Accidental Surrogate

Cora

“Um, should we go get Ella?” I ask, hesitant. Because while I do just want to spill everything right here, right now, while I feel so safe with Roger, I do know that Ella will want to hear this. And quite frankly, I don’t want to tell it twice.

Roger stays still for a moment but then he starts to move. “Sure, Cora,” he says, taking his arm from around my shoulders and climbing off the bed. “I’ll go get them now –“:

I see him walking towards the door and instantly miss his warmth beside me. Suddenly, I very much don’t want to be alone in this room. “I’ll come with you,” I say in a hurry, scootching off the bed and moving to his side.

“All right,” he says, smiling down at me as he opens the door. Then, we both move through it together, me just a step behind so that Roger can lead the way. I glance at the grandfather clock down the wall – still a little askew, I realize, from one of Ella’s wheelchair adventures – and see that it’s early – probably too early to wake them, when they’ve gotten so little sleep.

“Should we,” I say, hesitating as we arrive at their bedroom door, but Roger just shakes his head at me. “They’ll want to know,” he says, twisting the knob and pushing the door open just a crack so we can peek inside.

We’re met with an instant snarl as Sinclair sits up in bed, hearing the door open and reacting instantly against a potential threat. I gasp, falling back a step, but Roger’s hand is instantly on my back, holding me steady.

“It’s all right, Dominic,” Roger calls out, pushing the door open fully so Sinclair and Ella can see us. I see, then, that the pair of them were already mostly awake – Ella nursing Rafe quietly in bed while Sinclair dozed next to her. The instinctual fear that kindled in me at the sound of Sinclair’s snarl begins to fade as I see the actual sweet reality of the scene before me.

“Cora!” Ella, cries, working to stand up, but I move into the bedroom before she can.

“No,” I say, crossing the room to her bedside. “Stay down – you’re busy, obviously

“Are you all right?” she asks, worried, reaching out a hand to take mine.

“Um,” I say, looking between her and Sinclair, blushing a little to see that Sinclair is mostly naked. Roger, at my side again, doesn’t blush at all even though he can see most of Ella’s breast as she mothers all the time – but the casual way that wolves accept the naked body…I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to it.

I’m reminded, quite suddenly, of Hank’s awkwardness when confronted with Ella and Sinclair’s frank comfort with their bodies and their sexuality – he’s a surgeon, after all, not an OBGYN – and suddenly I think –

my god,

since I’ve been here at Ella’s house, he’s probably going crazy with worry – honestly, I haven’t even thought of him, and suddenly I

I feel in my pockets for my phone, but it’s not there

me with concern and maybe a

neatly in front of me. I’ll contact Hank later. Now, we’ve got more important things to do.

Ella says, her eyes wide and genuine, curious but not pressuring me. “Whenever

Ella

deep, shaky breath. I look up at Roger curiously for a second, but his eyes are trained on my sister, watching, listening. I adjust my hold on Rafe, who is still happily

looking down at her hands and shaking her head. “It’s like a nightmare you forget about it in the morning when you wake up, but then something reminds you of it, and it all comes crashing

let her go at her own

she says, looking up and meeting my gaze.

my head. “I didn’t see what

– I’d have the same

us. But I would see him, like a specter from a dream – suddenly, he’d be there. Standing across the school yard, watching us. At the end of the hall in the dark, watching us. And then, once, at the foot of my bed in the orphanage –

now and she presses a hand to her neck, closing her eyes tight against the memory. “And every time I saw

leaning forward towards her.

one who made me switch the sperm samples – I’m so sorry, Ella – it’s all my fault it really was me who did it

and squeezing it hard. “You did everything right –

deep voice sympathetic. “We’re not new to this – the priests who followed Ella her whole life,

and me and wiping a tear from her eye. “I can tell – I know it in

do. “Are you aware of some…subset? Or a