Ella
“Cora?” I gasp the minute I get the phone to my ear, still scrambling out of bed and tangled in the sheets.
“Hey, Ells,” she says, her voice somehow both tight and bored at once. “Sorry to wake you up – ”
“You didn’t wake me – ” I say quickly, reaching for Rafe in his crib and scooping him up in my arms. Behind me, I hear Sinclair climbing out of bed too, coming to my side.
“I didn’t?” Cora asks. “Why actually.” Her voice goes stony. “Don’t tell me. Knowing you and Dominic, I probably don’t want to know.”
A little laugh bursts from me as I shake my head, trying to get back on track with this conversation. “Cora,” I say, looking down at Rafe’s bright, wide -awake face, “what’s up? Why are you calling? Is the baby -”
“Yeah,” she says on a sigh. “Roger insisted I call. Baby’s on its way!”
“Oh my god!” I shriek, spinning to Sinclair and beaming at him for the second time this morning. “It’s time for the baby! We’ll come right away -”
“No, take your time,” she says on a sigh and I frown at her even though she can’t see me.
“Cora, what is going on? Why are you calling in the middle of the night for us to come but then also telling us not to hurry?”
“Because my stupid mate made me call you,” Cora says, her voice annoyed. She lowers her voice to a whisper. ” He’s completely freaking out, Ells, even though everything is progressing totally normally -”
“Awww,” I say, passing Rafe to Sinclair’s waiting hands and smiling up at him. “Go easy on him, Cora! He’s a first-time dad!”
again, “if
in my eyes. Can we go? Is there any pressing national business that means we need to stay back? Sinclair nods eagerly
don’t think my body is anywhere close to ready to
to walk away to the closet to get himself and Rafe dressed. “Honestly, Cora, if he’s freaking out this much how did you ever talk him into a
now he’s trying to talk me out of it – anyway,” she sighs, “will you
grin as I hear Roger yelling something in the background, his voice thick with anxiety though I can’t hear what he’s saying. My heart swells a little for my secretly-sweet brother-in- law, who I
soon as we can. And we’ll let Henry
says on a sigh. “See you in
up and tossing it onto the bed. Then I practically skip into the closet in my excitement,
Cora all right?” he asks, cupping my
him. “Apparently she’s still got
going to drive him crazy to have
say, nodding and pressing a quick kiss to his chest before flitting off to my side of the closet and selecting some clothes that I hastily pull on. When I’m ready, I turn to take the half-dressed baby from my half-dressed mate
sitting down with him in
he looks at me
thinking about how he’s
with tears when I realize that in
already passed to my little
my head up to see that I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t even notice when he
baby anymore,” I say, sniffing even as I laugh at my own ridiculousness. “I didn’t even think about that
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