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!”
a last time dad,” she mutters, making me laugh again, “if he’s this annoying every
up into Sinclair’s face, a silent question in my eyes. Can we go? Is there any pressing
my body is anywhere close to ready to push but Roger just wants everything in
to walk away to the closet to get himself and Rafe dressed. “Honestly, Cora, if he’s freaking out this much
he’s trying to talk me out of it –
hear what he’s saying. My heart swells a little for my secretly-sweet brother-in- law, who
say, “we’ll be there as soon as
says on a sigh. “See you
I practically skip into the closet in my excitement, going immediately to Sinclair’s
all right?” he asks, cupping my face in
up at him. “Apparently she’s still got time
to things that are completely out of his control. It’s going
of the closet and selecting some
baby food off its place on the shelf and sitting down
grins at me and I laugh, because the way he looks at me
moments with my son, thinking about how he’s going to
I realize that in my mind I’ve already stopped thinking about
has already passed to my little
asks, and I whip my head up to see that I was so lost in my thoughts that
even as I laugh at my own ridiculousness. “I didn’t even
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