Blind Date by Brenda Chapman

Author:Brenda Chapman [Chapman, Brenda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-02-28T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 24

Ella only remembered that she should have told Hunter about the attempted break-in at her apartment after he’d dropped her off and driven away. Reporting it seemed pointless anyway, since two days had passed, and the trail, if there even was one, had gone ice-cold. Still, she didn’t look forward to telling Tony that she’d again neglected to raise the attempted break-in with the police.

By the time she biked through the Experimental Farm to the Civic Hospital, she was in a better headspace, ready to sit with Danny for a few hours and read to him from the poetry book she’d tucked into her knapsack. He loved poetry as much as he loved singing and playing his guitar. She’d found a dog-eared book in his belongings and hoped that reading some of his favourite poems aloud might be a way to bring him back to her.

The nurse was making adjustments to Danny’s IV when Ella stepped into the room. She was the one named Sophia who’d worked the previous day shift. Ella placed her in her fifties, plump, with crinkly eyes and a shy smile. The bed next to Danny’s was empty, giving them a bit of privacy. Sophia glanced at Ella and then looked meaningfully toward the corner space at the foot of the bed. Ella turned her head and stared as Sophia slipped past her and out the door. Ella blinked.

“Mom?”

“I meant to be gone when you got here. I’m sorry if I upset you.”

“Don’t be sorry. I didn’t think you’d come.”

Her mother was smaller than she remembered, her face more deeply lined and looser at the jaw line. Her hair used to be blonde like Ella’s but was now a soft grey. Her eyes, however, were still the same sharp dark blue. “You’ve cut your hair,” she said.

Ella self-consciously touched the nape of her neck. “I wanted a change. Does Dad know you’re here, Mom?”

“As far as he’s concerned, I’m visiting your cousin Marianne in Peterborough. She moved there with her husband and three kids when he got a job in a law firm. She’s about to give birth to her fourth, and I’ve come to help out. I’ll be spending tonight and the next week at least at their place, so I’m not exactly lying to your father. I needed to see Danny.”

“He’s been unconscious since he came out of surgery.”

“I know. I’ve called a few times and spoke to the nurse just now. She’s very nice. And how are you, Ella?” Her voice was mildly defiant, as if she was preparing for an attack, but her eyes were uncertain.

A glimpse at the insecure side of her mother left Ella off-kilter. Her mother was a devoutly religious woman who always saw the world in black and white. Right and wrong. No room for grey. She could only imagine the soul-searching it took for her to come here against her husband’s knowledge. Yet how could Ella forgive her mother for shunning them, along with their father

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