air. Her nose was stuffed up from crying, her head throbbed dully, and she felt absolutely miserable. Her eyes felt gritty and sore, pulsing and swollen from her crying jag.
Disoriented, it took her a moment to realize she was in Uriah's bed, their bed, naked and snuggled beneath the heavy blankets.
She sat up slowly, noticing a glass of water on the bedside table that made her aware of the ravenous thirst she felt. No doubt dehydrated, Ivy used both hands to pick up the glass and drained it in a few swallows, hearing nothing but the hum of the fan overhead. A glance at the skylights told her the sun was setting, the clock on the table read seven forty-eight. She'd slept the day away again.
Ivy threw the covers back, found her favorite pair of fluffy slippers waiting on the floor, a pale green robe draped over the chair Uriah had sat in the last time she'd woken up, and her mother's journal resting on the seat.
It felt like a monumental effort to get up, and she had to stand there by the bed waiting to see if her legs could support movement. When she didn't immediately fall back down, Ivy shoved her feet in the silly slippers and wrapped herself up in the robe that was so soft it must have been made of bamboo. She wondered if Uriah had gotten it for her, or if the Brownies had brought it per a request from Rowena. Either way, it felt wonderful on her skin.
Hugging herself, she stared down at the journal with a beautiful Tree of Life pressed into the cover. She couldn't recall ever seeing her mother writing in a journal, but she supposed there was a lot of things she didn't know about her.
Needing to splash some water on her face and brush her teeth, Ivy shuffled her way into the bathroom.
Ivy felt marginally better with a clean face and an empty bladder, but once she left the bathroom her gaze was unerringly drawn to her mother's diary. Making her way back to the chair, Ivy picked up the thick book, tracing the outer circle of the tree before hugging it to her chest.
Uriah must have heard her moving around because he met her on the stairs and immediately opened his arms to her. Ivy snuggled right in, wishing her nose wasn't so stuffed up so she could breathe in his scent. He dropped a kiss on her hair, his big hands kneading up and down her back, pulling at the tight muscles of her shoulders with the perfect amount of pressure.
“What can I get you, honey?” Uriah murmured tenderly. “Do you need anything?”
Ivy sighed against his chest, exhausted despite having slept the day away. “This. This is what I need.”
He made a deeply content sound that vibrated under her ear, holding on until every sliver of tension left her. “I made dinner, are you hungry?”
Her answer was drowned out by the immediate roaring of her stomach, and from somewhere Ivy found the power to smile. “I could eat. What's on?”
“Pot roast and biscuits.”
Her mouth watered at the promise of another delicious meal. “One of these days, I'm gonna cook for you.”
“If you want to, I won't say no, but I do like making food for you.”
“The bear thing, right?” she teased weakly.
He pressed another kiss on her forehead, his voice dropping to a husky murmur as he drew back far enough to cup her cheeks in his big hands, staring deeply into her eyes.
“It's a mate thing. I want to take care of you. When you're hungry, I want to feed you. When you're tired, I want to tuck you in the bed I made for us. When you're sad, I want to hold you until it doesn't hurt anymore. When you're scared, I want you to know I'll always fight for you. For us. “
Ivy found she had a few more tears to cry. Hot and salty, they dripped down her face while Uriah's thumbs gently swept them away. She took a shaky breath as she wound her arms around his shoulders and let the words flow.
“I've been infatuated with you from the first day you came into the garden shop, but I fell head over heels in love with you as soon as you started telling me about the two hundred and nine year old tree you took so much care to preserve.”
Uriah's amber eyes brightened with a supernatural shine, Ivy felt the shudder