Always, Darling

Chapter 6

~ Ｎ Ａ Ｄ Ｉ Ａ ~

Courtney had come to talk about what would happen to me once I was better and could leave. I was grateful for Frantz, knowing that he was probably my best option. My chances of being adopted were low, not that I wanted to be adopted with my mother still out there. At least I could go to school and live with someone who seemed nice as well as the other girls he had taken in. That would have to be enough for now.

Now that Courtney was gone, I was alone again, freezing. It seemed like the chills had worsened, and with my blanket missing, I had nothing to keep myself warm. My arms hugged my body close, trying to preserve as much body heat as possible, but it wasn't working.

A hand touched my arm, and I looked up to see Dr. Russo before me, his eyes laced with concern. "Sweetheart, where's your blanket?"

"I—I don't..."

My speech was cut off as my teeth chattered together, and the doctor sighed as he started unbuttoning his dress shirt, leaving him in only a short-sleeved undershirt. He hung the shirt over my shoulders and said, "I'll try to find you one, but we might have run out. There have been a lot of cases of hypothermia these past few days."

Dr. Russo looked around the tent, leaving when he didn't find any blankets. I tugged the shirt around me. It was large enough to fully wrap around my body, but it was still not thick enough to regulate my body temperature. I hoped Dr. Russo found a blanket.

A few minutes passed and the doctor returned empty-handed. He met my eyes and shook his head, making his way over to me and sitting on the edge of the bed. "Sorry, Nadia, but we ran out. I asked a few nurses to bring one if any became available, but I'm not sure if it'll happen. Is my shirt enough?"

I slowly nodded, but my shivering gave my lie away. "It isn't," Dr. Russo muttered. "You shouldn't lie to your doctor. I'm here to help you."

"What's the point?" I asked. "There's nothing you can do to help, no matter how much you want to."

Dr. Russo chuckled, mumbling something in a language that I didn't understand. He noticed my confused expression, a smile tugging on his lips. "That was Italian."

"What did you say?"

Dr. Russo waved his hand, dismissing me. "Nothing important." He took my hands in his, placing them in between his as he said, "Let's try warming you up."

The doctor started rubbing my hands, continuing the motion along my arms. "Penguins, in Antarctica," I said, "huddle together and use their body heat to stay warm. Never thought I would have to use their methods to not freeze to death."

Dr. Russo glanced at me with a look of amusement. "Desperate times call for desperate measures, Nadia. It's working, isn't it?"

I nodded my head. "Good," he muttered, focusing back on warming me up, "because if it didn't, we would have a problem."

Dr. Russo met my gaze again as he removed his hands from my hands. "Did Courtney tell you what's going to happen when you leave here?"

"Yes."

I wasn't sure how to feel about it, going to stay with Frantz. While I was grateful that I wouldn't be in the orphanage for long or be thrown into an unpredictable foster family, being with him also eliminated the possibility of having a family. Maybe Frantz aimed to serve as a father figure, but the fact that he was going to house me under a guardianship rather than through adoption made me believe that he would only serve as a mentor. There was a chance things would change once I started living with him, but he had already made his intentions clear through the guardianship.