I bite my lip. “The guys.”
“What about them?” Patricia asks, her brows wrinkling.
“You know,” my hands move as I try to explain, “the fact that they are my boyfriends.”
“A lot of single parents have partners, Ivy.”
“Yeah, but do they have three of them?” I can’t help the bite in my voice.
Patricia studies me for a second. “I suppose not, but even though marriage to multiple people isn’t legal, dating them is. Plus the concept is becoming more common. There are more people in polyamorous relationships than you would think. It’s getting closer and closer to becoming a societal norm. Soon, I believe, maybe in the next decade, we’ll start to see more laws and acceptance surrounding such relationships.”
She makes it sound so simple, but we both know it’s anything but. I shake my head. “She called me a slut and said that I was having orgies in the house around the children.” I shudder at the repulsive thought.
“And we both know that isn’t true.” Patricia presses her lips into a thin line. “Ivy, you are a grown up in a consensual relationship with three grown men. There’s nothing sardonic or repulsive about that unless you give in to your mother’s accusations and make it that way.”
I purse my lips and run a hand through my hair. “I just… I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to let the guys go but if it comes down to them or the kids, I’ll always pick the kids.” It’s a hard truth, but it’s the responsibility I committed myself to when they became mine.
“As you should,” Patricia agrees. “But you don’t have to pick, Ivy. I think picking would be the worst thing you could do.”
“Why would you say that?”
“The woman who was in my office months ago was a completely different woman, but I saw change in her after she met her neighbors. Yes, I was initially worried since you threw an ice cream cone at one of them, but afterwards…” She shakes her head, a small smile on her lips. “You started to smile when you would mention them and then you’d start to tell me stories about how good they were for the kids. You started to morph into a butterfly and they were there to help you spread your wings.”
My breath catches in my throat.
“From what you’ve told me, the kids love them and they feel the same way.” Her eyes hold mine as she pauses for a moment. “Do you love them, Ivy?” The ways she asks and how her green eyes soften, I know she already knows the answer.
I push out a breath. “I do,” I admit. “I never thought I’d fall in love, not with one person, yet what I feel these three men…” I rub at my chest, missing the warmth that I’d only just discovered before it was ripped away. “It hurts, because I know I need to let them go, but yes, I love them.”
Patricia watches me closely. “Then don’t do it, don’t end things. You call your mother and tell her that if she keeps harassing you, you’ll be the one taking her to court. You let her know that the kids are yours and you have the right to decide who’s in their lives and who’s not, so if you have to you’ll ban her from seeing them.”
I suck in a deep breath. “But Kylie-”
“Would have wanted her sister and kids to be happy and the three men in your life are doing that.” The words hang in the air between us as my heart pounds at my chest. She’s right, the guys make us happy, they fit perfectly in our lives, but am I willing to go up against my mother on the possibility that things won’t work in my favor.
I don’t have time to think about it any longer as the shrill ring of a phone cuts through the air and my pocket starts to buzz. Usually, I’d turn my phone off during a session but since I’d left the kids with Jamille at my house while I took a list minute appointment with Patricia, I’d left it on.
I send Patricia an apologetic look but she only nods and gestures for me to take the call.
I see Jamille’s name on the screen and can’t help the worry that goes through my chest. “Hello?”
“Ivy,” Jamille sounds out of breath. “There’s been an accident-”
“What happened?” I ask, jumping out of my seat, my feet already moving to the door. “Are the kids alright?” The last time I’d gotten a call saying there’d been an accident, I’d found out that my sister died.
“The kids are okay,” Jamille says quickly and some of the panic settles. “It’s Chase, there was an accident while he was on duty.”