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“What is it?” I ask, trying to sound excited about his research, but it’s a little beyond my understanding.
Bowdie’s eyes flash with intensity, but not from my research question. “So, you’ll come to London?” he asks me again as if he was half expecting me to say no. I nod feverishly, not only because I have nowhere else to go. I meant it when I said I’d go wherever Bowdie goes.
He produces a familiar pair of my well-worn and still-damp panties from somewhere, which I must’ve lost during dictation this morning.
“I’ve already packed your things,” he smiles, shrugging when I snatch them. I try to look shocked, but like everything the man does, it only makes me want him more.
“So… you ready?” he asks after a slight pause, my belly jolting as I realize he’s not kidding.
“I was gonna ask you regardless of whether the others knew. The plane leaves in three hours,” he remarks, checking his watch.
“I might even have something else I need to ask, but I wanted to test the water first and see if you’d be up for London.”
“If you’re there with me, I’m all in. Yes!” I squeal, stifling a shriek as he lifts me off the ground, turning us both around, kissing me deep, and making my whole world spin all over again.
“I love you, Bowdie,” I mew into his ear, my heart thrilling in my heaving chest.
“I love you more,” he rasps, squeezing my behind and moving to the office door. The sound of the electronic lock snapping shut draws a low groan from us both.
Together and alone at last. Just the two of us, forever.
EPILOGUE
THREE MONTHS LATER
Bowdie
Okay, so maybe I was stretching the truth just a little. About London being nice this time of year? The place is a goddamned icebox. And rain? Don’t even get me started about the rain.
Beth is in her element, having never been farther abroad than the next city back home. We take weeks playing tourists as well as keeping each other warm between the sheets when it’s cold out, which is often in London.
The call to go back to London wouldn’t have happened without Beth. If she’d said no and wanted to stay home, that’s where we’d be, but she said yes to London.
And that other nagging question that I keep waiting for the right moment to ask?
Well, that’s still smoldering, and with each passing day, I’m noticing that the changes in Beth are consistent with a girl her age being repeatedly loved, meaning I’m a doctor, so I know these things. After twenty-something years in medicine, I can see whether a woman is pregnant without a thorough examination. However, Beth still insists it’s just all the home cooking she’s fallen in love with, courtesy of our elderly housekeeper and very traditional British cook, Rose.
The research I abandoned didn’t stop entirely when I flew out. Once there was a significant breakthrough the week after I left, they kept going with unexpected, almost miraculous results. I can’t say it’s a “cure,” but we have isolated the genes and a potential interaction with a bacterial protein thatmightcause the disease that took Cathy. It’s a step forward, but there’s a lot more to be done. So being in London makes sense for me right now, as well as for Beth, for so many reasons.
Brad replied to an email or two, short and not so sweet, but he still won’t take my calls. He calls Beth a few times a week, and as long as she doesn’t mention my name or why she’s in London… Well, it’s better than ignoring her. That’s all I’m gonna say about that.
Lucy? I wish that one was so easy. She’ll never forgive me for what I’ve done—for what Beth and I do every chance we get. Maybe she never will until she finds true love because that’s the only way anyone could truly understand what happened between Beth and me. Beth calls her as often as she can. Sometimes Lucy picks up, and other times not. She won’t answer my calls, but I still make sure the house and everything else back home are fully funded, so she’s never without anything.
They arrested Josh about a month after Lucy broke up with him for good. He lost his temper in a way that’ll see him doing about three to five years. I’m just glad Lucy got free of him before he was at his worst. I’m happier still, and I hate to say this, that she never carried his baby.
Today’s the day. After a lot of face-pulling, a real-life dizzy spell, and no period for weeks, Beth’s finally agreed to have me take her to another “proper doctor.” She’s a friend from the institute who is an expert in all things female and baby. I don’t think Beth believes she isn’t pregnant. More like she knows she is, but it’s maybe a little less stressful to make out like she isn’t, just until she gets used to the idea anyhow. It’s a little unconventional, but I’ve gone along with it for long enough now. It’s time for Beth to see for herself.
I wouldn’t let anyone else near Beth, and it’s all only on the strict condition that I’m present throughout the whole examination. I wonder why Beth wanted to put it off for so long. Ha! As if I have some overprotective streak or something.
Dr. Lynn Bancroft has rooms close to our place, and her informal style office makes Beth much more at ease, even when the ultrasound machine gets wheeled out.
“I-I thought I was just getting a blood test or pee in a cup, that sort of thing,” she says to me in a not so happy now it’s actually happening tone of voice. I squeeze her hand and tell her she’ll be fine.
“I just want to make sure there’s nothing wrong if you’re not pregnant,” I tell her, still a little concerned that Beth won’t even accept the idea when she’s clearly showing a baby bump and acting a lot like a pregnant woman lately.
There is a blood test and some pee in a cup, but being a man of science and a doctor, I want to see our child for myself—the baby I know I planted in Beth not long ago. I know I did on our first night.
“Are you a little nervous?” the doc asks Beth. “We can keep the gender a surprise if you’d prefer,” she adds. Beth looks to me for advice as the light bulb goes on in her mind.
