This is a very short chapter. I wrote Chs. 19-21 together. It might have made more sense to put 20 and 21 together, but I don't want 20 to be too long. And you see, after this one, my mind goes blank.
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Ch. 21
Instead of panicking together, Cristina held her breath and put herself together. Someone had to be in charge, someone had to stay cool.
"Maybe we've over reacted. Maybe Burke would simply be delighted to see his long-lost father. Maybe he won't think we've been hiding anything from him deliberately." Cristina wondered where the optimism came from as she juggled out those words. Must be all those Lifetime and Disney movies she watched with her daughter.
Would Burke be as forgiving as those movie heroes? Would things work out alright? She was very scared now. Already she was feeling her marriage was at stake, and now this. She grinded her teeth, hating herself for not going to Burke to spill out everything right from the beginning.
"My boy isn't a man who has a lot of anger towards the world, but this isn't something as simple as being stepped on the toe."
"Rose, if we don't call him now, we might regret later."
"Cristina." One could feel how shattered Rose was feeling from her voice.
A single drop of tears rolled down Samuel's check as he heard the two women wrestled about what to do. It was all his fault. He had hurt too many people in this life. He remembered when asked how many times one should forgive others, Jesus said 70 times 7. But how many times could someone be forgiven in a lifetime?
"I am sorry."
Cristina and Rose turned to look at the man in bed, before he coded.