Nearly a week early.

Jamison heard about it from the nurse. As soon as he finished his rounds, he came straight to check on her.

“Are you having any cramps? I can give you a warm compress and a massage; it might help a little,” he said, walking to the bedside. Seeing Ivy lying there with her eyes squeezed shut, he couldn’t help but ask with concern.

Ivy shook her head, too sleepy to open her eyes. She mumbled, “Not really… doesn’t hurt much.”

“No pain?” Jamison found that odd.

He’d never heard of any side effect from antiretroviral meds that could magically cure menstrual cramps.

Ivy sensed his confusion and muttered, “My cycle’s all messed up. Maybe my body hasn’t caught up to the pain yet.”

Jamison was a doctor, and he remained vigilant.

Her health had never been robust to begin with. Now, with her spleen removed, her immune system was weaker than most, and the side effects from the medication were only making things worse.

His expression grew serious; no matter how he looked at it, he couldn’t shake his worry. He arranged for another doctor to come in and draw blood for some tests. “What’s wrong? Don’t tell me I’ve caught something else?” Ivy asked, puzzled.

After all, Emma had cursed her so venomously before dying. What if the curse really worked…

“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s just a routine checkup–to see how the meds have been working after twenty days,” Jamison said, not wanting her to spiral, so he didn’t elaborate on what the tests were really checking for.

That night, as usual, Jamison came to sleep in the hospital room.

After more than two weeks, this room had practically become their master bedroom.

Thank God for the spacious suite; otherwise, it wouldn’t have fit all their stuff. After his shower, Jamison, moving with practiced ease, pushed the guest cot to Ivy’s side.

Ivy glanced at him, rolling her eyes in exasperation. “Haven’t you heard the nurses gossiping about you behind your back?”

Jamison looked at her and asked, “Who dares gossip about me?”

“There’s plenty of them. What, are you planning to fire them all?”

“No need for that. I’ll just make them repeat whatever they said to my face.”

Ivy couldn’t help but laugh and shake her head, but she insisted, “This is still a hospital. You should be more mindful of appearances. And what about Snowy and Blackie? You haven’t been home to see them in ages.”

Cats crave attention. If their owner’s gone too long, they probably think they’ve been abandoned.

“Someone goes by every day to care for them. And whenever I stop by to pick up things, I play with them for a bit.”

Ivy was suddenly curious. “With your personality, how did you end up with cats? Two of them, even.”

Jamison smiled, only explaining after lying down, “Those two were strays at the hospital. Their mother must have worried about the cold and whether her kittens would survive, so she carried them to the front doors of the in-patient building. I happened to be working late that night and saw them. The mother cat was scrawny but not dirty, and the kittens were spotless. One black, one white–both adorable.”

The more Ivy listened, the more amazed she looked. Her eyes widened, cat-like with surprise. “So you just brought them home?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh my God, I never would’ve guessed that’s how it happened.”

With how cold and aloof he usually seemed, it was hard to imagine he had a soft spot–especially for two helpless kittens.

Jamison chuckled, holding up his hand to show her. “Both kittens together could barely fill my palm. Honestly, I didn’t know if I could keep them alive.”

“With your medical skills? You save people for a living–keeping two kittens alive should be a piece of cake!” Ivy declared with confidence.

Her faith in him made Dr. Ludwig smile. “After I took them home, about a week later, I worked late again. When I left the hospital, the mother cat was waiting outside–she ran up and circled around me, meowing.”