“Good.” He gave her another hard squeeze and then backed up and gestured toward the door before announcing, “These are my friends. You met Teddy.”
Allie looked to where Liam was gesturing and smiled at the boy as she nodded. “Yes. Hello, Teddy.”
“Hello, Mrs. Liam’s mom,” he said politely.
Allie’s smile widened at the title. She didn’t correct him about the Mrs. part, but simply said, “Call me Allie, sweetheart.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” he murmured.
“And that’s Sunny and Gracie,” Liam continued with his introductions.
Allie shifted her attention to the two little girls standing just behind Teddy Jr. and felt her mouth stretch wide. They were such adorable little girls, one with red hair laying in soft, flyaway waves around her face, the other with blond hair pulled back into a ponytail. Both girls smiled shyly back.
“Mrs. Elvi told us to go watch cartoons for a bit so we aren’t under her feet while she cleans the table,” Liam announced solemnly. “But I’ll stay with you if you want.”
Allie shifted her gaze back to her son and caressed his cheek affectionately. “That’s all right, sweetie, you go ahead and have fun.”
“Thank you, Mom.” Liam gave her legs another squeeze and then whirled away to hurry to the door with a happy, “Love you.”
“Love you too, baby,” she called as the foursome rushed out of the room.
“Did you want to get back in bed?” Dani asked, moving to her side to gently flip her hair around and look at her head wound.
Allie remained still for her, but her eyes shifted to look at the bed. She found herself reluctant to return to it, though. Actually, she was hungry, she realized now.
“It’s healing nicely. We can leave the bandage off,” Dani decided, her hands falling away. Stepping back, she smiled wryly and added, “And of course you’re hungry. I should have expected that. You haven’t eaten since noon yesterday.”
“Would you like me to go below and fetch you something to eat?” Leonora offered at once.
“I’d really rather go below myself,” Allie admitted, although she wasn’t positive she knew what “go below” was. Presumably it meant going downstairs, though, and not that she had to descend into hell to get food.
Leonora grinned suddenly, but then asked Dani, “It should be all right for her to go down and sit at the dining room table to eat, don’t you think? She appears to be feeling well enough for it.”
Dani nodded slowly, but warned, “Just don’t overdo it. You’re no doubt feeling better, and are probably fine, but I’d just rather you took it easy. At least until we’re positive there are no adverse reactions to the transfusion.”
“I’ll be careful,” Allie assured her.
“Good. I just don’t want you to wear yourself out. The transfusion replaced some of the blood you lost and you aren’t critical anymore, but you’re still probably a pint low and need to be careful until your body builds it back up.”
Allie nodded solemnly. “I will.”
“Okay, then.” Dani turned to Leonora. “I’m heading to bed. Call me if there is any problem. Anything at all.”
“Certainly,” Leonora said solemnly. “Sleep well.”
“Thank you,” Dani murmured, and smiled at Allie again before slipping from the room.
“Well, let’s head downstairs and find you something to eat, then, shall we?” Leonora suggested brightly.
Nodding, Allie followed her out of the room and into a hall. She was very aware that Magnus was behind her, bringing up the rear, but tried not to think about that and asked, “Where are the kids watching TV?”
“In the porch off Elvi and Victor’s room,” Magnus answered from behind her, and then added, “It is heated.”
“Heated, insulated, and furnished,” Leonora added as they started down a curving staircase. “The children actually slept out there last night. They were watching movies and decided they wanted a pajama party out there. Since it meant Liam wouldn’t witness your blood transfusion and possibly worry even more about you, the adults all decided it was a good idea and gave permission so they sacked out in sleeping bags. Although, being children, I doubt they got much sleep.”
Allie nodded, but asked, “Do you live here too, Leonora?”
“Oh, no, dear. I have a house across the street where my Alessandro and I live.”
“Alessandro?” Allie queried with curiosity, wondering about the woman. Leonora looked young, but then she’d noticed that all of them looked to be between twenty-five or thirty years old. This woman spoke as if she was older, though.