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“If I decide to follow your advice, I’ll send my kids to you when they wonder why I’m wearing short skirts and cowgirl boots again.”
“Now that’s a sight I would love to see. I bet you have great legs under those scrubs.” The older woman blushed and shook her head before handing me a paper gown and leaving me alone with my thoughts.
Without Betsy’s kind smile, I was left to my own devices which had a tendency to stray towards the worst case scenario. What if I was really sick, with cancer or some auto-immune disease that would require a lifetime of treatment? I wouldn’t be able to run my businesses and I might have to move closer to family. Not happening. My brain shot that idea down quickly and I smiled to myself as Dr. Abernathy entered the room after a sharp knock.
“Good morning, Ms. Brinkley. How are you feeling?”
“A little nauseous with a dash of head spinning, otherwise all right. And please, call me Shannon.”
He nodded with a friendly smile and asked a few more questions which I answered easily. “Betsy said you lost some weight, have you been ill before this morning?”
“No, but I have been busy and eating less. And I walk a lot more since coming to Pilgrim.” The town was small and so damn picturesque that a quick walk was all I needed to clear my head most days.
“And I see your last period was two and a half months ago. Is that normal for you?”
I frowned at his words. “What? Really?” I strained my neck as if I could see the chart in his hands from my spot on the exam table and shook my head. “Are you sure?”
“It’s what you wrote down,” he said and I listened with half an ear, reaching for my phone and my period tracker app.
Sure enough, I copied the dates down exactly. “Well, I use the pill and condoms, religiously so it must be stress.” That’s what I told myself anyway, my gaze imploring the doctor to find something else wrong. Anything else.
“As you know, Shannon, neither method is one hundred percent effective, even if you think you used them correctly and frequently. Missteps happen.”
“But-,” I tried to cut off the words I knew were coming next with an explanation, but the doctor’s sympathetic smile snapped my mouth shut.
“We already did the test, Shannon. You’re pregnant.”
“You’re sure? Absolutely certain?”
This time his smile was just plain amused. “Your hormone levels are quite high, but I’d recommend a blood test to be sure. We can draw the blood and send it to the lab but in the meantime, you can make an appointment at the women’s clinic on the other side of town.”
I wanted to argue, to insist he run more tests, to tell him he was definitely wrong, instead I nodded. “Yeah, okay.”
I sat there, numb, as the blood was drawn, barely listening as he explained when the results would be available and my next steps. Next steps? How in the hell did you take any steps after news like this? I left the office in a daze on shaky legs that didn’t seem to listen to my brain when I urged them towards the gourmet shop near the Mayor’s office. It was just as well since the last thing I needed was alcohol or soft cheese, two things that were undoubtedly bad for the baby.
The baby. Holy crap, there was a baby growing in my belly and that I was now responsible for. His home was my body, which meant for the first time in my life I had another person to consider when it came to, well, everything. I’m having a baby. The more times the thought struck me, the more real it all started to feel.
The more real it became.
I made my way to Bread Box, which was still bustling with customers, and offered what I hoped was a bright smile for Mara, who met that smile with a frown. “Well?”
“Not contagious,” I assured her.
“Not an answer.”
“As much as you’re getting right now,” I told her and made my way back to the office where I enjoyed a mild freak out for a few long moments, before burying myself in emails and paperwork. There was never a shortage of emails or paperwork that the businesses required, and normally I hated it and went out of my way to avoid it. Today, I sat down and dug right in, finding it the perfect distraction to my wandering thoughts.
A baby.
A baby with Miles.
Oh shit, Miles.
“All right, I let you hide back here all day. Now it’s time for some answers, Shannon. What is going on with you?”
I looked up with a tired smile. “I told you, not contagious.” Mara continued to glare at me, starting down her nose, arms folded in frustration. “Unless pregnancy is contagious, you’ll be all right. In fact, maybe there’s something in the water and I got this from you.”
