Reborn to Dodge the Bad Marriage novel Chapter 26

Chapter 26 Waiting for the Call

call ended, and the relief Constance had been holding onto lifted straight back into dread.

“Julian… Is he really not going to last until seven tomorrow morning? Tomorrow is his wedding day. His and Nora’s…”

What she truly feared was a wedding turning into a funeral.

On her own end, Olivia laid out every component she had identified in that glass and asked, “Grandma could a compound like that actually open his appetite?”

Cordelia listened to the list of herbs and frowned. “Did you miss anything?”

Olivia shook her head. “No. You know how sharp my nose is. One breath and I have the whole composition.”

Cordelia answered her. “If you read the herbs correctly, then your diagnosis is correct, and beyond that his body reached its limit a long time ago.

“Poison or not, that glass changes nothing. He doesn’t make it to tomorrow morning either way.”

Something pained crossed Olivia’s face and she pleaded for him. “Grandma, can’t you save him? I don’t want him to die.”

Cordelia tapped her forehead, out of patience with her. “I have never understood what there is to like about a dying invalid. He’s married now on top of it. Are you still not finished with this?”

“Grandma.” Olivia hung on her arm and wheedled. “Just get him well. Everything after that can wait. People do get divorced.”

Cordelia doted on the one granddaughter who had inherited her gift, and she gave in. “Fine. I’ll save him. But that Nora needs a lesson out of it.

“When he’s in the hospital and the Westons come begging, don’t go rushing in. I want Nora begging me before I lift a finger.”

Olivia wrapped both arms around hers and leaned in. “I knew you loved me best. I’ll do exactly as you say.”

Let her beg. I’ll be there to see it.

1

They reached City Hall that afternoon.

Julian turned to her. “Would you like to think it over first, Miss Sinclair? So there’s nothing to regret later.”

“You dither. Widowed young with an enormous estate to inherit. Where else am I finding a deal like that? There’s nothing to think over. Come on, let’s sign.”

She took him by the arm and walked him inside without a second of hesitation.

The ceremony itself took under ten minutes. They filled out the last of the paperwork, signed it in front of the clerk, and two of the office staff stood as witnesses.

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Chapter 26 Waiting for the Call

Both of them signed fast at the end, each looking like they were afraid the other would change their mind.

Noa held up the marriage certificate, flicked it with a finger, and grinned. “Now the inheritance is entirely above board.”

The law recognized them as husband and wife.

None of it angered him in the slightest. He looked down at her and held her eyes. “Don’t celebrate too early. Mrs. Weston.”

Looking at her, he had found a reason to stay alive, and he wanted it more than he ever had before, even if it bought him only one more day.

Two simple words, and out of his mouth they came low and rich, like hundred-year-old bourbon that went down warm and put color in her face.

Nora turned slightly away from the heat in his eyes. “I’ll tone it down going forward, then.”

They left City Hall and she took him to the hospital to see Rosalind.

“Grandma.” Nora came into the room quickly with Julian on her arm and pushed him forward. “This is my husband, as of an hour ago. Julian Weston.”

She waved the marriage certificate in her free hand.

Julian looked at Rosalind in the bed and found something familiar about her, and his greeting came out low and polite. “Grandma.”

Rosalind looked up at him, saw at a glance how far gone he was, and the warm smile on her face folded in on itself. “Your body…”

She kept her voice as ordinary as she could manage. “I’m not feeling well. Would you go find a doctor for me?”

Julian held her gaze a moment longer, said he would, and left the room.

The door had barely shut before Rosalind turned on her. “Do you know what condition he’s in?”

Nora nodded. “A month at the outside.”

Rosalind sat bolt upright with it. “You knew and you married him anyway. The Westons only wanted their heir married before he dies, and you’re the one they picked for it.

“Did the Sinclairs know about that and push you into it? And the Westons are no better, marrying you off to a man that far gone.”

She was angry enough to discharge herself on the spot and go tear apart Victor and the Weston house both for doing this to her granddaughter.

“Calm down, Grandma. I chose this. It had nothing to do with any of them.” Nora eased her back down onto the bed and poured her a glass of warm water.

Rosalind thought about her own condition and looked at her. “Did Victor use me to force you into it?”

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Chapter 26 Waiting for the Call

Finished

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