Page 74 of Bleeding Hearts

“IfI give you another chance, you’ll have to do some serious groveling.”

“By groveling, do you mean I’ll need to invest in kneepads?” She waggles her eyes and then drops her head against my shoulder. “It will be my pleasure, sir.”

I growl and turn my head to kiss the top of her head. “Remember that when your ass is so red, you can’t sit.”

“Promises, promises.” She tilts her head just enough to look up at me. “I’m sorry. I know it’s going to take time for me to regain your trust, but I want you to know that I lo?—”

I close her lips by pinching them with my fingers. “Not here. Not now. You don’t get to say those words until I say you get to say them.”

She nods.

“Thank you for being there.” I squeeze her hand. “Knowing you were with them helped keep me calm. I knew I didn’t have to worry because you had everything under control. You’d take care of them until I could get here. Can you tell me how this happened?”

The way her body stiffens while she wrings her hand has my mind thinking the worst.

“Bethany, tell me.”

“Kellie grabbed Susanne’s cup by mistake, thought it was her chocolate shake.”

To avoid losing my temper, I press my fist against my mouth. This is why we have rules in place to prevent that from happening. When you’re responsible for a child with a severe allergy, you never gamble with their life by ordering something that could be deadly.

Never.

It’s a sore subject Susanne fought us on. She wasn’t willing to give up the things she liked, all because her granddaughter couldn’t have them. She had it in her head that the reason Kellie never outgrew the allergy was because we babied her. Her belief had always been if we slowly exposed her to nuts, then she’d eventually tolerate them. We weren’t willing to take that risk. It was a fight Stephanie and her mother had often, and why my wife stopped letting her take Kellie anywhere, always afraid Susanne would do something stupid like this.

To ease my anxiety, Bethany reaches out and lays her hand gently on my arm. “Susanne swears she double-checked. Was absolutely certain that her shake contained nothing that would trigger Kellie’s allergies.” With a frustrated sigh, Bethany shakes her head. “Then told me it was some kind of Heath Bar shake.”

I grunt as Bethany continues.

“When I explained Heath Bars have almonds, she looked at me like I was stupid and didn’t know what the hell I was talking about. Which is when I googled it and showed her. Her face immediately paled, but she recovered quickly and told me I needed to leave because I wasn’t family.”

“I’m sorry.” I’ve dealt with Susanne enough to know that Bethany pointing out her mistake only fueled her and had herlashing out. “It doesn’t really matter what kind of shake she ordered. Any kind of shake or concrete mixed using a blender—that isn’t cleaned as well as it should be—puts a kid like Kellie at risk. Which is why we try to avoid them all together. Plain is best. Or a float. Or even a goddamn sundae.”

I need a minute before I go back into the room where the girls are resting. “Can you go back in? I need to get some air.”

“I can.” She pushes herself up and stands, and then extends her hand to me.

I accept her hand and use it to help me to my feet. “I won’t be long.”

Once she’s inside, I walk down to the waiting room and dial my mother-in-law’s number. It rings three times before she picks up. I don’t give her a chance to make excuses. “I think it would be best if you stay away.”

“They are my granddaughters. I have the right to see them.”

She doesn’t, not legally at least, but getting into that now will only put me in a shittier mood. “You can see them, just not without supervision.”

“Stephanie wouldn’t?—”

I raise my voice. “Don’t! You and I both know that isn’t true.”

“This is because of that woman. What lies did she tell you?”

“At least that woman didn’t run out on her granddaughter when shit got real. I can’t believe you left them alone in the hospital all because your cheating bastard husband called.”

“I didn’t leave them alone.”

“No. You left them with the woman you can’t stand and then proceed to tell me not to trust her.” The line is quiet, but I know she’s still there. “Yet you trusted her enough to be there for them when they were scared and needed someone. You can’t have it both ways, Susanne.”

“You can’t cut me out of their lives.”

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