The doctor walked into the room, set his bag down on the nightstand, unfastened the clasp, and turned to look at Arezoo.
"You can stay, if you want," Julian said. "I know how it is when the bond settles in. You can't tolerate the thought of being away from her, especially alone with another male in the room."
"It's not just that. Arezoo had a bad experience with someone who pretended to be a doctor. I'm afraid that in her state, she might mistake you for a threat."
"I see. Then perhaps you want to sit on her other side and hold her hand."
That was a great suggestion, and Ruvon was grateful to Julian for understanding.
"Thank you."
He did as the doctor said.
"I have a lot of experience with trauma. I work with rescued victims of trafficking," Julian said quietly. "I get them when they are at the last stage of their rehabilitation, so they are not as frightened anymore, but they are still very skittish around men."
Julian took her temperature with an ear thermometer. He frowned slightly at the reading and made a note. He listened to her heart with a stethoscope. He took her blood pressure. He even drew a small vial of blood from the inside of her elbow, which Arezoo did not seem to register at all.
He then shone a small light into each of her eyes and watched the pupils respond, which they did, but slowly. He pressed gentlyon her abdomen in three places and noted her responses, which were weak.
The whole examination took less than ten minutes.
"I don't think it's a virus," Julian said. "But I won't know until I test her blood. I'm reasonably confident that it's the transition, though. The good news is that her temperature is high but not dangerously so, and her vitals are stable, but I want to move her to the clinic so we can hook her up to the equipment and monitor her properly."
Ruvon nodded.
"Pack her a bag."
"Yes, of course." Ruvon rubbed the back of his neck. "What should I pack?"
Julian smiled. "We will supply her with hospital gowns, but she will need slippers and a pair of socks if her feet get cold. Toothbrush, her face cream, a hairbrush, and a change of clothes for when it's time to go home, including underwear. Her phone and charger. Leave all jewelry here."
Ruvon was grateful for the comprehensive list because he was having a hard time concentrating.
"Thank you," he said. "I can do that."
He found the duffel bag Arezoo had used to transport her things from her family home to here and went to the bathroom. He gathered her toothbrush, her hairbrush, the small array of glass bottles and jars on her side of the counter that she had brought over before the wedding. He took her slippers from beside her side of the bed, took the poetry book she had left on the nightstand, and put everything in the duffel bag.
Then he went into the closet and collected a few pieces of comfortable clothing.
"I think I have everything she'll need." He zipped up the bag.
"Phone?" Julian asked.
"Oh, yes. Forgot about that."
Ruvon went back to the bedside table, retrieved her phone and her charger, and added them to the bag.
"All right." Julian rose to his feet and lifted his doctor's bag off the nightstand. "Give me the duffel bag. You carry your wife to the cart."
Ruvon handed him the bag.
"I'll be in the cart," Julian said.
Ruvon bent and slid one arm under Arezoo's shoulders, the other one under her knees, and he lifted her the same way he'd lifted her over the threshold three nights earlier.
He straightened and held her against his chest.
Arezoo's head settled into the place at his shoulder that she favored, her arms hung loose, and her cheek pressed against his collarbone.
