Love at First Sight? Mr. Harrison Has Been Scheming All Along-Chapter 122: "Are You Still with Evan Hollis Now?
Outside, Evan Hollis demurred a couple of times before finally agreeing.
Rory Linden didn’t see anything wrong with it.
She was currently examining Maisie.
Maisie was already very guarded. If Rory left now, the girl would only become more anxious.
’I definitely can’t leave.’
Sean Harrison had met Evan Hollis before and knew he would be accompanying her on this rural outreach trip.
Quiet soon returned to the area outside the bedroom.
Evan Hollis took the phone and stepped out of the small cabin. Once the call connected, he said, "Hello, Mr. Harrison."
That one simple word, along with the form of address, gave Sean Harrison a strange sense of familiarity.
On the other end of the line, Sean Harrison was instantly on guard.
"Who is this? Where’s Rory Linden?"
The weather in the countryside was pleasant, though it got a bit chilly at night.
A gust of wind whistled through the phone’s microphone.
Only then did Evan Hollis put on his usual, practiced smile. "Dr. Linden is busy working, so she asked me to take the call for her."
"You’re Evan Hollis?"
Sean Harrison immediately guessed who it was.
Rory Linden had mentioned before that he was on the same rural medical outreach team as her.
"Yes."
Evan Hollis looked up at the sky. "Dr. Linden is with a patient and can’t come to the phone. Is there a message I can pass along?"
Sean Harrison trusted Rory Linden.
But for some reason, he was wary of Evan Hollis.
The man’s tone was perfectly polite, yet it made him uncomfortable.
And then there was that faint sense of familiarity.
A few seconds of silence passed over the line.
Finally, Sean Harrison said, "That’s not necessary. Just have her call me back when she’s done."
"Okay. If there’s nothing else, I’ll hang up now."
Evan Hollis didn’t hang up right away.
He pressed his ear tightly against the receiver.
He listened intently for the man’s reaction.
Unfortunately, the other man said nothing and hung up first.
Evan Hollis stared at the phone as it returned to the lock screen, his disappointment impossible to hide.
’He didn’t recognize my voice at all?’ he wondered.
Meanwhile, Rory Linden had thoroughly examined Maisie, and then she examined Maisie’s mother as well.
Both mother and daughter had genital warts.
It was a fairly common sexually transmitted disease.
Under these circumstances, Rory Linden’s natural assumption was that the mother had contracted it first and had then transmitted it to her daughter by sharing things like towels.
"This isn’t difficult to treat, but you’ll have to be more careful in the future. If someone in the house has an illness like this, you must not share things like towels, and you should wash your clothes separately."
After explaining the illness, Rory Linden was about to bring up the topic of cochlear implants.
Before she could speak, Maisie spoke up. "No... It wasn’t Mom... who gave it to me."
This was the first time Maisie had spoken since Rory arrived.
Just as she had expected, the girl’s enunciation was unclear.
This was common among children with acquired hearing loss.
They started out with normal hearing, but as it declined, their language abilities deteriorated as well.
Rory Linden then turned to look at Maisie’s mother.
The woman’s name was Florence Thorne. She was about the same height as Maisie, around five-foot-one.
She had short, messy hair that looked like she’d cut it herself.
"No, no, I was the one who gave it to her," Florence Thorne admitted.
"No... it wasn’t... It was... Gary... Gary Sinclair!"
Maisie struggled to get the words out.
Rory Linden’s expression instantly froze.
Though the girl’s speech was slurred, Rory Linden had clearly heard the name "Gary Sinclair."
The next second, she remembered what Sean Harrison had told her.
Sean Harrison had told her that after Gary Sinclair ran away, he’d had four marriages.
During his fourth marriage, he was an abusive alcoholic who sexually assaulted his own stepdaughter and beat her until she was deaf in one ear.
’It can’t be...’
’It’s really them!’
Florence Thorne quickly pulled her daughter to her side, about to explain things to Rory Linden.
But then she saw that the doctor’s eyes had already turned red.
"Doctor?"
Florence Thorne was startled.
"Your ex-husband... his name is Gary Sinclair?"
Rory Linden had to confirm.
"He’s not my ex-husband, he’s a monster!" Florence Thorne grew suddenly agitated at the mention of Gary Sinclair. "If it weren’t for him, my daughter and I wouldn’t be living like this!"
Maisie’s eyes reddened as well.
Rory Linden understood what she meant.
If it weren’t for Gary Sinclair, Maisie would be a normal girl. Even if she didn’t go to school, she could still get a normal job.
But now, deaf in one ear and with slurred speech...
She was psychologically scarred and had contracted a disease.
Her life had been completely derailed.
Rory Linden decided to address the most urgent matters first. "Maisie’s hearing loss can be treated. She can get a cochlear implant. It’s very expensive, but there are charitable organizations that do this. I can help you apply."
"R-Really?!"
Florence Thorne’s eyes lit up.
"Yes," Rory Linden confirmed with a firm nod. "If her hearing is treated, her speech will recover too. She’ll be able to go to school like any other kid."
Maisie shook her head frantically.
Rory Linden knew what she meant.
She didn’t want to go to school.
It wasn’t because of her hearing or her speech.
It was because of her disease.
For a teenage girl, a disease too shameful to speak of was nothing short of a catastrophe.
"The disease you and your mother have is very treatable," Rory Linden said. "I’ll give you money for travel, help you buy tickets, and arrange for you to get treatment at a top-tier hospital in Veridia."
"No, no, we can’t..."
Florence Thorne had wanted to say they had money, but since they really didn’t, she could only change her tune.
"I’ll take her for treatment when I have the money."
From just that brief exchange, Rory Linden could tell that Florence Thorne and Maisie were good people.
And Gary Sinclair had so easily ruined both of their lives.
Evan Hollis had just returned the phone and was now standing guard at the door again.
Rory Linden clutched her phone tightly. After a moment’s hesitation, she said, "To be perfectly honest, I’m Gary Sinclair’s daughter."
The moment she said it, the entire room fell silent.
The mother and daughter in front of her looked utterly panicked.
They looked as if they were facing a formidable enemy.
Rory Linden continued, "But I also despise that scumbag Gary Sinclair. For as long as I can remember, he drank, gambled, and beat my mother and me. After my mother passed away, he collected the compensation money and just threw me out onto the street, abandoning me completely."
Florence Thorne remained wary of Rory Linden. "You... how did you find us?"
"Gary Sinclair abandoned me twenty years ago. A few months ago, he came to Veridia to find me. But he’s been locked up for extortion now. He’ll be in prison for at least ten years."
After explaining Gary Sinclair’s situation, Rory Linden continued, "My boyfriend told me about your situation. He only said that Gary Sinclair had beaten his stepdaughter until she was deaf in one ear. I figured out the rest on my own."
Rory Linden explained everything earnestly.
Only then did the mother and daughter let down their guard.
Florence Thorne asked again, "He... he’s really going to be in prison for at least ten years?"
"Yes."
Rory Linden confirmed with a firm nod.
Afterward, thanks to Rory Linden’s gentle persuasion, the mother and daughter agreed to accept her help.
They were willing to go to Veridia for laser treatment for their disease and to contact the relevant foundations to get a custom cochlear implant for Maisie.
As they were discussing this, Evan Hollis came back inside and offered to take on the task of contacting the foundations.
Before they left, they each gave the mother and daughter some money.
-
On the way back.
Evan Hollis said with a smile, "You should call your boyfriend back. When he heard my voice, he probably thought I’d done something to you."
Taking his advice, Rory Linden picked up her phone and called the number back.
The call connected after a few rings.
Sean Harrison’s first words were, "Are you still with Evan Hollis?"
