Page 77 of Falling for You
“I’m so sorry, Diane.” Emma reaches out, placing her hand this time on Diane’s, before she pulls her in for a hug.
I don’t understand how she’s so empathetic to her. I mean, I get it, it’s scary. But so is keeping my daughter from me. My anger is overshadowing my ability to be empathetic.
I lean down, pulling Olivia from the bed and cuddling her while Emma deals with Diane.
“Hey beautiful, Livvy Girl.” I nuzzle my nose with hers. “Daddy missed you so much.”
This time I get a smile from her as she grasps my beard with her little hands.
I reach out to run my finger down her cheek, but she tries to latch on to my finger. “Are you hungry? Let’s get you something to eat.” I press the call button on the side of her bed, and turn my attention back to the women while we wait for the nurse.
“Diane, does she have anything here?”
She looks at me, the realization that she hasn’t taken care of her granddaughter at all finally hits her as she collapses into the chair letting the tears fall.
My eyes widen as I take in the scene. I didn’t mean to push her over the edge like this.
“I’m an awful grandmother! I didn’t even think to bring her anything!” She drops her head in her hands as the nurse comes in, taking in the scene in front of me.
“How can I help?” She smiles at me seeing that I’m snuggling Olivia and she isn’t left alone on the bed anymore.
“I think that someone is hungry, but we don’t have any formula for her. Is there a way to get something? And maybe some diapers?”
“Of course, let me go see what I can find for you.”
She disappears back through the curtain and my attention is once again brought back to Diane.
“Roman, I’m so sorry that we’ve done this to you. It obviously was the wrong thing to do. Please forgive me.”
I can’t forgive her right now. “What is your plan?”
“You need to have Olivia with you. You deserve to have her with you.”
“Permanently?” I ask.
“Yes. We can’t care for her properly. Especially not with Wayne’s recovery. It’s not like we have anyone to help us.”
“I never wanted to keep her from you guys. You were always welcome to be a part of her life.”
She hangs her head this time, looking genuinely ashamed. “I know. I’m so sorry. We were wrong and there’s nothing I can do to take that back. I can only hope that you’ll continue to let us be a part of her life moving forward.”
Again, I don’t respond. I don’t trust them. Call me heartless for denying her reassurance at this moment, but I don’t owe it to her.
“I’ll have my lawyer contact yours in the morning for a permanent custody agreement to be arranged.”
I’m relieved I don’t have to answer her because the nurse comes back in with the items I requested.
“So we have this formula we provide new babies, and unfortunately no diapers, but we do have these that I can use to make a cloth diaper?” She holds out all the items in a tub for me to see.
“Oh good, this is the formula we use.” I’m relieved that Olivia will be able to eat at least. “Thank you so much, I think I’ll run out to get some diapers after she eats.”
I reach into the tub taking one of the small bottles out. She places the tub on the bed next to me so I can take as many as we need.
Screwing the nipple onto the bottle one handed is harder than it looks, but I relish in the busy task while Emma keeps Diane talking with her focus on her instead of me. I don’t have it in me right now and I’m glad that she notices that.
“Here you go, Livvy Girl.” I place the bottle at her lips and she greedily starts sucking it down.
The curtain ripped open suddenly. “We’re here! Is she okay?”
