323–Cooking Evilness
Graham:
Bothered felt like too small a word for what I was feeling at that moment.
I was beyond humiliated by the way my own daughter rushed over to Baxter.
It felt like a slap. But who was responsible for it?
Was it Madeline’s fault for pushing my child toward Baxter, or was it my own fault?
As I stepped toward the car parked on the road, I kept thinking about the events leading up to the rejection I gave Madeline.
I should not have been rude to my daughter, at least. But I never was.
I had always been kind to Gina. All these thoughts were driving me crazy.
I thought maybe having a child with Kaylee would be enough for me to forget Gina. But it seemed it was not.
Her innocent little face reminded me of my desire to take care of my daughter.
All of it was snatched from me, and I found myself wishing I had not taken a wrong step.
“What are you thinking?” Elgin asked as he caught up with me, still carrying Hailey in his arms.
I wondered if he felt the same. I noticed the way he looked at Elara, but there was not much compassion.
That was probably because he had a daughter of his own.
Maybe once my babies were born, I would completely shut Gina out of my mind.
“Don’t you think they try to act very understanding in front of us?” I remarked to Elgin. (1
He grunted and walked ahead of me, waiting for me to open the door so he could buckle Hailey into her seat in the back.
I quickly opened the door. Once he put Hailey down and closed it, he turned to face me.
“Honestly, I don’t care,” Elgin replied. “I care about my wife and my daughters. I’m keeping those thoughts at bay. You should do the same. Madeline and her children should not be our concern
He then strolled toward the driver’s side.
I could tell why. Seeing his daughter that way might have triggered something in him.
Maybe he had grown cautious of his actions and decided to pay more attention to her.
Or maybe he was afraid of upsetting Madeline to the point where she would not help him next time if any of his children were
sick.
I turned around and looked back toward the cabin.
Then, as if something shifted in me, I sat down in the car and cleared my throat.
That was my way of telling Elgin I had something to say.
“Don’t you think it’s strange how quickly she took care of Hailey? I asked. That was all I said.
When I was no longer searching Elgin’s face for answers, he was staring right back at me.
“What do you mean?” he questioned.
“I mean, come on, Elgin,” I pressed. “You really want to believe it was a coincidence that she asked us to leave so she could give Hailey a cure?”
Elgin’s hands rested on the steering wheel, but he had not started driving.
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323–Cooking Evilness
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“Do you really think she just pulled something out and it worked? I continued. “What could she have given a sleeping child? A cure that woke her up? Or do you think she sang her a lullaby and that woke her up? Because trust me, I’ve seen Silver try that
too.”
I reminded him of how Silver had tried everything to wake Hailey earlier.
so they have a cure and they’re not giving it to us?” Elgin asked, shifting in his seat to look at me.
“Of course,” I replied. “They’re going to hold it against us to make us obey them and bow to their demands. People will push us to do it for the sake of the sick children.”
Elgin fell silent. I paused, then placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
“People don’t hate her like we do,” I added. “They’re not as concerned with her life as we are, or Baxter’s either. That powerful wolf was taken away because he could have been a threat to all of us.”
As for Madeline, I hesitated, beginning to wonder why
we
were so against her in the first place.
It was as if the more I tried to focus on why I was so angry with Madeline, the more I began to realize it had something to do with me and my own actions.
However, I shut down the part of me that was trying to awaken some sense. I did not need that. 2
The truth was, I was bothered. Madeline, together with Baxter, was going to be dangerous for us, especially since she knew the cure and was not helping us.
Yes, I was angry with her because she was not helping the children
“So what are we going to do now?” Elgin asked, and I started to smirk.
“Elgin, you know this is a rogue community,” I replied. “Anything can happen here.”
“I imagined we and our warriors entering the cabin, beating down the woman’s weak husband, then grabbing her and demanding the cure from her. The cure that was promised to us,” I gave him a scenario and then smirked at him, and he seemed to ponder the idea before giving me the same grin. (2
“Forcing the woman- –“he paused as he mentioned madeline, “for cure!” That was his way of speaking in riddles.
“When are we going to do that?” he asked.
“How about tonight?” I replied.
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