“For me?” I asked and then snatched it out of her fingers (gently, of course) like I was starved.
She laughed like it was the greatest thing she’d ever seen.
“Mushy,” I commented as I chewed. “Just how I like my Cheerios.”
Ivy laughed.
I snuggled the baby close and kissed the top of her head. She decided she liked feeding me, so she started picking all the Cheerios off us to shove them in my mouth.
It was gross. I ate them anyway.
She liked it.
“Where’s my brother?” Ivy asked.
I glanced away from the baby. She was looking good as always in a pair of skinny jeans, a long floaty-looking white top, and a colorful scarf draped around her neck. Her blond hair was wavy and pulled into a high ponytail that bounced when she moved around.
“On his way home.”
“He okay?”
I grimaced. Obviously, she heard me reading him the riot act. I wasn’t exactly quiet. “He’s fine. I just overreacted.”
“You’re very protective,” she said. “I like that.”
“He’s been through a lot,” I muttered and ate another Cheerio.
“So have you.”
“He told you what happened in North Carolina, right?” I asked. This was the first time I’d been alone with Ivy since we got back. Since Drew’s parents were also hers, I wanted to know what she was feeling about the way they treated him.
“I had to drag it out of him.”
I nodded. “Probably didn’t want to upset you.”
Ivy set down her coffee and looked straight at me. “How bad was it?”
Braeden walked in the room, but it was as if he knew we were talking. He said nothing and just went right to the coffee. On his way, he did stop to kiss Nova on the cheek. When he tried to lift her out of my arms, she clung to me and shook her head.
She loved me.
And she loved that I ate her nasty used cereal.
“It was bad,” I said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Drew that upset.”
She nodded. “My father doesn’t understand.”
“He disowned him. Kicked him out and didn’t even try.”
Braeden slapped the coffeepot down a little harder than necessary but otherwise said nothing.
Ivy’s eyes filled with tears. She glanced at Nova in my arms. “I just don’t understand how a parent can do that to a child.”
“He’s been kinda quiet this week. You think he’s taking it harder than he’s letting on?”
She sniffled. “I don’t know. Dad’s approval has always been something Drew always wanted.”
“Does your brother know yet?”
She nodded. “I called him and told him. I know it wasn’t my place, but I wasn’t about to let Drew do it and have him react like Dad.”
“It’s your place,” I told her gently. “You’re his family.”
“You are, too.” She reminded me.
I didn’t think these people knew what it meant to me to have their support. Maybe it was time they knew. Maybe it was time Drew knew. It might make what he was dealing with seem a little less isolating.
“You can butt into my business anytime,” I told her.
Nova made a sound, and I looked down. She couldn’t find any more cereal to feed me.
“All gone,” I said and shrugged.
She pointed to the pile on her tray.
“You teach this kid to be so smart?” I asked Ivy.
Nova pointed again, and Ivy laughed.
I scooped up a handful and held them between us. She proceeded to make me eat more.
“Only for you, midge,” I told her. “You know I love ya, right?”
She leaned forward and kissed me. My heart melted just a little. I glanced at B. “You’re already buying guns, right?”
“Bullets, too,” he quipped.
Ivy rolled her eyes, then returned to the topic. “He wasn’t upset like Dad. He was surprised, but once he has time to think it over, I think he’ll be fine with it. You and Drew don’t need to worry about him.”
“Thanks,” I said, relieved.
“My father, though…” Her eyes darkened. “I don’t know what to do,”
Ivy was in a tough spot. She probably felt caught in the middle of her brother and her parents. I didn’t want that for her, and I knew Drew didn’t either. She wasn’t the one in a relationship her father considered depraved.
“You don’t have to do anything,” I said.
She made a frustrated sound. “If I do nothing, it looks like I agree with my father, and I don’t! I told him what an ass I thought he was being.”
My eyes widened.
Braeden laughed. “Gave him hell, she did.”
“I love my parents. I really do. But they’re wrong. And I want Nova to know her grandparents, but I won’t raise her around people who would disown their own son over who his heart chose.”
I glanced at Braeden, worried. Was Ivy really contemplating severing her relationship with her parents over this? Nova’s relationship.
Braeden shrugged. “She has a point.”
I didn’t want that. I didn’t want the relationship I essentially set into motion to affect not only Drew and me, but hurt everyone around us.