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Her already tender core clenched at what it considered an invitation. Even though she was awakened with his head buried between her thighs, followed by an intense quickie… the vigour of which could still be felt.

“No, I can’t miss today. Kimberlin and I skipped our lady’s day two weeks ago, and with the holidays coming up we need this time.” Ivy needed some time to calm her mind.

As she moved to walk by, he pulled her into his arm. The two colours of Manny’s eyes melded together to create a new stormy one. His gaze was pensive as he examined her features. “Hey Doc, you, okay?”

She nodded, giving him a small smile.

Manny had been asking that a lot lately. Checking in. “You’re sure? Are we okay?” He pushed.

“I promise, we are good.” She pressed a kiss to his lips. Surprisingly he didn’t take the kiss further. “I’ll see you later, okay?” It was his turn to nod. Before leaving his hold, she gave him another peck. He inhaled and nodded again.

Manny had remained rooted to the spot in the bathroom. Ivy had went in search of a purse and moved the contents she needed for the day into it. When she passed by the washroom again, he was standing in the same spot where she left him. Manny looked miles away, and pensive. Instead of going to him and offering reassurance, she called out, “bye Baby.”

He seemed to snapped back from where he had disappeared to. Running a hand atop his hair he gave her a barely-there smile.

At this point, who was to say if she was reacting to his mood, or he was reacting to hers? They were off… not in sync like they normally were. Of course, it was because of the elephant looming over their lives.

Absent-mindedly she had made it to the car, Roy was waiting with the door open. She slid into the back seat. Her head was pressed back into the plush headrest and her eyes closed before Roy could get behind the wheel. She wasn’t even tired. Well not sleepy anyways, she was tired of the swirling activity going on in her brain.

It had never even occurred to Ivy that the subsequent paternity test would have garnered the same result. As Ivy had run her own test the original lab had also retested the new samples. If anything, Ivy’s results were more conclusive.

Science, she knew and trusted.

Manny, she knew and trusted.

Of course, they had never been at odds before. Her mind raged with the conflict. The tests. Tests plural said one thing. Manny said another. Her heart never wavered. Her mind on the other hand. Well, it was an objective beast. It demanded to know why she was dismissing the empirical facts before her. Her love for Manny won these battles. She trusted him. Had to. That was the foundation their lives were built on. If they didn’t have that…

Kimberlin was waiting at the spa when Ivy arrived.

“Girl, I cannot tell you how much I needed today.” Her friend pulled her in for a tight hug as she greeted her. In response, Ivy just gave her a light squeeze.

They went through the many appointments they had booked, with Kimberlin filling Ivy in on some of the challenges she was facing with her ‘new boss’. Like Ivy, her friend was also a doctor, but she hadn’t gone the research route. Instead, she was a pediatric surgeon. The head of the pediatrics department held the position for nearly three years, but to Kimberlin, he might have arrived two days ago.

“Dr. Lucas Emerson-Poirier scrubbed in my surgery yesterday…”

She always addressed him by his full name. Ivy shook in laughter at her best friend’s antics.

Ivy nodded and responded when appropriate. She gave it her level best effort to stay in the moment.

Roy was waiting to whisk the ladies away when they left the spa. They were off to try an Italian restaurant that Chef Aaron Ma was soft opening uptown. Italian food was the ladies’ go-to. Especially because Manny avoided going to Italian restaurants.

Inevitably someone would walk up to him and start speaking Italian. They had vacationed in Italy and Manny had spent a considerable amount of time having to explain,“no, I’m not Italian, my father is Scottish and Swedish, and my mom is Swedish.”

A sweet little nonna at a bakery they frequented had disputed his assertion.“No, no. You Italian. I know my people.”She’d patted his hand indulgently.

So, although he was a huge Chef Ma fan, he didn’t want to try Fusilli.

Kimberlin was also a huge Chef Ma fan. When the announcement of his wedding was made, she called Ivy all dramatic.“Girl, you knew! You guys run in the same circles. Why didn’t you tell me? Cause if I would have known that fine-ass man, was into chocolate. I would have taken my shot.”

The memory made Ivy smile. She loved Kimberlin. “That’s your first real smile of the day.”

Ivy didn’t bother to dispute her friend’s claim. Maybe if she ignored it… she would drop the topic.Oh, this white wine is nice and crisp, she thought as she took a sip.

“Ivs you know better than to try to ignore me. What’s going on with you?” She reached across the table and squeezed her hand.

Ivy sighed deeply. She had purposely kept Kimberlin out of the loop about the paternity tests. Her friend was no-nonsense. If there was a situation in which a man needed Kimberlin to give him the benefit of the doubt… well that man waiting on her friend to give him one, was on a fool’s errand.

“Ivy!” Kimberlin pulled Ivy from her thoughts.

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