The next morning, as Eleanor was tying Evelyn''s hair, the little girl said happily, "Mommy, Daddy is taking me to school today. We agreedst night."
"Okay," Eleanor said, having no intention of interfering with her daughter''s wishes.
When Evelyn emerged with her little backpack on,n was already waiting outside the door.
"Let''s go," he said, taking his daughter''s hand. He looked up at Eleanor and noticed she was also carrying her bag, ready to leave.
The three of them rode the elevator down in silence. Evelyn nced from her father to her mother, a sad look on her face as she lowered her head.
"Other mommies and daddies love each other. You two don''t even talk anymore," Evelyn said, voicing the simple, painful truth. They really had nothing to say to each other, except for matters rted to work.
A sharp pang of guilt shot throughn as he stroked his daughter''s head.
Eleanor looked at her daughter, and her gaze inadvertently metn''s. The raw emotion swirling in his deep-set eyes made her quickly look away. "Be sure to eat your lunch at school," she told Evelyn.
"Okay, Mommy, I will," Evelyn replied with a nod.
On the crisp spring morning, the school entrance was bustling with parents seeing their children off. Ian walked Evelyn to the gate and knelt to straighten her cor. "Go on now."
"Evelyn!" Vivian called out, skipping over. Xavier stood a few paces behind her. Once the children were inside,n walked over to Xavier. "Are you free for lunch? I was thinking of getting Henry to join us."
"Some other time. I have some personal matters to attend totely,"n replied.
Xavier paused but didn''t press further. "Alright. Give me a call when you''re free."
"Will do,"n nodded.
The two men walked to their respective cars. Ian drove off first, with Xavier leaving a few momentster.
At theb, at ten in the morning, Eleanor joined Dr. Smith to check on Gina. Dr. Smith had administered another stem cell infusion the
previous night, but her condition?
showed no immediate improvement
The red spots under her eyelids
were more pronounced, and the skin around the veins in her arms and
legs was covered in dark red blotches, a startling sight.
Afterward, Eleanor and Dr. Smith held a meeting with the team.
During the meeting, Dr. Smith was effusive in his praise for Eleanor. "El, your insight is extraordinary. I spent ten years building the theoretical framework and data models and
you found the breakthrough in fraction of the time. You''re truly
remarkable."
Eleanor, in turn, felt immense gratitude toward Dr. Smith and refused to take all
the credit. "Doctor, without your foundational theories and data, I could never have
made this progress. My work was done standing on your shoulders."
Her humility was not lost on Dr. Smith or the rest of the team. They had all contributed to the database and by attributing her sess to their collective efforts, Eleanor showed them a level of respect that earned their deep admiration.
Just then, a team member noticedn standing at the doorway. "Mr. Goodwin, you''re here. Please,e in."
It was unclear how long he had been standing there, but his gaze was fixed on Eleanor. He had obviously heard what she said.
"Mr. Goodwin, would you like to join us?" Dr. Smith invited.
Dr. Smith lowered his voice. "Mrs. Goodwin''s condition is worrying. We have to elerate our experiments and find a breakthrough, hopefully before....." He trailed off, but everyone in the room understood the unspoken urgency. Eleanor''s grip on her pen tightened. No matter what, Gina was her daughter''s grandmother. She wanted her to recover. Despite how poorly Gina had treated her in the past, her love for Evelyn was undeniable.
The Holt Group.
Henry was in a meeting with several senior executives when his phone buzzed.
"I bought the tickets for 3:30." It was from Vanessa.
Henry nced at the time, realizing with a jolt that it was already Friday.
"Okay, I''ll pick you up at two," he replied.