The Untouchables(79)

“What?”

He frowned. “I sat on top of that roof, my rifle pointed at the First Lady. I spoke to your father, he was supposed to push her out of the way and take a bullet to the arm. I’m always on your side. So fuck you for not trusting me again.”

Letting go of me, he reached for the door handle at my side.

“Move, Olivia.”

“No,” I whispered, as I jumped up into his arms, trying to kiss him. “I’m sorry.”





DECLAN

“What’s taking so long?” Coraline sighed, kicking her legs back and forth on the edge of the bed.

The nurse had left with her blood samples over two hours ago. If I knew it took this long to take a pregnancy test, I’m sure Coraline would’ve rather we waited and done this in the comfortable privacy of our own home.

“Baby, I’m sure they are going as fast as they can.” I tried to hide my skepticism. She was excited. She was trying so hard not to be, but she couldn’t help it. Her whole body was shaking and in return, so was mine.

We had come so far in the last year and a half. We hadn’t fixed everything, and we still went to therapy, but we were happy. I kept trying to imagine us both as parents. What would I teach him or her? Who would they look like? I was hoping that our girls would look like her; had her smile.

“Stop looking at me like that.” She laughed, kicking her feet at me.

“This is how I always look at you,” I replied, grabbing hold of her legs and kissing her thighs. “And I was thinking of names for our son, Brendan.”

“Brendan Callahan? It sounds so boring and simple.”

“Well excuse me, what names do you have in mind?”

“Our first kid is going to be girl.” She laughed.

“Sorry, baby. Callahan swimmers seem to only produce males.”

Before she could respond, the door opened. I stood up as the doctor walked in.

“Please don’t make us wait another second. We’re both going crazy here.” She smiled up at him, taking my hand.

However something felt odd. The doctor before us didn’t smile, he looked as though he was in pain. Like he didn’t want to break our hearts. When he frowned, I felt her try to pull her hand away.

“We’re not pregnant,” she said slowly, trying not cry. “I’m sorry we wasted your time, we were just excited. I think we should just go.”

“Mrs. Callahan, can you answer some questions for me?” he said to us. We both froze, staring at one another before looking back at him.

“Why? We aren’t pregnant, right?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No, I’m sorry, you’re not pregnant. But we did find something else in our tests that raised some questions.”

“What?”

“We found that you have abnormally high levels of CA 125. From there, we ran a few other tests…” He paused, and took a deep breath as if readying himself.

“The high levels of this protein suggest that there is a form of antigen that exists. It has symptoms that led you to falsely believe you were pregnant. There is a high chance that the antigen is attacking parts of your reproductive system. You explained earlier to the nurse that you have been feeling tired, experiencing abdominal pains as well lower back pains, these symptoms can be a sign of stress, other physical activities, or—”

“Just spit it out already,” I snapped; he was going to make her panic.

He seemed to pause to collect his breath, as if reading himself for another long-winded speech. “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Callahan, but such levels of CA 125 leads us to believe that there is a possibility that you may have a cancerous growth in your body. There are other reasons for such high levels of CA 125, but seeing as you are young and not premenopausal, it’s my professional opinion that these markers are evidence of ovarian cancer. There are other tests—” The moment he uttered his damning opinion, she stumbled back as if he had slapped her across the face. She grabbed hold of the bed, trying to catch her breath.

“Mrs. Callahan, there are procedures and tests…”

“GET OUT!” I roared at him, causing him to stumble. He was the cause of her upset, her unhappiness. All rational thought left me as he stumbled feebly to the door. I didn’t care that he had the unfortunate job of delivering such news to us, it didn’t matter that it was his job to do so, all I saw was him talking and as a result, my wife, my purpose for living, seemingly being ripped in two right before my very eyes. He was right to leave. I was feeling the irrational urge to make Coraline smile, as she was ten minutes ago, through any means necessary.

One of those means may have included carving his face from his body.