Chapter Fifty Wade

CHAPTER FIFTY

Wade

" Y ou never cease to surprise me, Chief," Ivy says as she munches on a giant chocolate chip cookie in the hospital cafeteria.

She runs a finger over the little cotton bud taped to the inside of her elbow.

"I've never donated blood before. We have the same blood type, my mom and I." She smiles. "I should do it more often—knowing how rare our blood type is, it's needed."

I look up at Ivy from my text conversation. I grin at her; she looks happy now, calm. I would do anything to see her like this all the time and know I was the one responsible. I'm planning to make it my fucking life's purpose.

"Nash makes us go every year, ever since his parents died. I think he feels like he might be able to help someone else in their same situation," I tell her as I continue my conversation with my mother over text.

She nods and stuffs the last bite of cookie into her pretty mouth.

"I get vat," she mumbles around her cookie, and then takes a big sip of her juice. "I have to talk to the hospital about getting her into a rehab program. I have some savings and she needs it. She's done so well … if she had help, she might really have a shot at getting and staying sober. I'd hate for her to be on her own while we're away over the next couple weeks and do a backslide."

I'm already three steps ahead of her but I don't want her to worry about all this right now. I just want her to be with her mom.

"Wade, does it bother you to know her past? Do you think of Nash's parents, that someone like her was responsible?"

The way she says it tells me it's been on her mind for quite some time and it has bothered her, and I hate that with every fiber of my being. I reach across the table and grip her hand tight.

"What happened to Nash was terrible. A freak accident. Alcoholism is an illness, Ivy. At least that's the way I've always looked at it. It was Nash's parents' time to go. You have to stop carrying her burden on your shoulders. Promise me you will."

"I'm sorry, I'm so damn emotional about this. Maybe because I'm struggling with the pressure of Angel's training too. I don't know. I will do my best. I promise. I just … the idea of one day having my mama back, being close to her, the one I looked up to and loved when I was a kid. The pain of that is a lot to bear. I want it so badly. I just feel like I can't be in all the places I need to be at once, and I don't know how I can change that and still have a career."

"You never know what the future holds, Ivy. You should put some faith into it all, and trust you're where you're supposed to be. Fate might just come through, and maybe it will work out the way you hope," I say. "Jolene Ashby words to live by," I add.

This makes Ivy grin.

It's something I never believed before Ivy came into my life. I used to believe a man made his own fate, but now I'm not so sure, because Ivy is so much more than I could ever dream up on my own.