Reborn to Dodge the Bad Marriage novel Chapter 72

Chapter 72 A Face She Remembered

Fe

ey aren’t secrets either. My grandmother and I cover them every time we teach a free public class, and hardly anyone comes away able to do them.

“Every piece of medical knowledge that gets passed on saves one more person.

“If you can learn my methods, Nora, I’d be glad of it.”

It was a fine, high-minded thing to say, exactly what a doctor was supposed to believe.

Nora watched her work. Olivia’s face was set, her whole attention on the needles, and for once there wa nothing in her eyes but the treatment.

The wanting that had been there all evening was nowhere in her face.

Her hands moved like they had done it a thousand times. She never hunted for a point, and every needle went in with exactly the right pressure.

Watching it, Nora believed her. Olivia was a doctor and Julian was a patient.

While the needles were in, that was all either of them was..

Nora stopped talking and followed every placement, judging the pressure behind each one and filing it

away.

Olivia was working the Fivefold Method, which Nora had never been taught.

Olivia worked, and Nora learned.

An hour later Olivia drew the last of the gold needles out of him, sweat along her hairline, her face gone pale.

“That’s the session done for today.” She turned to Julian. “No water for the rest of the night. I’ve had the kitchen make you a detox tonic, and I want you to finish it.

“And no strenuous activity for a while.”

Olivia looked up at Nora as she said it, and Nora was studying the gold needles without a glance in their direction.

The needles were clearly the bigger temptation, since she hadn’t spared a thought for Julian, who had just come off a full session.

Julian sat up, pulled the robe back on, and found Nora completely absorbed in a case of needles. He had nothing to say about it.

Olivia looked away and went on. “By strenuous I mean sex, and I also mean hard workouts. No sprinting either. A light jog is fine, and walking is better.”

“Understood,” Julian said.

Olivia put a hand out to stop Nora’s before she could touch them. “I’ll pack the needles away myself. The

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Chapter 72 A Face She Remembered

material is delicate, and replacing one takes months.”

ora straightened up. “Thank you for tonight, Dr. Blithe.”

Finked

“I’m his personal physician,” Olivia said. “It’s the job. Keep an eye on him tonight, and if anything feels wrong, come get me at any hour.”

This version of Olivia was far more professional.

Nora had written her off as pure artificial sweetener, and that softened a little.

It was a shame. Her head was full of medicine, and fuller still of one man.

She was clever enough, and she was spending every bit of that cleverness trying to take Julian away from Nora.

Nora asked her again, seriously this time. “Dr. Blithe, is the Thirteen Gates really lost?”

Olivia frowned. “It is. I have no reason to lie to you about it. My grandmother never learned it either.”

“And…” She paused and met her eyes. “Even if it weren’t lost, I couldn’t learn it, and neither could you.

“The Thirteen Gates only goes to people inside the Caduceus Order.”

She had put it as gently as anyone could. Mandy would have skipped the politeness and told her flat out that she wasn’t qualified.

Nora smiled. “Understood. Thank you. I learned a lot tonight.”

Olivia watched her go, and then watched Hattie come in and strip the disposable paper off the gurney.

Something about that smile kept bothering her.

It had left her feeling like she had been the joke in the room.

Uneasy, she called Cordelia. “Grandma.”

“It’s late,” Cordelia said. “Why are you calling? Did the session go badly?”

Olivia looked down at the Goldwyrm needles. “No, it went well. Nora never tried to stop me. She was more eager to get started than I was.”

“Is that right?” Cordelia’s voice lifted, and she let out a small, dismissive laugh. “Then she knows how to swallow her pride.”

Olivia took her through the whole session.

“Grandma, could she have picked up the Fivefold Method just from watching me do it once?”

That got a much bigger laugh out of Cordelia, all of it contemptuous. “Olivia, the Fivefold Method is not learned that easily. Think how long it took you, and what you did to yourself and to the staff along the way.

“What is she, a genius? A grown woman who never even got into college isn’t going to watch it once and have it.

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Chapter 72 A Face She Remembered

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