Chapter 317 Difficult Memories

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.

11

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

way that

get used to it.

suddenly, of Hank’s awkwardness when

bodies and their sexuality – he’s a surgeon, after all, not an OBGYN –

suddenly I think –

Oh my god, Hank.

all since I’ve been

thought of

that

for my phone, but it’s

me with concern and maybe a little

suspicion.

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

again. “I…I remember things. Important things. I think you should hear

her eyes wide and genuine, curious but not pressuring

ready.”

Ella

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 eating, and lean back against Sinclair, who wraps his arms around me for physical and emotional

and shaking her head. “It’s like a nightmare you forget about it in the morning when you wake up, but then

whisper, wanting to let her go at her own pace but also

she says, looking up and meeting my gaze. “Don’t you

him, Cora,” I say, shaking my head. “I

did – I’d have the same memories

been following us our whole lives,” Cora whispers, looking down at her hands. I

my heart wrenches to see her

us. But I would see him, like a specter from a

yard, watching us. At the end

And then, once, at the foot of my bed in the orphanage – I saw him, standing

watching me sleep

hand to her neck, closing her

every time I saw him – I’d forget him, until I saw him again

remember –”

leaning forward towards her. “That’s so

one,” she says, raising her eyes and shaking her head at me. “He’s

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