Page 46 of Love for a Lifetime

Her dad deserved a gold star. He’d repeated the explanation she’d given him to the letter.

“She’s in pain!” Dawson insisted, gesturing toward where she lay on the couch.

Levi burst into the room holding up her gray purse. “Found it!”

He handed it to Olivia, and she unzipped the front pocket. She latched onto the pill bottle. Her hand shook as she opened the top. Sweat beaded on her temple, and she wiped it with the back of her hand.

“Levi, can you get her a wet rag?” Dawson asked.

“I’ll help,” her dad offered as he led Levi into the kitchen.

Dawson knelt down beside her and pinned her with his intense stare. His blue eyes begged for answers, and his words did the same as he whispered, “What’s wrong with my queen?”

Olivia’s chin quivered as she shook her head. “It’s nothing. I have a condition where I have these pains every once in a while. It’s nothing serious.”

Nothing serious. That description waded into murky waters, depending on which part of the endometriosis she was talking about.

Overall danger to her health? Minimal.

Did it pose a threat to her service to others? Occasionally.

Did it narrow her chances for relationships and a family? Drastically.

Would it quickly become the talk of the town if she let everyone in her life know about it? Most definitely. The last thing she wanted was to have her friends and strangers talking about her feminine problems.

Dawson shook his head. “I’m not convinced, Liv. I need to know how to help you. It’s tearing me up to see you in pain, and I need to fix it.”

Something in this big man’s soft expression prodded her to give in. What would it be like to let someone know? Fear and hope warred within her until the pressure was too much to contain.

“It’s my time of the month. Every woman goes through this. Mine is just a little worse.”

Dawson picked up her hand and squeezed. “I had no idea it was this hard for you. How can I help?”

The tenderness in his voice was a comfort she didn’t know she needed. It seeped into her muscles and released all of the tension she’d been carrying.

Levi jogged back into the room with a damp rag in his hand. “Here you go!”

Olivia sat up a little to swallow the pills. Levi gently wiped at her brow with the rag, and a smile broke through the dark storm.

“Thanks, buddy. Sorry I made a scene,” she said. “Did you have fun with the goats?”

“I did! Dawson even showed me how to milk them. I didn’t know you could do that.”

Olivia bit her lips between her teeth to hide a grin. “You learn something new every day.”

Dawson was already kneeling at her side, and Levi did the same. Having the two rally around her was heartwarming, and the scene tugged at her heartstrings.

“What else can we do to help? What’s making you feel bad?” Levi asked.

Olivia adjusted on the couch. “It’s nothing for you to worry about. Sometimes, I get these pains, but it passes pretty quickly.”

Dawson stared down at her, clearly still worried despite her assurances.

Levi straightened his shoulders. “What if we cook dinner for you?”

She’d told Aaron that Levi could have dinner with them at her dad’s house, but she’d planned to do the cooking. “You know how to cook?”

“I do. Mom and Mama Harding let me help a lot.”

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