AUTHOR’S POV
“You and Lev… aren’t blood related.” Mrs. Volkov repeated, and for a long, stretching half-minute, Iva stared at her mother, her jaw slack, her breath stuck somewhere between her lungs and her throat.
The words didn’t fully register. They bounced off her until they finally sank like a stone dropped into deep water. Her voice came in a broken whisper.
“What?”
Mrs. Volkov reached for her hand, gently pulling her down onto the edge of the bed, where she held her hand tighter, as if she already felt her slipping away, eyes glistening.
“When I was younger,” Mrs. Volkov began with a trembling voice, “before I turned eighteen, I had a procedure done. The doctor warned that it might affect my ability to have children in the long run, but I still went ahead and did it. I guess
