The Villainess Needs a Hug (Ivy Windsor) novel Chapter 918

"What's wrong? Are Floyd or Denis sick?" She assumed something was wrong with the boys, which would explain why he was rushing her.

"No, I just got off early today. I came home and saw that you and the kids weren't here, so I figured I'd call."

"Oh..." Ivy let out a breath of relief. "I'm in a meeting right now. It'll probably wrap up around six-thirty."

"I'll come pick you up, then. Let's grab dinner out tonight."

"What about the kids? Are we bringing them?"

"No, they're too much of a headache."

Two three-year-old boys tearing through the house was pure chaos. They never stopped moving for a single second.

Jamison half-suspected that his illness was brought on purely by the stress of dealing with his wild sons.

Ivy laughed, easily picturing his exasperated expression. "Alright, but you'll probably have to wait a bit when you get here."

"That's fine."

Hanging up, Ivy returned to the conference room and fast-tracked the agenda.

She loved her career, but she would never let it make her neglect her husband.

As for her two sons? Ha, they had an army of people ready to spoil them rotten—their grandparents, Thad, Davina, Katrina, and a slew of extended relatives.

The boys were certainly not starved for affection.

And because Jamison was such an incredibly devoted father, the boys spent way more time with him and usually defaulted to relying on him anyway.

It was only on the rare occasions when guilt crept in that Ivy wondered if she was dropping the ball as a mom, prompting her to spontaneously spend a few hours playing with them.

Jamison didn't call for a driver; instead, he took the wheel himself, driving at a slow, aimless pace.

His mind raced the entire way, a million dark thoughts spiraling out of control.

What if his liver cancer really had come back?

What if this relapse was fatal? What if it couldn't be cured?

And if he died, what would happen to his beautiful wife and his children?

The kids were too young. They wouldn't even comprehend what losing a father meant.

But Ivy. What about Ivy?

Would she be able to survive that kind of devastating reality?

The more he thought about it, the more his eyes stung. A suffocating wave of despair gripped his chest, making it physically hard to breathe.

Pulling into the downtown business district where Ivy worked, Jamison shot her a quick text and sat quietly in the car, waiting.

Over the past few years, between raising the kids and juggling their careers, they rarely had a moment to just sit back and reflect.

Sitting alone in the driver's seat, he opened his phone's camera roll. He had dozens of gigabytes of photos and videos. Slowly, deliberately, he clicked through them one by one.

"Why didn't you bring a driver? Aren't you exhausted after a full shift at the hospital?" Ivy asked, pulling the seatbelt across her chest.

Jamison didn't immediately pull into traffic. He turned his head, studying her flawless features, his voice low and tender. "I just wanted it to be the two of us today."

Ivy paused, her striking eyes locking onto his. Her mind raced. "Did I forget an anniversary or something?"

Guilt flashed across her face, terrified she had let a milestone slip her mind because of work.

"No." Jamison reached over, gently tipping her chin before pinching her cheek affectionately. "I just had some free time. When I got home and realized our two little monsters weren't there yet, it was a spur-of-the-moment idea."

Before Ivy could pry further, he smoothly deflected. "What do you want for dinner? Italian? Sushi? Steakhouse?"

Ivy thought for a second. "Let's do Chinese. That way we can eat early and go back to spend time with the boys. I've been so swamped lately, I barely feel like a mom."

When she was in the thick of a project, she often didn't get home until nine or ten, long after the kids were asleep.

The best she could do was sneak into the nursery and gently hold their tiny hands.

"I said today is about us. We're not playing with the kids tonight." Jamison turned the steering wheel, merging smoothly onto the main road.

Ivy sighed playfully. "Alright, fine. Whatever you have planned, I'm all yours."

They headed to an exclusive, reservation-only restaurant tucked away in a private villa.

Ivy went to sit across from him, but he caught her hand and pulled her back. "Sit next to me."

She frowned. That was when it hit her—something was definitely off about her husband.