The Princess and the Pauper (Arabella and Romeo) novel Chapter 1059

"Yesterday, I noticed your brother's eyes were all red and puffy. Things must not be going well. But they didn't tell me." The elderly woman on the other end of the phone chuckled, her tone light and carefree as if she had accepted her fate. "A while back, I saw a girl who looked just like you."

She'd had a flare-up of her illness at the time and couldn't take a good look. By the time she woke up and asked her caregiver, she was told the girl was just a passerby who had helped her.

The girl looked exactly like Louisa when she was young.

"Mom, are you missing me? Kenneth and I were just thinking of visiting you. Are you still in Dawnstar?" Louisa asked, concern etching her voice.

"Yeah, I moved to Lidaria this month. They say there's a brilliant doctor here who's saved a lot of lives. Maybe he can help with my condition, though I don't have much hope."

The elderly woman had grown weary from her long battle with the illness, the light in her eyes dimming.

"Mom, you can't think like that." Louisa's voice was strained, "Tomorrow I'll ask my brother. If the doctors there can't help, maybe someone from our family can."

"Our family? Do we have a doctor?" The elderly woman sounded surprised, then laughed, "Oh, you mean Clark. How's he doing? Is he busy with work?"

"Mom, Clark's a forensic scientist, I was talking about." Louisa stopped, torn between wanting to share her thoughts and fearing the impact on her mother's health. But she couldn't resist mentioning Bella, whose medical skills had saved so many people. She was sure Bella could help!

"Let's do this, tomorrow we'll head to Lidaria. We'll arrive the day after and then we can talk. Prepare yourself."

"What kind of doctor is so mysterious that you and Kenneth need to make a special trip? I might not be in Lidaria for long, I might need to move again."

"No, we haven't seen you in a long time. You've been unconscious, and my brother's been taking you around looking for treatment. Kenneth has been saying he wants to visit you. That's settled, we'll come tomorrow."