Page 92 of Accidental Doctor Daddy

After Carrie and Winner moved on, I stood there, an onion half-chopped, tears stinging my eyes not from the onion but from the hopelessness growing in my chest. If Dom’s career suffered because we had twins and complicated baggage, that was beyond my control.

Which was not a comforting thought. It was one more thing I couldn’t fix.

By the time I got home that night, I felt drained, physically and emotionally. Amanda was singing a lullaby to Summer, who cooed in delight, and I forced a smile. I tried not to begrudge how well the nanny did her job. “Thanks.”

“Of course,” Amanda said, noticing my strained tone. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” I lied, swallowing the dryness in my throat. “Just a rough day.”

When she left, I slumped onto the couch, rubbing my temples. Dom’s last text had been two words.Sleep well.

How the hell did he expect me to do that?

No mention of visiting, no phone call. The lonely hush of the apartment pressed in. If I left my job, would that solve anything? Then I’d rely on Dom’s money—something that made me cringe. If I stayed, the twins grew closer to Amanda by the day. If Dom’s job fell apart, that was on me, right?

Every angle of this, I was at fault. And I didn’t know how to fix any of it.

Eventually, I padded to the nursery, watching the twins drift in and out of sleep. My heart ached, swirling with guilt andlonging. Dom’s old struggle, repeated. Leo never forgave him for Jodie’s death. Now,Iwas the one with precious little time with my children.

I won’t let that happen to us,I thought fiercely, brushing a gentle hand over Marissa’s soft hair.But how do I avoid it, exactly?

I imagined Dom wrestling himself free from the hospital to rush to my side, only to find me a stressed-out wreck. Or me giving up my career, becoming a resentful shell of myself who might blame him for that choice.

Lose-lose.The realization broke something inside me, tears I’d been holding back all day slipping down my cheeks.

I crouched by the crib, head leaning on the railing, letting quiet sobs rack me.I’m sorry,I told them silently.Mommy doesn’t know how to fix this.

If Dom had soared too high with his ambition, I was being ground between the pillars of motherly duty and my job’s demands. Neither path let me breathe.

After a few minutes, I forced myself upright, wiping my face with the edge of my shirt. The twins needed a mom, not a crying mess. “It’s okay,” I whispered to them, though I didn’t believe it. “We’ll figure this out.”

But as I slipped into bed later, the apartment dark, my phone silent, all I could think was how I might be burdening Dom more than benefitting him. He had enough on his plate. Would he have been better off if I’d never walked into his life?

That thought hurt worse than I expected.But maybe…I’m making everything worse.

I stared at the ceiling, listening to the soft breathing of two little lives in the other room on the monitor. I loved them more than I ever thought possible. I loved Dom, too, in a way that scared me with its intensity. But love didn’t erase reality—itdidn’t stop the world from being cruel. My phone stayed dark, the weight in my chest heavier than ever.

So I closed my eyes, tears slipping out anyway, and tried to imagine a future where we all found a balance. Maybe I’ll just hang on until Dom finds a solution. Maybe if we hold each other tight enough, the storm will pass.

But storms don’t pass just because we want them to. Sometimes, they break us.

For now, I had no plan. No bright fix. Just raw worry that everything was unraveling at once. My job, my babies, Dom’s career, and Dom’s relationship with his other kids felt precarious. And I was at the center of that storm, tugging him in different directions.

I didn’t know if I could keep it up. But I also couldn’t bring myself to let go. And I had more questions than answers.

How do I protect the man I love from the chaos I’ve brought into his life, when I can barely protect myself?

Chapter 36

Dom

I’d pulled plenty of all-nighters in my career, but today, I was running on less than three hours of decent sleep. A messy combination of newborn duties and an early surgical consult had me chugging coffee just to keep my eyes open.

Typical Monday,I told myself as I headed through the hospital corridors.

At least it was my kind of mess. Better to be exhausted from caring for my daughters and saving lives than…well, any other reason. Still, my shoulders felt stiff from tension. Ella was worried about her job, the girls, and me and Leo. I had my worries, too. Neither of us was good at opening up about what was on our minds. But we’d figure it out.

As I paused near the nurses’ station to grab a file, one of the RNs, Marta, hustled over, breathless. “Dr. Mortoli, quick!”

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