Chapter 26 – Poppy
What the hell am I doing? I gazed at myself in the mirror.
The routine here had been easy. We’d fallen into it without meaning to.
The new dishes begged to be cooked with the brand-new appliances.
The renovations made this house fresh and new, especially the kitchen with the new backsplash, counters, and refurbished cabinets.
The bathroom was scheduled for a remodel, a three-day process that would start tomorrow.
Ivan thought of everything, turning his house into a home we could share.
Those things, plus Brady’s enthusiasm, pushed the idea to escape to the back of my mind.
Even the proposal didn’t drag it out again.
It took an attack at the ice cream parlor to wake me the hell up.
While Ivan was right, that bad people existed everywhere, I was on full alert.
I spent last night concocting a plan to escape.
We had to leave. In case my phone was being tracked, I didn’t search for places.
I put it in airplane mode and manually scrolled around the map app.
Arizona seemed far enough away. There were little towns in the desert where we could disappear.
But the thought of living with cacti and rattlesnakes didn’t hold much appeal.
The Pacific Northwest was the next best option.
It was said that people could simply disappear out there.
I used to consider myself a bougie, crunchy homesteader.
Maybe it was time to go full scale and live off the grid.
No more Prime.
No more Kindle Unlimited.
A shudder rippled through me. To give up my books, to stop posting about them with readers—that was an impossibly hard price to pay. But my boy’s safety required it.
I scooped my hair into a pony. It was going to take asking the don to help me leave. But bringing Alessandro into the conflict would put Penelope in the crosshairs. I had no doubt he could protect her, but it made me sick to think she would be at risk because of me.
There just didn’t seem to be another way.
If we were going to leave—and at this point, I was decided we were—it would take humbling myself and asking for help.
I set my shoulders. We would pretend to go grocery shopping. That would give Alessandro a few minutes to help us into a vehicle out the back door, and then it would be a drive straight from hell to leave Chicago.
It can work. It had to.
I emerged from the bathroom and my heart squeezed to see the two of them cuddled on the couch, Brady reading the pictures in a book to Ivan.
It was funny, Ivan never seemed to engage in reading.
He’d seen me do it often enough with his son, so it wasn’t like he didn’t think it was a good thing. But he never did it himself.
“That spider lives in the Southern States,” Ivan explained, pointing to the map at the bottom of the page. “They don’t come up here.”
“If they did, I’d squish them!” Brady clapped his hands together.
Ivan looked up, meeting my gaze.
“I’ll be back as soon as the appointment is over,” I said with a smile, trying to keep the turmoil out of my voice.
His eyes narrowed. “You should take one of the guys with you.”
I laughed off his suggestion, when all I wanted to do was bristle instead. “I don’t need a babysitter.”
“Think of it as a paid driver, then,” Ivan insisted.
To keep him from fighting me on the issue, I rolled my eyes and agreed. Boris was summoned, and in half an hour, we pulled up in front of the clinic.
“You don’t have to come inside.” I gathered my purse and reached for the handle.
Peering up, out of the windshield, the Made Man grimaced. “I don’t like doctors.”
“Why?” I paused, genuinely curious.
Boris shrugged. “They talk at you. Like you’re some kind of incompetent child.”
Real laughter trickled from my lips. “That’s because to most of them, you’re just the next chart on the schedule. But a good doctor knows you. They have conversations with you.”
“Then I guess I haven’t found a good one.” Boris tapped a finger on the wheel. “Go on inside, I’ll be waiting out here when you’re done.”
Bracing myself, I went. Penelope was in the lobby. Other than the haunted look in her eyes, there was no trace of the sorrow etched in her face. Her smile was brilliant as ever.
“Want to grab lunch when we’re done?” she asked. “We haven’t done a boozy brunch in ages.”
“Sure, Penny, whatever you want.” I sank into the vinyl seat next to her.
Mancini gripped the back of her chair, looking stormy and broody. That could have been my fate. Tied to a bloodthirsty monster. But…he was good to my cousin. Soft for her, yet oh, so strong when she needed him to be.
When the nurse called out our turn, I tried to back out of going into the room, but one please from Penelope had me tagging along. The nurse went through the motions of checking blood pressure, weight, and asking a crap ton of questions.
Penelope cheerfully answered. Her voice only caught when she explained that there had been a little blood in her panties.
“None today?” the nurse clarified.
My cousin shook her head.
The stupid organ in my heart caught. It was the smallest of hitches. I mentally tightened my inner shields, refusing to let hope bubble up. It would only be dashed in a few minutes.
When the OB came in, there was another round of tedious questions. The doctor was sympathetic, but there was an edge to her voice. I had to curl my fists when she gently reminded Penelope that she’d said it was unlikely there would be a healthy pregnancy after the last miscarriage.
“It was an accident this time,” Alessandro snapped. “It wasn’t like we were trying to see you again.”
The doctor huffed. Her mouth puckered as she grabbed the handheld ultrasound machine. Her nurse dimmed the lights.
“Poppy?” Penelope asked, reaching for me.
Alessandro stood at her head, hands protectively resting over her shoulders. Sneaking around the other side of the examine table, I gripped my cousin’s hand with all my might.
A low whomp-whomp-whomp filled the room.
The nurse gasped.
I shot a look at her and then at the screen. The doctor angled the wand, digging into Penelope’s belly.
“Congratulations, Penelope,” the OB said, voice losing its edge. “There’s a heartbeat.”
A collective shock fell over us. The nurse burst into tears.
Penelope was the first to move, pulling the cart with the screen closer. She stared at the alien-shaped ball. I squeezed her hand and leaned forward as well.
“The baby’s…alive?” Don Mancini, arguably the king of the Chicago Underworld, was hoarse. Broken. In complete awe.
“Yes,” the doctor said in a softer tone. “I thought as much, but I didn’t want to get your hopes up. Alright, my dear, let’s get you to labs for a complete work up and then to a proper ultrasound. We’re going to put you through the ropes today.”
“But I was bleeding.” Penelope gripped the screen as if her life depended on it.
“That occasionally happens. Your cervix could have been irritated, you could have overdone yourself physically, there are countless possibilities. But I want to check everything to make sure we aren’t missing something, okay?” The doctor patted her hand.
“So I should go on bed rest?” Penelope chewed her lip.
The doctor shook her head. “While there are still some cases we recommend that, it’s an outdated idea. You need to stay active, just don’t overdo it. We’ll chat more about that when you come back to me after labs and the sonogram.”
“Oh, honey!” The nurse came over and gave Penelope a big hug.
That was when Penelope’s strong facade broke. She began to weep. Tears of joy pricked my own eyes.
The doctor waited impatiently but didn’t comment on the nurse’s break from professionalism.
We were whisked away, shepherded from each area, and not a stone was left unturned.
Even when her blood was drawn, Mancini stayed right next to her.
It would have been the perfect opportunity for me to ask for his help, and I might have if he’d stayed in the waiting area with me.
But by the time we were done, I’d forgotten about my own plans.
Brunch was also forgotten in the whirlwind of excitement.
It wasn’t until we were driving back to Ivan’s home that the thought of escape popped into my head, and I had to hide my jerk of surprise. I fidgeted, trying to think of another way to contact Maninci. Nothing came to me.
As I walked around to the backyard, I paused to watch Ivan shooting hoops with Brady.
The sight was overwhelming to my already fragile state. Ivan’s hair was tied back in a low ponytail. He moved with grace and agility, clearly letting Brady win, but not making it easy for him. There were plenty of dads younger than Ivan who couldn’t move like that.
Age wasn’t the issue. Ivan said once that he was going to live for his child.
My fingers spread across my belly.
That could be me in the doctor’s office.
Right here was the chance to have everything I wanted, and yet I was still planning to run away.
With a sigh, I leaned against the post of the chain link fence.
Maybe that could still be in my future. But if I found a man, there was always going to be the cloud of worry that Ivan would burst back into the picture and destroy my world.
That was the risk I was taking by running away.
And no matter how I tried to picture it, I couldn’t see another man filling the place of father and husband the same way Ivan could. It hurt to let that dream go, but for my son, I would.