Chapter 31
Sienna:
The soft creak of the infirmary door pulled my attention away from the glass window overlooking the incubation room. I had my arm wrapped around myself, knowing that she, my little girl, was supposed to be in my arms rather within the enclosed room
that she was in.
Evelyn stepped inside, her presence a quiet comfort amid the cold sterility of the space. Her footsteps were light, deliberate, as if she knew that any sudden noise might shatter the fragile grip I had on my composure. She smiled at me as she walked, and I took a deep breath before turning to face her.
“Sienna,” she said gently, offering a small nod as she approached. “I thought I’d find you here. I’ve been told that you’ve been refusing to leave this place.”
I didn’t respond immediately. I didn’t know how to respond, at least, not to her statement.
“She looks so peaceful,” I murmured. “Like the world hasn’t touched her yet.”
Evelyn stood beside me, her reflection blending with mine against the glass. “She’s strong. More than you know. That is something that you always need to hold onto. Our little infants are often stronger than we know despite them being so weak.”
A bitter laugh escaped me. “I’m not sure where she got that from. Certainly not from me.”
Evelyn’s lips pressed into a thin line, but she didn’t argue. Instead, she placed a warm hand on my shoulder, grounding me. “I wanted to talk to you about where you’ll be staying. I do believe that you know that you’ve stayed in the infirmary for a long time and that you are going to need to leave.”
“I knew that the infirmary wasn’t permanent, but I believed that I would be going back to my own house. I mean, my
house.”
family’s
“No,” she agreed. “You need rest, Sienna. Real rest, in a space where you can breathe and gather your strength. But your family’s house is not a place for your little angel to be growing. She is going to need to grow where she rightfully belongs.”
“Where do you expect me to go?” I asked, fearing her response. I wouldn’t want to be away from my child, but for her to be telling me that I can’t take her to my home. No, I couldn’t be away from her.
Evelyn hesitated, her thumb grazing over her wedding ring, a habit I’d noticed over the years whenever she was lost in thought. “We’ve prepared your old room. We haven’t allowed anyone to use it, and I have instructed for new things to be brought for you. A bed, a new closet, and a crib, things that your baby would need for her to grow,”
A strange mix of emotions welled within me, nostalgia, fear, relief, and something akin to sadness. “The roothe
hall? The room that I grew in?”
at the end of the
She nodded. “It’s close to the incubation room. You’ll be able to visit Isla as often as you’d like. And bei there, surrounded by familiar things, might help you settle. And when it is time for her to be leaving the incubation room, she will have her place ready
+15 Bonus
for her to be able to sleep.”
I bit my bottom lip, a habit I had thought I’d left behind “You think I’m falling apart. That is why you want me to be close.”
Evelyn’s expression softened. “I think you’re holding yourself together with nothing but willpower. And I know that can only last
so long. I want you to be close, and it her right to grow within her father’s home. She is the daughter of the Alpha, and I think you
know what that means, Sienna.”
Her honesty stung, but it also soothed a part of me that had grown raw from pretending. I had spent so long convincing myself that I was fine, that I could handle this, that I didn’t need anyone’s help. But I did. I needed something, anything, to keep me from crumbling.
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