Reborn to Dodge the Bad Marriage novel Chapter 39

Chapter 39 Twenty Minutes

u… you… Sierma had just had her secret said out loud in front of a room full of people, and half her face went red with it.

“A stutter on top of it,” Nora said. “No wonder Gideon isn’t interested in you.”

That broke her. Sienna burst into tears, and the fury came with them. “You are getting on your knees today and apologizing to them!”

Olivia turned to Constance, gentle as ever. “Grandma Weston, arguing down here doesn’t help anybody. Let me go up and look at him.

“I don’t know why Nora has it in for me, but he’s the only thing that matters right now.”

Cordelia caught her arm, furious. “She won’t even apologize, and she won’t let us near him. Every person in this room is a witness to that. Stop being so good to people.”

Olivia looked at Nora, still soft. “Nora, whatever this is between us, can it wait until he’s well?

“You don’t have to hit yourself. Just swallow your pride and apologize, for his sake, and my grandmother

will treat him.”

She lowered her voice until it came out almost humble. “I’m begging you to apologize. Please?”

Nora had slapped her across the face, and here Olivia was in that small voice, pleading, just to keep the peace and get Julian treated. Nobody in that room could have looked kinder or more generous.

Nora let out a small laugh. “Don’t change the subject. I kept you out of that room because I already know Julian is fine.

“What we’re here to settle is why the two of you turned up with the antidote already made. Did you know what was in him before anyone told you? And if you did, how? Because the simplest answer is that you put it there.

“So what was it for? Keeping Dr. Blithe’s legend alive? Or framing me, so Olivia gets crowned as the next great healer?”

Every point landed, and the room found itself following her, turning each question over.

Cordelia’s temper snapped, and she pushed out a hard breath. “You’re his wife and you don’t care whether he lives. Then don’t blame me for standing back and letting him die.”

Olivia was crying now, her eyes swimming, her voice unsteady. “Nora, think whatever you want about me. Just let us save him first. If we’re late, he really will die.

“If you won’t do it for me, do it for his grandmother and his parents. Don’t make them bury him.”

The tears spilled over as she said it, and all of it was so sincere that it made Nora look like a monster beside her.

Julian’s parents traded a glance and looked to Constance. She gave the smallest shake of her head, so they said nothing and left the floor to Nora.

1/3

Chapter 39 Twenty Minutes

དགག

Finished

Nora ran out of patience, and her voice dropped. “Olivia, stop performing for this room. And stop changing

subject every time I ask you something.

“Answer my questions properly, all of them, and I’ll take you up to him myself.

“Dodging the question just makes people wonder what you’re really after. I’m not like the fools in here who let you steer them somewhere else.”

She’d stood there going around with Cordelia this long for exactly one reason, which was that neither of them would answer a single question straight.

They’re hiding something.

Olivia was genuinely frightened for Julian. “If I answer, you’ll let me treat him?”

Nora nodded, unbothered. “That’s right. Answer my questions and I won’t just take you up to him, I’ll get down on my knees and apologize, and you can slap me a hundred times.”

Olivia agreed without hesitating. “All right.”

“Olivia.” Cordelia frowned at her, not at all happy about her answering anything.

Nora was clearly the sort who built a case one brick at a time, and it would be easy to get led somewhere Olivia didn’t want to go.

Olivia smiled at her. “Grandma, we haven’t done anything, so there’s nothing to be afraid of. I only want to help him. Whether she apologizes, whether I get to slap her, none of that matters to me.”

Cordelia let it go.

Olivia turned back to Nora. “Go ahead. Ask.”

“What antidote did you bring for him?” Nora said.

“The one for ghostbloom pollen,” Olivia said. “Gideon told me that’s what was in him, so that’s what I brought.”

Nora’s mouth curved, and the look of it put Olivia on edge.

Olivia frowned and went on. “And the one for blackroot. The appetite medicine you gave him yesterday had blackroot in it.”

Nora nodded. “Anything else?”

Olivia shook her head. “No. And honestly, Nora, I don’t think you meant any harm. You picked up some folk remedy for appetite somewhere and it happened to have a poison in it.”

Plenty of folk remedies worked, and they worked because somebody had cut a corner, slipped a poison into the mix, or doubled a dose past what was safe.

Nora let the excuse go past her and turned to Cordelia. “Anything you’d like to add, Dr. Blithe?”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify