“It’s peaceful. Death can be a release and a relief for the person, and that is a blessing. The thing is, a lot of times, it is work to die. It requires physical and emotional effort. What sucks is that for most, particularly if they’re dying out of sequence, it’s a job they don’t want. It’s about loss of control, loss of function, loss of identity and independence…loss of choice and decision, of family and friends. But if you can let go of all that, what comes with it is freedom. A soaring freedom, the soul released from its temporary prison of mortality.”
-Ivie
Dearest Ivie is a novella that takes place in the same universe as The Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward. Since it does not tie into the main storyline, diverging into the lives of civilians Ivie and Silas, it can be read in any order.
Synopsis[]
The last place Ivie expects to be approached by a devastatingly handsome male is in a crowded, smoky cigar bar rarely frequented by vampires—yet here he stands. Silas is flirtatious, gallant, and, above all, mysterious. Ivie is anything but. A nurse at the healer’s clinic and the daughter of a biker, Ivie is accustomed to speaking her mind. So she does. Since aristocrats rarely pick up females of her class, Ivie asks Silas just what kind of game he thinks he’s playing.
Despite her guarded exterior, Ivie surrenders to the fierce desire she feels for Silas. And yet, just as their courtship is heating up, he reveals that it cannot last, for he is bound to return to the Old Country. Their bond only deepens as they make the most of their precious time together. But when she learns the truth, Ivie must find a saving grace—before all is lost....
Main Characters[]
Other Characters []
Others - Speaking Roles[]
Others - Non-Speaking Roles[]
Plot[]
Ivie has an interview for a position as a hospice nurse to a member of the glymera, however, she's not selected for the job and assumes it's because she's lower case. She makes plans to go out with her cousin, best friend, and coworker, Rubia.
While they're out, Ivie complains to Rubias about the interview, but Rubes is too distracted by an attractive male vampire who enters the cigar bar they're at. He comes over to their table and joins them, Rubes quickly leaves them alone, making no effort to hide the fact that she's doing it so they can be alone together. Ivie's forthright in her opinions and tells him she doesn't do one-night stands. He tells her that whatever they have, it can't last long because soon he has to return to the Old Country.
They go out on more dates, trying to pack as much experience as they can in the little time they have left, both of them rapidly falling for each other and choosing not to worry about when he has to leave. Ivie has plans for a family birthday party and he wants to go, even though she warns him that her dad's a biker and they live in a prefab home in the country with hunting dogs running underfoot. The dress code is band shirts from the 80's for the men and either handmade housedresses or Penny's separates if they're feeling fancy for the ladies.
Ivie's dad is "an oak of a man" and with a kitchen knife in one hand, summons Ivie and Silas to the kitchen where he's cooking. At first, he tries to intimidate Silas, stating how protective he is of his daughter. Silas agrees with him, saying he'd be the same way if he had a daughter. Then they commiserate over all of the potential safety issues there are with Ivie's basement apartment, namely that there's no safe escape in case of fire, especially during the day. Bemused by their tag team efforts to protect her, she mutters that she almost preferred it when her dad was threatening Silas.
Silas and her family, with whom she is very close, get along well and seeing this, Ivie gets over some of her prejudice towards the glymera when Silas doesn't judge them the way she assumed he would.
At work one night, Ivie's cousin and coworker, Rubia, brings her into the VIP ward where Silas was being treated. He was determined to leave and take Ivie on their next date; Rubia hoped Ivie would talk him into staying and getting the care he needed. Silas has Cane's Lethargy, an autoimmune disease that attacks the digestive system, and so did his father, who died of it. It's a recessive trait that appears to be passed along the male line, especially in the glymera due to inbreeding over time.
He admits to her that he saw her when she came for her interview and wanted to know her as a woman, not as his caregiver at the end of his life. It was why he'd never been completely unclothed when they were together, hiding the marks on his body from his treatments and feeding tube. Overhearing her make plans with Rubias, he went to the cigar bar and felt more alive than he had in a long time. Stubbornly defying Silas, Ivie takes care of him as his health rapidly declines and, at one point, angrily confronts Havers and wants to know if he's sure he's explored every possibility.
After spending some time doing research, Havers proposes an experimental bone marrow transfer, theorizing that it would "re-set" Silas' immune system by tricking it into mimicking that of the donor instead of assimilating the donor's material. The staff quickly mobilizes, calling every male they can to come in and get tested to see if could be a donor and Ruhn is the match. Since Silas has to be quarantined to prevent exposure to any virus or bacteria, Ivie stays on a bed in front of the window looking into his room where she can watch over him night and day.
Silas is in a coma for a while after the procedure and everyone prepares for the worst when he doesn't appear to improve, however, he recovers in the end and mates Ivie, purchasing property near her family with the intention of building a home there with her.
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