Between Heaven and Rock (The Swallow Barn Cottage Series, Book 3)

Bold Move

Four weeks later...

Snezha, Fenton and Viola's nurse, tilted on one side and looked at Ulla from behind the surgery laptop.

"He's going to be alright," she said to Ulla, who immediately stopped drumming her fingers on an armrest of her chair.

"Sorry," Ulla muttered, and the nurse smiled at her.

"No problem," she said. "I heard them laughing in the room. And Dr. Fenton said the X-Ray looked good."

"Oh good." Ulla's tone was bleak.

She considered informing the blonde woman how nauseous seeing the Reverend Holyoake anywhere near a hospital cot made her feel - and then she didn't. She might have grown soft here, in this mad county of Fleckney - but she still had trouble with admitting feeling vulnerable. Or being human in general.

The door to the waiting room opened, and she jumped to her feet.

"Have a good day, Reverend," Dr. Fenton grumbled, gave Ulla a curt nod, and disappeared back inside.

"How did it go?" Ulla asked and cringed at how scratchy her voice sounded.

"All is well," Oli said and smiled at her softly. "It's healing well."

"Oh good. Good. Good," Ulla said. Two 'goods' would have sufficed, Ulla.

He stepped to her and pulled her into a tight hug. There was another patient - a lad of about twenty - in the waiting room, but even that didn't stop Ulla from burying her face into Oliver's chest and making a distressed noise.

"I don't like seeing you in any sort of a medical facility," she murmured, and he pressed his cheek to the top of her head.

"I know, darling. I'm sorry," he said softly. "But I promise you, everything is well. They might even take the cast off earlier than expected."

Ulla inhaled and rubbed her nose to his chest.

"Let's go," she said, moving away from him. "I have some news to share, and I think I want to discuss it with you," she said. Which is shocking, since it's private, and you're Ulla Svensson, and you don't share news and don't discuss stuff.

"Coffee?" he asked.

"Always," Ulla answered and led him out of the surgery.

***

"So, I've gotten a call from my former supervisor," Ulla said and licked the latte foam off her bottom lip. "The chief editor in the department I worked in, in John's publishing house."

They'd taken their coffee to go from the coffee counter Yola had opened in her book shop and were slowly walking along Oak Street. Mrs. Tomlin, the florist shouted her usual, 'Yoo-hoo!' across the street, and Ulla gave her a friendly wave.

"Remember how I got fired?" Ulla said to Oli, and he nodded. "I sent the manuscript of one of the authors to our competitors. I wonder if they got rejected. I assume so," she said. "No judgement on their book." It was rubbish, poor unadulterated rubbish, but again, what does one expect from an Olivia Dane wannabe who put little thought into the protagonist's personality and made her depend on a man to make her feel whole? Wake up, sister. "But the publishing house I sent it to mostly specialises in children's literature, so it's not exactly their cup of tea. But– I did send my manuscript to my supervisor, and– and she thinks it's good and maybe they want to publish it."

Oliver's steps stuttered, and then he stopped and turned to her.

"Ulla, that's amazing!"

"Yeah, it kind of– is," Ulla said and bit into her bottom lip.