#Chapter 355 – Gone too Far
Ella
I find Cora, a little later, in the long room thoat we’ve turned into a hospital, working hard probably to distract herself. I grimace, a little, when I see that her bedside manner has certainly suffered in the wake of her frustration she’s snapping at patients, glaring at them when they take too long to answer, and stalking from bed to bed. As I come into the room the men look towards me with desperate eyes.
I hold up my free hand – Rafe bundled in my other arm – to the men, letting them know that I’ll handle it, and then I walk calmly over to my sister’s side.
“Hey Cora,” I say casually, looking down at the clipboard in her hand on which she’s writing in her messy doctor’s scrawl. Cora doesn’t respond, just glares at me and turns her attention back to the clipboard.
I scoff a little at her and bump my shoulder against hers, a little pissed off now. “Why don’t we try that again, Cora,” I say, through my teeth a little. ” Hello, Cora. How are you?”
“I’m not speaking to you, Ella,” Cora snaps, shaking her head and continuing to write. “Or my stupid mate, or yours. Or their dad.”
“What about Rafe,” I ask, adjusting the baby so that she can see him more clearly.
Cora flicks her eyes to Rafe, who looks up at her with his big sweet eyes, and she hesitates a little. “Rafe is fine,” she mutters, “he did not betray me. Unlike the rest of you.”
“Plus he’s cute,” I say, grinning down at him. But Cora scoffs and turns away, angry that I am ignoring her point: that we betrayed her by accusing Hank.
“Cora!” I sigh, calling after her and then hurrying to keep up. “Listen, I’m sorry I really am! You know I like Hank I like him a lot! I was very team Hank for a minute there, and I was the only one! But we have to be vigilant about this, and you know that Henry had some good points!”
She whirls on me then. “You think that he could seriously fool me, Ella?” she asks, folding her arms across her chest, holding the clipboard close against her. “Do you seriously think I have such a bad taste in men that I would honestly sleep with someone who was trying to kidnap my nephew?”
Out of the corner of my eye I see the wounded man in the bed closest to use flinch, his eyes going wide with awkward surprise. But I do my best to ignore him and keep this between me and my sister.
“No, Cora,” I say, reaching out and putting a hand on her arm to assure her but also to keep her from running away from me again. “Seriously I don’t think that Hank did anything! I just think that Henry has a point – that we need to double-check everything before we trust people! I mean, they wouldn’t even let me call you when we first got the anonymous note that someone was going to try to take Rafe!
They’re just being vigilant!” Cora scowls, looking away from me but clearly seeing my point. “Well, that was bullshit too,” she murmurs.
“Which I told them!” I say, taking my hand away and beginning to bounce Rafe a little bit, who is getting agitated now, probably because of my frustration. “But they checked anyway! Honestly, Cora,” I say, taking a deep breath and trying to bring all of our energy back down to a reasonable level, “what’s the harm in letting them be careful, in letting them check? Hank is going to come out of it clean. So, what does it hurt?”
“It hurts me, Ella,” Cora says quietly, looking into my face for the first time. ” I already hurt Hank – and he did nothing wrong. And now he has people hurling these accusations at him, which he totally doesn’t deserve! He’s my colleague, and my friend – and a good person! And I’m vouching for him, and nobody believes me!”
I step closer to my sister now, my heart hurting to see her feeling this way, to hear her voice get all squeaky with emotion.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper to her, putting my arm around my sister and pulling her close. “I’m sorry, Cora. I won’t doubt you again. Okay? Forgive me.’
“There’s nothing to forgive,” she sighs, giving me a squeeze and then pulling away as she wipes at her eyes. You’re just – just trying to protect your baby.” And I see her unconsciously move the clipboard lower on her body, her hand moving to her stomach.
“That’s right,” I say, turning my head to look down at the baby. “He’s been very troublesome since he’s been born. Look what you’ve done now, baby!” I joke, trying to bring a little levity to the situation. “Your simple existence has inspired a war that has resulted in accusations that have hurt your auntie’s feelings! You apologize, now!” And then I hold Rafe up towards Cora, as if he could actually utter a formal apology.
Rafe, suddenly surprised at the change in his position, lets out a little squeak of surprise, which makes Cora laugh. She shakes her head, smiling now, and reaches for the baby, taking him from my hands. “Nooo, not my nephew,” she says, cradling him against her arm and smiling down at him. “Don’t listen to her, Rafe, it’s not your fault.”
And I grin as my baby wrinkles his little face and sighs, honestly as if a grave injustice has been done to him, and we both laugh again.
“Okay,” Cora says, sighing and looking up at me. “Thanks, Ella,” she whispers. “I think…I think you snapped me out of it a bit.”
“Good,” I say, reaching to take the baby back. “Roger will be glad to hear it. And so will all of your poor patients.” “What?” she asks, and then she looks around the room to see that all of them are staring at us and have been listening to every word we said. “Oh my god,” she mutters, putting her head in her hand and laughing.
“It’s okay,” I say, grinning and putting a hand on her back. “Now that they’re fairly sure you won’t murder them for taking too long reporting their symptoms, I think we’ll make good progress!”
Cora gives me a little glare but she moves on from it, lifting the clipboard again and looking over its contents. “I have so much to do,” she murmurs, flipping through some of the papers. They need a lot of care -”
“Can I help?” I ask, eager to pitch in. Cora looks up at me and blinks. “You want to play nurse again?”
“Sure!” I say, a little excited. “Just give me a minute to give Rafe to Sinclair, all right? Then you will have my full attention.”
Cora smiles at me then and nods. “It would be a big help, Ella,” she replies. If you can spare the time.”
“For you, sister?” I say, giving her a wink as I turn away. “I’ll make the time.”
