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“I need to talk to Dr. Farina,” he said upon arriving at the nurse’s station.
“I’m sorry, sir. Dr. Farina is with another patient right now.”
“I need to see her now, immediately,” Massimo insisted.
The nurse saw his demeanor. More than that, she saw the desperation he unsuccessfully tried to mask.
“Give me just a second,” the nurse said.
Massimo stepped away from the desk but only a little bit away. He needed to see the doctor. He needed the nurse to get her. She placed a phone call, and he waited patiently for the response. It felt like it took her forever to get off the phone and let him know what he needed to know.
“The doctor is on her way. Give her just a moment, okay?”
“Thank you,” Massimo uttered. He meant every word of it. He needed to talk to the doctor.
He paced the floor in anticipation of her arrival. Massimo only had one question he needed to ask her, but he needed to ask her for his own sanity, for his future.
“Mr. Ricci?” Dr. Farina said as she approached.
“Dr,” Massimo replied, closing the distance between them. “Is there someplace we can talk?”
“Sure,” Dr. Farina replied. “Let’s step into my office.”
He willingly followed her. Dr. Farina closed the door and invited Mr. Ricci to sit as she took the seat behind her desk.
“I’ll stand,” he replied. Now that he had the doctor’s undivided attention, Massimo faltered on the question he wanted to ask. Dr. Farina was patient and waited until he was ready.
“You said that there is a chance that Isotta, my wife, would be infertile,” Massimo began. “How much of a chance?” He stopped pacing and turned around to face her, placing his hands on the corner of her desk.
“I need to know.”
Dr. Farina heard the desperation in his voice. Mr. Ricci didn’t try to hide it. More than that, she saw the desperation on his face. He couldn’t hide that even if he tried.
“As I indicated before, there is a chance that your wife will be infertile, but there’s no guarantee, Mr. Ricci.”
“How much of a chance, though? How likely is it that my wife won’t be able to carry a baby?” There was even more urgency, more insistence in his voice.
Dr. Farina was hesitant to give statistics. They weren’t always accurate. They were an approximation. And she shared that with Mr. Ricci.
“If your wife were to become infertile, and that is just an approximation, that doesn’t mean that you all won’t be able to have children,” Dr. Farina began. “There’s always adoption, surrogacy.”
“That’s not an option,” Massimo clapped back, his temper starting to rise. He slammed his hand on the desk. Dr. Farina was momentarily startled, but she didn’t let it show. Massimo paced the floor again, rubbing his hands together, his brow furrowed more than ordinarily so. He then turned back to the doctor.
“What can you do to fix her?”
“Fix her?” She heard the intensity of the question, but Dr. Farina also heard the vulnerability. She heard the desperation.
“Yes, fix her,” Massimo insisted. “I’ll pay whatever it costs, but I need her fixed, whole, able to give me an heir.”
“Why is an heir so important?” Dr. Farina asked. It wasn’t the question she initially wanted to raise, but it became that after seeing his disposition. Initially, Allegra thought that Mr. Ricci’s concern was for his wife, but the more she talked with him, the more his real motivation became evident.
“It’s not,” Massimo denied.
“But I think it is,” Dr. Allegra contemplated, “or you wouldn’t be so hard-pressed to fix your wife.”
The cat was out of the bag. Massimo thought about cloaking his real intent, but since she already knew, he went with what his thoughts were from the beginning.
“I need an heir to solidify my place in the family,” he explained through clenched teeth. “I have a wife because I need an heir. If she can’t be fixed, then that impedes my ability.”
