Mend (Care Duet, #2)

33 | mend avelina

ADRIK ALMOST COULDN'T believe his eyes. Finally, his reality was the dream he had been chasing since meeting Avelina. The adoring look in her eyes as she gazed at their beautiful child. Natasha sat on the couch, watching the both of them just like Adrik was. She had a smile on her face, leaning back against the cushions as exhaustion began to overwhelm her. Everyone had to be tired after the night they had, but no one could take their eyes off of his glowing Avelina. Not even Vincent could take his eyes off of her. Adrik was sitting on the arm of the couch, carefully running his fingers through her hair while Vincent sat at the end of the sofa near her feet. It was a comfortable silence that overcame them, each just enjoying the moment while it lasted. A huge part of them, knowing that the calm never seemed to stick around for quite long despite how badly they wanted it to.

They might've won the battle, but they weren't sure if they had won the war quite yet. And Adrik was already anticipating the worst, trying to formulate a plan that would protect his family from any more harm. For now, he decided that peace was going to be their best option. It had to be... for Avelina and their child.

"May I speak to you for a moment?" the doctor asked Adrik, nodding his head toward a more discreet area. Adrik began to calculate the chances of hearing the worst news imaginable, and the odds weren't all that great.

"She's told me about severe abdominal pain that has been persistent. We take signs like this after having a child as a warning, especially after not receiving the proper care she needed at the time. It's normal to feel pain, but it's a little abnormal to feel the pain that she's described to me. I'm going to prescribe her some medication that should take some of the pain away and vitamins. Since she has recently just had a baby, we're going to give it about five more weeks and if the pain is still there, we will be looking at some trauma that could've possibly occurred, and we'll do our absolute best to get that resolved as soon as possible," the doctor explained.

It was another situation added to the long list of things to stress about. Only it had climbed substantially to the top seeing as it involved Avelina and her health. He didn't know what he would do without her. She was the only good thing in a world full of bad. She was the light that horror coddled around, but for some reason, it was like she never dared let it stop her stride. Words couldn't describe the way she completely transformed his life, and he was never one to come up short on words. But there he was, absolutely speechless.

"Okay," Adrik stated before turning back to his lady in waiting. Vincent was now coddling the baby with a smile on his face.

"I don't know what to name her," Avelina said, watching her brother.

Adrik could only glare as he eyed Vincent, holding something so precious to his heart. He didn't like how two of the most important people in his life were so close to the one man he spent his whole life hating. The man who took everything away from him. He couldn't even be there for the woman that was carrying his baby until the very last minute. He had to watch her eyes brim with hatred and loathing.

Vincent had been trying to hit Adrik exactly where it hurt, and once he found out about his sister, he struck. Vincent could say his intentions were to protect his little sister all he wanted, but Adrik knew the truth. He'd never admit it to Avelina, but Avelina's mother wasn't the only fucked up person in their family. It would seem the apple didn't fall too far from the tree. Vincent knew exactly what he was doing, and he didn't mind putting his sister in the crossfire. He was too much of a liability for the family he was trying so hard to build, yet Vincent worked too hard to destroy. No one could see it, but Adrik could. And for that, he would never find it in his heart to trust him.

"It'll come." Natasha smiled. Avelina returned with a weak smile. It was obvious she was probably having the same thoughts. Trying so hard to forgive and forget in order to create a more stable foundation for the family, but it just wasn't that easy. It was far from easy.