Page 75 of Dancing on Air

“What’s happened?” she cried out when she saw Cora laying on the floor.

“Call the police,” Max said, trying to hold the fighting woman away from Cora.

“Help!” his mother screamed out the locker-room doors. “Someone help us.”

“Max, she’s my mother,” Cora croaked. She coughed a few times.

The woman started fighting him even more.

“You bitch. You ended up just like your sister. You turned on me,” Cora’s mother screamed. She settled down when two security guards rushed in. “I won’t go back,” she said as she tried to get out of his hold again. “They’ll have to kill me first.” She laughed loudly. “You’ll see. My death is on you.” She said this looking directly at Cora.

“Shut up,” his mother screamed. “Get her out of here.” She turned to help Cora stand up. “Are you okay, honey?”

Cora was holding her throat but nodded. “Max came in just in time.” She smiled at him.

Then her smile faltered and her eyes grew huge.

“Max, you’re bleeding.” She rushed over to him.

He glanced down at his shirt and frowned at the blood soaking his button-up shirt.

“Someone help,” Cora said when he wavered.

“I guess she cut me.” He looked around and spotted the knife on the ground where Cora’s mother had dropped it during their fight.

His mother was there, helping him to sit down on a bench. “Get the doctor in here.” She tore open his shirt. “It’s just a small cut. Max, honey, look at me.”

He frowned up at her. “That’s the first time you have called me Max,” he said. Then he passed out.

He woke with a cold washcloth over his forehead.

“There you are.” Cora’s voice had his eyes popping open fast.

“Are you hurt?” he asked her.

She smiled down at him and shook her head. “No, I’m fine. You’re cut. No, don’t look.” She stopped him. “Your mother says you can’t handle the sight of blood.”

He groaned. “Tell me I didn’t take a nosedive this time.”

“No, your mother got you to sit down beforehand. She and Rowan are patching you up.” She smiled down at him. “It pays to have a brother-in-law who’s a doctor.”

“It’s just a scratch,” Rowan said. “You’ll have a pretty cool scar to talk about one day.”

Max took a deep breath. Then it hit him. “Cora, you’re supposed to be getting makeup and hair right now. When’s open curtain?” He tried to check his watch for the time.

“It’s okay.” Cora smiled. “There’s still time,” she said softly. “Your mother is having Riley brought down here so she can work on me.”

He frowned. “Does anyone have a clean shirt I can borrow?” He sat up when Rowan finished wrapping a huge bandage around his ribs.

“I’ve gotten you one.” His mother held up a shirt and a jacket just as Riley rushed in.

“Your mother?” he asked Cora.

“JT is taking care of it,” Rowan answered for her.

“Think you can put all this aside?” his mother asked Cora.

“Yes.” She smiled at him as she answered.