Bad Star

Rainn could not help it as the tears streamed down her cheeks; she wiped them with the back of her hand and stifled a sob.

“You’ll be fine,” Margaret went on to say, but did not stop Rainn from letting her feelings out.

“I need to be perfect,” Rainn said emotionally as she again wiped her tears with the back of her hand.

“You should hear yourself play my dear, I think you transcend perfection,” Margaret cooed, as she held Rainn ever closer.

“You are truly a wonderful cousin,” Rainn replied as let her head rest on Margaret’s shoulder.

“I know I am,” she replied smartly “Now, I want you to eat your food. I wouldn’t want to see you faint on stage in front of a thousand plus people.”

“That would be such a sight,” Rainn replied as she sat up and took the fork in her hand. She picked through her food and started to nibble into it again.

“I can almost see the headlines now,” she went on to say in between mouthfuls “Blind girl faints in the middle of a performance.”

‘That’s not supposed to be funny,” Margaret replied albeit her manner suggested otherwise “I shouldn’t be laughing this hard at such a scenario.”

The two women went on to make light of Rainn fainting in the middle of her performance as Margaret secretly monitored her eating. She felt relieved when she saw that Rainn had cleared her plate, giving her a thumbs up.

“Now you can go back to practice with more energy,” Margaret said and watched as her cousin slowly got to her feet and walked out of the room. She slightly shook her head when she thought of her and Jack and decided that she was probably doing her a favor by hiding the letters. Rainn had been dealt a hand in life and a straining relationship would not really work for her at that time.