We had three other babies in the NICU. Gabby managed their care. Her soft phone conversation carried to me even though she kept her voice hushed. I couldn’t decipher her words, but I wasn’t really trying. She put the phone down and went about her work.

I double and triple-checked the doctor’s orders for Brady and Benny. Administering their meds, checking their vitals, and watching their breathing rate like a hawk. I’d worked here long enough to know Papa wouldn’t get to meet these babies.

The monitor grew blurry, and I wiped at my eyes.

Depending on how they responded to the IV antibiotics, they’d be here for at least four weeks, give or take.

Papa wouldn’t last that long. Brady and Benny would never be held in their Papa Tony’s arms.

If it weren’t for Papa, I’d set up camp at the hospital until these little ones were discharged. I wasn’t about to let someone else I loved leave me.

Not when I could control it.

Blake had been the only one allowed to visit. He’d followed his boys here as soon as the doctors had let him. Now he was back in Lili’s recovery room. Waiting with her. Wondering. Praying.

Hopefully, Maddie would get to meet the new members of her family tomorrow. I checked my watch and huffed an exhausted chuckle. It was already tomorrow. Three o’clock in the morning, to be exact. Which meant I hadn’t slept in over twenty-four hours. I had been up the night before with Papa and hadn’t been able to get my mind settled enough to nap during the day.

Even if provided the opportunity to sleep, would I be able to?

The doors to the NICU opened, and Ryan walked in. He wasn’t supposed to be on shift until seven a.m. “What are you doing here?”

Gabby set down her chart and came to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Ryan.

“I’m here to tell you to go home.”

Gabby placed both her hands on my shoulders. “You need sleep.”

“But … the babies. I can’t …”

“We’ll take care of the boys,” Ryan said.

Looping her arm behind my back, Gabby guided me to the doors. She pressed the button and waited for our path to clear. Ryan stood behind us, an effective barricade to my retreat.

Remi stood on the other side of the open doors. “Hey. How’s she holding up?”

“Not well,” Ryan answered.

“She needs to go to bed ASAP,” Gabby said simultaneously.

Great. My nemesis and would-be fiancé had enlisted my friends to spy on me. “Sheis standing right here and can answer for herself.” I pushed out of Gabby’s arms and moved away from all of them. “What is this?”

“An interventi—” The doors closed on Ryan, cutting his response short.

“We asked for Remi’s help.” Gabby leaned her hip against the door button. “Go home. Take care of yourself. We’re all worried for you.”

She left me. I stood there in the hall alone with Remi until the doors had fully closed. Without saying a word, I marched past him into the main foyer and out into the night. I kept going.

How dare Remi presume he had the right to handle me?

I was strong. Capable. Smart. I could manage my own life without a man doing it for me. And Gabby and Ryan, the traitors, wouldn’t have even let me in the hospital to keep Lili’s babies alive. Yes, I trusted them to do as good of a job as me, but relinquishing control sent me spiraling into the what-if game.

What if one of the monitors malfunctioned and Gabby didn’t notice?

What if another baby crashed, and Ryan tunneled in on them and neglected to watch Brady’s or Benny’s oxygen saturation?

What if the power went out, the backup generators failed, and they couldn’t get power to the beds?

What if a category five tornado hit the hospital, and I wasn’t there to get the twins to safety?