The Unseen Enemy Series

Chapter 234

Cordelia unlocked the apartment door, sighing with pleasure at being home. It had been a long and emotional day, and she was ready to have some of her mother’s famous lasagna and kick back with a glass of wine. Maybe two.

“Hi, Mom.” Sean was standing in the tiny kitchen drinking a glass of carrot juice. For reasons that would forever remain a mystery to Cordelia, her son loved the stuff. He’d choose it over milk, over apple juice, even over Coke. Not that she offered Sean Coke very much, but still. It was inarguably odd for a ten-year-old kid to ask for carrot juice with his pizza.

“Hi, sweetie.” Wearily, she kicked off her cheap high heels. “You doing alright?”

“Oh, he’s fine, believe me. But your son is driving me crazy, I’ll have you know.”

Cordelia turned to her mother, already fighting back her grin. The woman complained unceasingly about Sean driving her crazy, but woe to Cordelia if she suggested that Chantal take a few days off from child care. The last time she’d run thatidea past her Mom, Chantal had doubled down on the time spent with her only grandchild.

“What’s he done now?” Cordelia asked. “And is there anything to eat?”

“That’s what he’s done!” Chantal’s dark eyes were flashing behind her glasses. “He ate your dinner!”

“Oh.”

“Oh?” Chantal said. “That’s all you’ve got to say?”

Cordelia shrugged. “Well, I’m glad he was so hungry.”

Truer words had never been spoken. Sean had been diagnosed with a brain tumor two years earlier, and his appetite was unpredictable: some days he ate ravenously like a normal growing kid, other days he barely consumed enough food to sustain a sparrow. Cordelia always rejoiced when he scarfed down everything in sight, even if it meant that she went without, or heated up a package of Mr. Noodles for dinner yet again.

“I was hungry!” Sean protested. “I had time trials at swim practice today.”

Cordelia immediately stamped down hard on her natural maternal instinct to freak out a bit. The doctor had said that Sean was absolutely allowed to participate in sports when he was up for it, but she still didn’t like the thought of her seizure-prone son being immersed in water. She drew the line at sports where balls came at Sean’s head at high speeds, but she’d relented on the swim team – and Sean had taken up the sport enthusiastically.

Looking at him now, bursting with pride and excitement, Cordelia reminded herself to take a breath and be grateful. Right from the beginning, she had decided to not live in fear of what might happen, not to hide her son away from the world. He was sick and that scared her to death, but no way she was going to wrap him in cotton wool and keep him home and coddle him. Hiding from the truth or protecting herself from the pain wasn’t going to cure his cancer – and it wasn’t going to stop his death. Fear and denial had never helped anything.

Calming her heartbeat took an effort, but Cordelia managed it. “Yeah? How’d you do?”

“Great.” His dark eyes sparkled at her. “I shaved two seconds off my fifty-meter front crawl.”

“You’re awesome, kiddo.” She kissed him on his nose. “You totally earned that lasagna.”

“Sorry, Mom. I guess you’re hungry, huh?”

“Not so much.” Cordelia opened the fridge, peered in. “I’ll make an omelet.”

“I’ll make it for you,” Chantal fussed. “You go get cleaned up, relax a bit.”

“It’s fine, Mom.”

“Don’t you talk back to me, missy. You go get changed, have a shower, watch TV, whatever.” Chantal glared. “You listen to your mother, you hear me?”

“Yes, ma’am.” She may have been thirty-five years old, but her Mom was still determined to be in charge in some ways, and damned if Cordelia was going to fight it tonight. Yeah, they’d had some epic battles about Sean’s father and about Sean’s medical treatment and Chantal wanting to move in full-time – and on those things Cordelia hadn’t bowed or bent. But cooking an omelet? Her Mom could win this round.