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I could see her eyes getting glassy with tears as she talked about my father. Now having met my guys, I couldn’t even fathom losing one of them, and we’ve known each other for barely two days. My mother was with Papa Addy for almost thirty years before he died. It gave me a new level of respect for her and Daddy Rawr to continue their loved one’s legacy. Resting my hand over hers, I gently squeeze it, letting her know I was there. She gave me a watery smile and dashed away the tears that slipped out.

“He truly enjoyed Ulysses, you know that, right? Whenever the three of you palled around, he would tell me how much safer you were with them both looking after you. I know he would be so pleased to find out he’s one of your scent matches,” Mother shared, holding my hand in hers. “This is all I ever wanted for my children… to find the love I have and had with both your fathers. There is nothing greater in this whole wide world than having people you love experiencing life with you.”

“Mom,” I admonished her as my voice caught with emotion and tears welled up in my eyes. “Now you’re gonna make me cry.”

She quickly took my cup from me and set it down before wrapping me up in a hug only a mother can provide. Her comforting sweet scent of honey and orange blossom gave me a sense of home that nothing else could. It triggered so many wonderful memories of growing up in this home with two doting fathers and a mother who was always there to be our cheerleader. Unable to hold back my tears, I clung to the last moments of being that child because once I walked out of this sitting room, I was a woman who had her own family to build and look after. The feeling was bittersweet, but every person alive has to face it one day.

“Shh, my darling, it’s going to be an amazing adventure for you,” Mother soothed. “Never forget that just because you have your own pack and life with them doesn’t mean this won’t always be your home. Rawlly and I are only a phone call away if you ever need anything. That will never change no matter what happens in life.”

We stayed in her sitting room and talked. Well, I talked, she listened. It was exactly what I needed to share my fears and concerns in a safe place where I wouldn’t be judged for voicing them. My mother was attentively engaged but didn’t chime in and allowed me to get everything I was feeling out in the open. When I finished, the weight of keeping all that fear and worry inside lifted. It made me realize just how much I’d been carrying around.

Mother cupped my cheek as she studied me. “Darling, all of this is completely normal. No one said just because you’re scent matched, everything would be perfect. Does it give you a better shot at a happy life together? Of course, but it doesn’t change the fact that we are still human with our own scars and issues from the past.”

She pulled me into another hug, rocking side to side like she did when I was a child. “Give yourself and them some slack. Trust yourself, my sweet girl. You’ve always had an internal compass that leads you in the right direction. There will be bumps along the way, but once you and your Alphas develop trust in each other, everything will smooth out.”

“What if I get worse?” I whispered. “What if I can never have kids because my body can’t handle it?”

That caused my mother to pause, and I sat up to look her in the face. Her calm demeanor had shifted to one more rigid and serious. “Bailey-Rose Thatcher, did something happen that I don’t know about?”

“Nooo,” I said hesitantly, drawing out the word. “I went to see Dr. Arbour when I got back from school, and he shared his concerns again about me having children. He tried to bring up that new experimental surgery, saying it had the potential to give me more freedom to the point I don’t have to wear the heart monitor.”

“You know that I support your choices, whatever they may be, when it comes to your condition. It’s your body, your life, and any risk involved is one you have to take on, not me,” Mother expressed as she clutched my hand tightly. “However, if Dr. Arbour continues to bring up the surgery, isn’t it at least worth looking into?”

“That’s just it. I did look into it. It’s open heart surgery where they need to take my heart out of my chest. Then they add material to strengthen the weak spot in my heart where the hole was as a baby. Once that is done, they remove the malformed valve that doesn’t work well and replace it with a new valve,” I explained. “That’s if the person doesn’t have a genetic disorder that makes them fundamentally weaker than the average person or a rare blood type causing it to reject any tissue that doesn’t match. Mom, they would have to find a human tissue donor with my blood type because a pig or cow would be rejected.”

I hadn’t wanted to be so blunt about this, but the only way for her to understand why I was terrified to do this was total honesty. Mother nodded, her eyes welling up with tears as she tried to keep her composure. Her biggest fear after losing Papa Addy was that the same thing would happen to me. Of course, Papa Addy didn’t have the exact same situation I did—I was far worse off. When Dr. Arbour told me there was a chance I could have a practically normal life with this surgery, I was ecstatic. Then I did the research and realized the seventy-percent chance an average person with my condition had dropped to fifty. If the genetic aspect of my heart condition wasn’t a factor, I had so many more options.

As of right now, I had three.

Stay as I am monitoring my heart, taking medication, and keeping a quiet lifestyle.

Then there was a full heart transplant, which no one was sure I would survive due to the high chance of rejecting the heart.

Finally, there was this new repair surgery with its own risks but more of an option than replacement.

It was a hard pill to swallow the first time this was brought up two years ago, but the risks and results hadn’t gotten better in that time. Not enough people needed the surgery for them to advance the process and anticipate the problems during recovery.

“Do they know?” Mother asked, her voice a soft whisper.

“About my heart? Yeah, I had an episode right in front of them ten minutes after meeting them. With one little nip on my neck, my body was so overwhelmed with sensation and need, I crashed. Crew had to give me an injection to slow my heart back down,” I answered, flopping against the pillows. “Talk about a crash course.”

Mother chuckled, knowing how people reacted when things like this happened. “While I’m glad to know you didn’t try to keep it a secret about your health, I was more so asking if they knew about the surgery option?”

Rolling my head to the side, I looked at her. “It’s hardly been two days. How exactly was I supposed to bring up something like that? Besides, I’m not doing it.”

“Okay, you make a fair point on the timing,” Mother agreed, nodding and biting on her perfectly manicured nail. “Have they asked you about kids?”

Sitting up straight, I narrowed my gaze on my mother. “Why?” The guilty look on her face had me a little worried. “Mother, what haven’t you told me?”

She shifted, plucking at her dress absently, and refused to look me in the eye. “There was no reason to tell you right away, being so young and already rejected by the Scent Matchers.”

“Mother,” I snapped.

“If you have any children, they will be excluded from the database just like you were. The Scent Matchers refuse to allow a genetic defect to continue and affect further generations,” Mother admitted. “The only reason your father didn’t face the same issue was his diagnosis came later in life, well after we were bonded. Then your condition was worse so our family got put on a list.”

“But Eli,” I said as the realization hit me.

“Don’t you worry about him. I have that well in hand whenever he’s ready to admit he wants a family of his own. Which I’m hoping will be sooner rather than later now that you’re going to be well looked after by your pack. No matter how I tried, he refused to accept he was your brother, not a third father… Lord love him,” Mother grumbled. “You two are peas in a pod when it comes to looking after each other. The first thing you’re worried about after I tell you that no child of yours will be matched is to worry about Eli.”