“How could you not?” I tell her. Before she can respond, the doctor walks in. He is a middle-aged man with dark hair that has just started to grey on the sides. He has a warm smile. I sit up as he takes a seat on a rolling stool.
“Miss Taylor, please tell me what brought you here today. How are you feeling?” he asks and waits for my response. I tell him about the nausea and vomiting. The way it came on without warning, but isn’t really present at this moment.
“Could you be pregnant?” he asks and I’m caught off guard. I'm not expecting him to say that at all. I know I’m not pregnant. I’ve been on birth control since I was fourteen.
“No, sir. I’m on the pill,” I tell him. Nikki’s eyes grow wide, but she doesn’t have anything to worry about. I’m not pregnant.
“When was your last menstrual cycle?” He is staring at me, waiting for a response, the same as Nikki. I’m wracking my brain. It’s not something I generally keep up with, but I’m pretty sure it was right before I met Nick. I haven’t started again since meeting him. I look up at the doctor.
No I couldn’t be...
“About six weeks, I think.” He’s jotting a note down in a chart. My chart. No, there has to be another reason. I’m not pregnant.
“Let’s do a blood test to be sure. I’ll have my nurse come in and take a sample in a few minutes.” He stands up and walks out of the room. I’m sitting here not knowing what to do. Nikki isn’t saying anything at all. If anything, she is biting her nails more.
“Would you please stop biting your nails and say something. Whatever it is, just say it,” I tell her. I need a distraction from what might be about to happen. I’ve always wanted children, but I always pictured myself happily married, which I am not. I’m not even happily in love. Yes, I know I’m in love with Nick, but there is nothing happy about our situation right now. Our relationship is nonexistent.
“I kno…,” she pauses, hesitating. “Nick misses you. He’s miserable without you,” she says, making my heart constrict. If that were the case, why hasn’t he come back? Why doesn't he give me the benefit of the doubt instead of assuming? Granted, I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t.
The nurse enters before I can speak. She takes a sample of my blood. A rather large sample and it hurts like hell. I hate needles. She exits the room, and I’m left waiting for answers that could change my life forever.
We wait in silence for what feels like ages. I start to wonder what is taking so long. Please just come in here and tell me already. The waiting is killing me and making my nerves skyrocket.
“How long does fucking blood take to analyze?” Nikki shouts from her chair. I want to do the same. Finally, a few minutes later the doctor walks in. He doesn’t sit down. I’m not sure if I should take this as a good or bad sign.
“The test was positive, Miss Taylor.” He says something else, but I don’t hear him. "I’m pregnant" is screaming in my head making the outside world a blur.
“Shannon,” Nikki says, shaking my shoulders. She is now standing next to me. I never saw her get out of her chair.
“Huh?” I ask and look up at her. She gestures to the doctor and I turn my head to look at him.
“I was saying, I'm guessing you’re around four-to-six weeks. I can’t be certain until you have a sonogram. I would suggest scheduling an appointment as soon as possible with your Ob-Gyn. You also need to start a vitamin regimen. You primary doctor can make a suggestion. You are now free to go now, Miss Taylor, unless you have questions?” He hands Nikki a slip of paper as I’m hopping down off the counter.
“No, I don’t,” I tell him as I follow Nikki out of the exam room and to the counter where she hands a lady the paper. Nikki pays my co-pay and we leave. I get in the truck and sit there. Reality has already hit me, but I don’t know what to do.
“Is it Nick’s?” she asks me. “I know you guys have been together for about that long, but Nick also told me you were engaged right before you two hooked up.” She starts the truck and pulls out.
“Hooked up?” Wow. That makes me sound like a slut. I know she didn’t mean it that way, but it wasn’t the comment I needed to hear. “Yes, it’s Nick’s baby.” I don’t go into details and tell her I hadn’t had sex with my ex in months prior to meeting her brother. What is the point? What am I going to do? The father of my child hates me. Hell, his sister probably does too, even if she is being rather nice to me.
“You have to tell him. This will change everything for you two. I was serious when I told you he misses you.” She is pleading with me. I have no intention of keeping this from Nick. He has every right to know.