I am not sure what went wrong with chapter 25, but it is up now, in the right order. It was an important one to understand chapter 26, I am so sorry.

Cora woke up in an empty bed. She got up, wrapped herself in her bathrobe and went looking for Robert. She found him with Ava on his lap on the balcony. She stepped outside very quietly. Ava was listening to his story. Cora sat down next to them, leaning into Robert's shoulder. When Ava noticed her, she crawled on Cora's lap. She snuggled her little girl. She was growing up fast, tomorrow would be her first day of school and that gave Cora anxiety. All the other children could be spreading germs. What if she wasn't strong enough to battle a simple cold. Ava's doctors were all very positive, she was a strong little girl, but Cora kept her in a protective bubble.

It gave some tension between her and Robert. "When the doctors say it is alright, we need to let her go to school." He said a few nights back.

"Those doctors, made mistake with her diagnosis!" Cora had replied.

Robert sighed: "Cora, you have to have a little bit more trust."

"No, sorry, I can't. I want a second opinion. What if we send Ava to school and she gets really sick? I don't want to risk losing her."

"We cannot put her in a glass box, she needs to live her life. She is 6 years old and needs friends at school."

Cora had walked away, without saying anything else.


Robert looked at Cora sitting next to him, she confused him. Last night she still didn't talk to him and went to bed without saying goodnight. But now she was leaning into him. Since their last argument, they weren't on speaking terms. Cora avoided him, she was a lot in her atelier. He carefully put his arm around her shoulder, normally Cora would sink into him a little bit more, but now she stayed where she was. Did she lean into him out of habit and now was dreading her move?

"Are you ready for school tomorrow?" he said to Ava. But he got a very angry look from Cora.

Ava's face lit up. "I am ready daddy, I will have friends."

Cora looked away and Robert saw her eyes shimmer with tears. His thumb rubbed her arm, hoping she would open up to him. He had missed her affection during Ava's treatments. She was back for a few weeks, until it dawned that Ava should go to school. Cora again shut him out, and he didn't know how to reach her. Cora abruptly stood up with Ava in her arms.

"I will make breakfast." Without looking at Robert she walked back inside.


"Of course, I can come."

"Is it not too much of a bother with Jessica?"

"We have a wonderful nanny."

"I will book a flight for you tomorrow. Hopefully you can help."


Cora had dressed Ava in her school uniform, but Robert had brought her to school. Cora couldn't face it. She was in her atelier trying to paint. The door opened and she was ready to snap at Robert, that she wanted to be left alone when she saw a woman's face.

"Olivia!" Cora jumped up and wrapped her arms around her daughter. "What are you doing here. Where are Max and little Jessica?"

"They are at home."

"Why are you here?" Cora asked again.

"Robert called me." Olivia started but got interrupted by Cora.

"He shouldn't have done that. This is something we need to resolve ourselves." She stepped back and picked up her paint brush again.

"Mama?" Olivia tried, but Cora shut her out.


"I figure your mother is not opening up?" Robert asked while giving Olivia a cup of coffee.

"Mama, is really scared. I don't know if I will be able to reach her. We have to give her time and I think she will be scared for a while. I remember when I fell down the stairs when I was little. It took weeks before I was allowed to walk the stairs without her next to me." Olivia chuckled.

Robert frowned. "That means she will never recover and will have trust that Ava will be safe."

"She will. You have to give her time."

"Maybe instead of using my daughter as a mediator, you should go and pick up Ava!" Cora's voice was brusk and hard.

"Darling." Robert stood up. "I brought Olivia here because I thought that was what you needed."

"What I need is a healthy daughter! What I need is a life without the fear my youngest could die." Tears were streaming down Cora's cheeks.

Robert walked over and held her close. Cora wasn't ready to be comforted by Robert, but she didn't fight it.

"I can pick up Ava?"

"No, Robert will go. The teachers will not let you take her."

Robert kissed Cora on her temple.


"Mama, mama, mama." Ava came running through the door.

"Calm down, darling. Come we will go wash your hands." Cora said.

"I made friends, I have friends! Mama, I have friends." Ava said with a radiant smile.

"That is wonderful darling." Cora smiled at her. "No, you need to wash them better."

Robert touched Cora's shoulder and said very soft in her ear. "That is enough darling."

"Darling, I want to hear everything about your day." He said louder to Ava.

Ava started chatting away.


That evening in bed, Cora turned around to face Robert. "Are you awake?"

"I am."

"Thank you for calling Olivia. That was really sweet of you."

Robert rested his hand on Cora's hip. "I didn't know what to do and..."

Cora interrupted. "I once again shut you out, I promised you I wouldn't do that anymore. I don't know why I keep doing it. Everything around Ava is just stressing me out and I can't live with the idea we are going to lose her."

"Darling. You really need to stop thinking this way. We are not going to lose her. Ava is a strong and healthy girl. She won the fight against cancer."

"I know in my mind that you are right. But my heart is telling me something else."

Robert leaned in to kiss her. "You should talk more." He said when he broke the connection.

Cora took a deep breath. "I know, I know. I only don't know how I am going to do that."

"I will try and keep you with me. For now, we need to go to sleep, Ava will have another school day and I have to go to work. You know what! We should go to a movie tomorrow, now Olivia is here, she can watch Ava. There is a new movie about a large house on an estate in England. They follow the lives of people living upstairs but also downstairs. John said Anna loved the movie."

"That is a wonderful idea. We will do that. Good night darling, sleep tight." Cora gave Robert a long and passionate kiss.