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Jasmine started her job. Her sister and she were in the process of moving to Toronto. Her opinion of Leonardo hadn’t changed in the last few months, and she still refused to speak to him. In fact, she had almost given up her job when she learned Leonardo split his time between Toronto and Vancouver.

Manny had asked her to stay out of it.

“Define stay out of it?”

“It doesn’t matter what I answer. You are going to get out your bow and arrow when you see a chance, right?”

Ivy had responded by giving him a distracting kiss. It was for a good cause.

Besides, Jasmine might need a little help to see her way. What was that saying? “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”

Like Sage, she had come to like her brother-in-law. He was a man that made a horrible mistake. Just maybe he shouldn’t be defined by his worst moments.

Ivy was sitting back and letting the whole thing play out. If they needed a helping hand, she wouldn’t mind intervening. After all, she hadn’t promised Manny she would stay out of it.

Chapter Thirty-Two

EVERY YEAR, MONTH, DAY, HOUR, AND MINUTE

The family had gone months without any explosive revelations. Ivy was grateful their lives had returned to a semblance of normalcy. Well, new normal. It couldn’t have come at a better time, as her workload seemed to triple overnight. While Ivy was working on a lead for a genetic cell related to autism, she had stumbled across a gene linked to infertility. It was in the early stages of development and would involve extensive research and testing. Her hours were long. Some days, she barely saw Manny and Sage. However, they managed to carve out time for each other.

Ivy was so busy it took a while to notice Manny was behaving secretively. After everything they had just been through, she tried not to jump to conclusions. They were in a good place. He had assured her he didn’t hold her momentary doubt against her. So why did she feel like he was keeping something from her?

It couldn’t be related to Leonardo. She believed Manny was transparent about his feelings towards his brother. Especially how it initially bothered him that Grace had taken Leonardo under her wing. At first, he wasn’t eager to share his mom with his brother. However, once he learned how difficult it was for Leonardo to adjust to the mothering, he soon changed his tune.

Manny was even clearer about his feelings towards Larson. He was relentless in making Larson’s life a living hell.“I don’t get it. Why don’t you just pull out the big guns and be done with it?” Ivy inquired.

“What’s the point of me killing him quickly when I could slowly bleed him out with all these tiny cuts?”

Ivy hadn’t agreed with the sentiment. However, she stood by Manny and his decision. Her husband was hurt and angry. More so for the mother he didn’t know and the mom he adored. As far as he was concerned, he was doing his duty as a son, and even to some extent, a big brother.

As transparent as Manny was, he had no reason to be secretive. Ivy was about to confront him when she realised she was so focused on him she had missed similar signs from other people, namely her children and Grace, also being mysterious. It took longer to figure it all out than she would have liked to admit.

Ivy set the perfect trap. “Yeah, Frank, don’t let Manny get too stressed out about the surprise he is planning.”

“See, and his ass won’t tell me all the details because Emmanuel thought I’d slip up. I knew it would be him. Like he could keep a secret from y… Wait! Girl, did you just play me?” He narrowed his gaze at her.

“Maybe.” She gave him an innocent smile. “You’re my favourite cousin. Tell me what you know.”

“My ass. I’m going to tell Karissa and Amber what you finally admitted to. Although they should already know the truth.”

“No, you won’t. You will already be in enough trouble when I tell Manny you told me.”

“He’s having a swanky dinner for your birthday and he’s going all out.”

While Ivy was happy to hear her marriage was rock solid. She wasn’t so excited to hear about the dinner. Ugh, she wasn’t a fan of being the centre of attention. Throw in swanky, and she didn’t want any part of it. Normally, she arranged a joint celebration with Kimberlin, Karissa, and herself.

Ivy had been so preoccupied she’d dropped the ball. Now Manny was going to make a thing of her birthday. Frank was now a tight-lipped vault, and she couldn’t get any more out of him.

Ivy hadn’t realised it, but she had taken to staring at Manny. Finally, one night, they slipped into bed. He addressed the elephant in the room.

“Okay Doc, tell me who spilled about your birthday.”

She breathed a sigh of relief. “I don’t want to name names, because honestly, I don’t know very much about it.”

“Hm. Sounds like you tricked someone into slipping up.” He rested his hand on her thigh and squeezed.

Her smile appeared rueful, but Manny wasn’t buying it.

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