Page 84 of Single Mom's Daddies
My throat closes.Oh hell.
“I didn’t want to be rude,” she adds quickly. “And it smelled so good. I just wanted to feel normal for once. Like a regular girl.” Her mouth wobbles. “I’m sorry, Mama.”
And just like that, my heart snaps in half. “Oh, baby.” I sit on the edge of the bed and pull her into my arms, pressing my lips to her temple. “Youarea regular girl. A beautiful, smart, brave girl. And you didn’t do anything wrong by wanting that.”
“But I messed up.”
“You scared me, yeah,” I admit. “You scared all of us. But I understand why you did it. I do. And I know you didn’t mean for anything bad to happen.”
Her head nods against my chest. “I won’t do it again.”
“You can’t,” I say gently but firmly. “Not even a bite. Not even one. Your body can’t take it right now. You know that, right?”
She sniffles and nods again. “I know. I’m sorry, Mama.”
A loud huff of frustrated breath makes their presence known. Roman, jaw hard, eyes locked on Ivy. Victor a step behind, his hands clenched at his sides like he’s fighting not to punch a wall. Nikolai just stares at her, something sharp and unreadable moving behind his eyes.
Ivy lifts her head from my chest and shrinks a little. “I didn’t mean to mess up.”
“You didn’t mess up,” Roman says quietly. “You wanted to feel normal. That’s no crime, Ivy.”
“But someone else should’ve stopped it from happening,” Victor adds, voice tight. “And they didn’t.”
Nikolai moves to the other side of the bed and brushes a lock of hair from her face. He smiles kindly at her. “We’re going to fix that. Don’t you worry.”
Ivy leans against me again, worn out from crying. And for the first time since that phone call, I let myself breathe.
Ivy mumbles, “Okay,” and then drifts off not long after that, curled into my side, her hand still gripping the fabric of my sleeve like she’s afraid I might vanish. Her face is pale but peaceful now, her breathing even. The worst of it is over. For tonight.
The three men stand at the foot of the bed. “She could’ve died,” Victor says, barely above a whisper. There’s no fury in it—just devastation.
“She didn’t,” I reply, stroking Ivy’s hair. “She’s okay.”
“She was given something she’s forbidden to have,” Roman says, voice razor-sharp. “By another child. In a ward where food restrictions should be monitored. Where nurses are paid to catch this kind of thing before it becomes life-threatening.”
“I know,” I whisper. I’m too tired to match his anger, too wrung out from fear. But they’re right. This isn’t just a scare. It’s a wake-up call.
“She can’t stay here,” Nikolai says suddenly. “It’s not safe.”
I blink up at him. “What?”
He crosses his arms. “Not like this. Not if she’s going to be surrounded by people who don’t take her condition seriously. Kids giving her candy. Nurses not noticing. No one double-checking. No more.”
“Ivy needs a transplant,” I say slowly. “She needs her cardiology team. The specialists here?—”
“Didn’t stop this from happening. And she’ll still have them,” Roman cuts in. “We’ll fly her back here the moment a heart is available. Or sooner, if there’s any change. We’ll keep her in touch with every doctor she has now.”
“She’ll be under twenty-four-hour care,” Victor adds. “In our home. With private nurses, rotating shifts. Monitored constantly. Our physician—Dr. Vlad—lives with us. He will oversee her care, and we’ll bring in any specialist she needs.”
My breath catches.
“Ivy’s hospital isn’t equipped to guard her,” Nikolai says. “Not from human error. Not from carelessness. But we are.”
My mind races to keep up. “You’re serious?”
“Yes,” Roman says. “She’ll have security. Privacy. Nurses with one job and one patient. Where no one can give her so much as a spoonful of applesauce unless it’s been cleared.”
“I—” I hesitate. “Can you even do that? Move her? Is that legal?”
