AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Okay, that’s good. It might be nothing.” Her doctor sounded hopeful.
“Or it might be something.” Laura’s mind instantly went to all the worst-case scenarios. She was doomed. Her pregnancy was over. The surgeon had been right to warn her she might never have a baby.
“I know this seems bad,” Dr. Goodwin said. “I can’t do anything for you while you’re in St. Anthony’s. Is there a doctor you can see there? Someone at the emergency room?”
Laura remembered Elle’s ob-gyn. “Maybe.”
“Why don’t you see if you can get in? Just given your history, we don’t want to take any chances.”
Laura remembered being rushed into surgery.
“No, we don’t.” She hung up and called a cab. She hesitated, wondering if she ought to call Mark as well. This was not the way she wanted to tell him the news. She called his phone and got voice mail instantly. His battery was dead or his phone was turned off. Either way, she wasn’t getting through.
Annoyance burned in her. He was off nursing hurt feelings while she had to deal with this. It hardly seemed fair. Just one more reason I’ve got to go it alone, she thought.
* * *
SHE SAT IN the small island emergency room, and since there was only her and a tourist who cut his foot on a shell at the beach that day, she got in to see a doctor fairly quickly. The doctor, a young woman with dark hair, placed a heart rate Doppler device on her belly and the room filled with the sound of the baby’s heart.
“Your baby’s alive,” the doctor declared, and Laura felt a huge relief.
“Oh, thank God,” she murmured, sending up another prayer. She felt like crying. Her baby was alive—for now.
“But, did you know about your cervix? It’s—”
“Incompetent,” she said. “I know.” One of many ways her body had failed her during the last pregnancy.
The doctor read her chart and frowned. “And given the fact that the placenta detached during the last pregnancy, I’d say you’re better off heading home to the States for further treatment.”
“Do you think my baby can survive?” she asked, feeling hope brim in her chest. Say yes. Please, say yes.
The woman glanced at her, brow furrowed. “I really don’t know. There’s a chance, of course, but this isn’t my specialty. I think you’re probably better off back in San Francisco, where they have equipment they can use to monitor you. You need a specialist’s care. Here on the island—” she glanced around the simple exam room and shrugged “—we’re limited with what we can do.”
In the cab ride on the way back to the condo, Laura pulled up the airline website on her smartphone and managed to get tickets booked on the first morning flight off the island. She had an hour to go home, pack and get to the airport. She tried Mark’s cell one last time, but got voice mail again.
With the chances high she might miscarry, she wasn’t going to tell him about the baby. And given his behavior in the last twenty-four hours, she wasn’t sure he really was the man for her. He’d given up on her so easily, assumed the worst of her without letting her explain. She was angry and hurt, but now she needed to focus all her energy on the baby inside her.
She texted him a quick message.
Going back to San Francisco. It’s for the best.
There. She’d said it. She’d given him an out, too, though part of her hoped he’d call her bluff. This is what you get for falling in love with unavailable men.
Laura waited, watching her phone for any sign of a response. She got none. She put away her phone. No sense in waiting for Mark. Since the hour was so early, she sent a message to Edward.
Have to fly home. See a doctor.
To her surprise, he texted her back.
Everything okay?
She typed:
What are you doing awake?
I’ve got a newborn! Not much sleeping happening here.
She laughed a little, then she felt a pang of sadness. What if she never knew what that sleeplessness was like?
Edward texted:
You okay?
No. Might miscarry. But I have to go to see my doctor in San Francisco.
Anything I can do?
She wished he could help. She wanted to ask him to knock some sense into his brother. Or maybe just get him to turn on his blasted phone. Then again, why tell Mark? On the very off chance he would’ve been excited about the possibility of a baby, why tell him he never had a shot at having one? It just seemed cruel.
Besides, Laura thought, he’d made his feelings pretty clear about her. He didn’t trust her. Thought she was a cheater just because she talked to Edward. If he thought so little of her, why would she want to be with him?
Because you love him, a tiny voice in her head said.
