4.
By the time Everard reached the hospital, his mother and Flora were still dragging their feet.
There was a note of injury in Flora's voice.
"Everard, even if you won't think about this doom that's hanging over me, you have to think about Aunt Patricia."
"She's already upset because of your wife and her mother. At least wait until today's over before you go."
Everard's buddies chimed in on Flora's side.
"He's right, Everard. Your mom's still fuming."
"Now's a bad time to see her."
Everard's steps came to a stop.
Flora was already lifting a triumphant little smile when it froze on her lips.
"If you don't want to come, then go on your own. I never asked you to follow me."
"And once this doom of yours is broken, you can keep your distance from my family. My wife doesn't need the aggravation of looking at you."
Two sentences, like a bolt out of a clear sky.
Flora's eyes went red with anger.
"Everard, I'm your foster sister. We grew up together. How can you throw me out over her!"
Seeing that he wouldn't be moved, she turned to his mother.
"Aunt Patricia, look at him."
"After all these years between us, do I really mean less to you than Hope Brady?"
"If Hope hadn't stolen him out from under me back then, I'd be the one married to Everard right now."
"Shut your mouth!"
Everard's shout drew stares from half the hospital.
It took him a long moment to force the emotion down before he spoke again.
"Flora, do you really want me to spell it all out?"
"Did you ever actually like me, or did you only like me once I could make money and things got better for my family?"
Back when his mother fell ill, she'd needed chemo.
Tens of thousands a session, and his father had run off with the money and a mistress.
Life had been about to crush him.
He'd gone to Flora to borrow money, dropped to his knees in front of her, begging only for one chance to save his mother.
And she'd humiliated him.
"Everard, if I lend you this money, I'm never getting it back."
"You know my parents didn't leave me much. I need it for traveling, for going out and having fun."
"Aunt Patricia's illness eats money like crazy, and even if she's treated she won't have many years left. You'd be better off keeping the money and spending it on yourself."
The humiliation had bored into his ears, one line after another, and he hadn't stayed. He'd turned and walked out.
With nowhere left to turn, he'd thought of taking out a loan. But just as he was reaching for it.
A hand pressed down over his phone.
"That road's a bottomless pit. If you can stay off it, stay off it."
"You've got two good hands and two good legs. Why would you borrow like that?"
He'd crouched down, clawing at his own hair, in agony.
"My dad took all the money. My mom's in chemo. I don't have any money left, I don't have any money."
"I don't want anything to happen to my mom. I don't."
That person had simply tossed him a card. "The PIN ends in six. Take it, get your mother treated, and pay me back whenever you can."
His mother had finally gotten her treatment, and because she'd been in decent health to begin with, after a few rounds she'd pulled through.
That was when he'd really come into her orbit.
He learned she was a boxer.
He started going to watch her fights in his free time, dressing her wounds when she got hurt, and later, through her, he came to work at a club.
Life had started looking up. He gave his mother a better life, and he fell in love with the woman who'd saved her.
Just when things had finally settled, Flora reappeared.
She'd turned sweet, well-behaved, coaxing his mother into smiles.
"After a while I figured, if you want to come back, then come back. What mattered was that my mom was happy."
Patricia was stunned. "Son, what are you saying? You're saying Hope Brady paid for my treatment?"
"That money for the treatment, wasn't it Flora's?"
Flora let go of his arm, guilt keeping her head down.
Just then a nurse caught sight of the group and walked briskly over to Patricia, her voice all business, with a touch of distance.
"You're Miss Hope Brady's mother-in-law?"
"Is Miss Brady's husband here? Do you want the baby kept in the hospital, or taken home to be cared for?"
"If you keep the baby here, at least one family member has to stay, since the baby needs to be fed."
Everard's heart lurched. He grabbed the nurse's arm.
"What do you mean one family member has to stay? Aren't the baby's mother and grandmother both here?"
