Carol Marinelli - The Best Of The Year - Medical Romance

‘It will be okay,’ Louise said. As a midwife she was extremely used to a woman’s shocked tears when they first came to the realisation that they were pregnant.

‘I don’t think it can be,’ Candy sobbed, ‘and I can’t tell you why.’

Louise sat and thought for a moment. If Steele was only here for a few more weeks, which was what she’d heard, then it wasn’t any wonder that Candy was upset.

‘I don’t know who to talk to,’ Candy said, and then blew her nose and told herself to get it together.

‘Can you talk to me?’ Louise offered. ‘Do you want to do a pregnancy test? I’ll come with you.’ When Candy said nothing Louise pushed on. ‘Could you talk about it with Anton?’ Louise asked. Anton was Louise’s husband and one of the most sought-after obstetricians in London. ‘I was just on my way to have lunch with him so I know that he’s got time to see you.’

Candy nodded.

It was time to find out for sure.

Louise took out her phone and sent a text and a few moments later she got a response. ‘He says to come to the antenatal clinic and he’ll see you. I’ll take you over there now.’

‘People will wonder what I’m doing in the antenatal clinic.’

‘People will think we’re just two friends catching up for lunch,’ Louise said. ‘Don’t be so paranoid.’

As they arrived at the clinic Candy felt a moment’s reprieve as she looked around at the pregnant women all sitting waiting for their turn to be seen.

She was overreacting, she told herself.

This world didn’t apply to her.

‘You might as well come in,’ Candy said to Louise as they arrived at a door that had a sign with Anton Rossi written on it. ‘He’ll only tell you what’s happening anyway.’

‘God, no.’ Louise rolled her eyes. ‘Unfortunately for me Anton’s all ethical like that. If you tell him not to tell me, then wild horses wouldn’t drag it from him! You don’t have to worry about that.’ Louise gave her a lovely smile. ‘But if you do want to tell me then I’m dying to know!’ She gave Candy a cuddle just before she went in. ‘You’ll be fine.’

Candy really hadn’t had anything to do with Anton before this. She just knew him by reputation and had seen him occasionally when he’d come down to Emergency to review a patient there.

‘I’m sorry to interrupt your lunch break,’ she said. ‘Thank you for seeing me so quickly.’

‘Louise said that you were very upset.’

Candy nodded. ‘I know that everything is confidential but the thing is, this is terribly delicate and—’

‘First of all,’ Anton interrupted, ‘you are right—everything you tell me is completely confidential. I never gossip.’

‘Thank you.’

‘I’m not even taking notes. Do you want to tell me what’s happening?’

‘I think I might be pregnant,’ Candy said. ‘The thing is, my partner …’ She didn’t even know if Steele was that but she pushed on. ‘It can’t be his.’

‘Because?’

‘He’s infertile.’

‘Have you been seeing someone else?’ Anton asked gently—he was used to that being the case—but Candy shook her head.

‘I’ve only been with my current partner for a couple of weeks. We weren’t supposed to be serious, but …’ It sounded so terrible put like that but Anton’s eyes were sympathetic rather than judgmental. ‘I had a one-night stand with my ex a couple of months ago.’ She thought back. ‘Three months, maybe. We used condoms.’

‘Nothing is fail-safe,’ Anton said.

‘I went on the Pill afterwards,’ Candy said. ‘I wasn’t expecting anything to happen again but I just decided I wasn’t coming off it. I have had my period.’

‘A normal period?’ Anton checked.

‘It’s been light but I thought that was because the day I got it I started the Pill.’

‘The first thing we need to do—’ Anton was very calm ‘—is to find out if you are indeed pregnant.’

He gave her a jar and a few minutes later she sat in his office and she knew, she simply knew that she was. A few moments later Anton confirmed it.

‘Candy, you are pregnant.’

He let it sink in for a moment.

‘How do you think your partner will react?’ Anton asked.

‘I don’t think I’m going to find out,’ Candy said, and she just stared at the wall. ‘There’s really no point telling him. We both agreed from the start—’

‘What about the father?’

Oh, that’s right. Candy’s brain was moving like gridlocked traffic. It was like telling a joke and forgetting the punch line, because she hadn’t told Anton the good part yet. ‘You know Gerry, the head of nursing in Emergency …’

‘Oh, Candy.’ Immediately he took her hand. Anton didn’t gossip—in fact, he had been in this office all morning—but he had seen the email twenty minutes or so ago informing everyone that Gerry had passed away while on holiday in Greece and that Emergency was on bypass.

‘I don’t know what to do.’

‘Of course you don’t know what to do at the moment,’ he said. ‘This is all too much of a shock. How long have you been worried that you might be pregnant?’

‘Since yesterday,’ Candy said. ‘A patient said something. I know I’m a bit overweight, it just …’

‘Hit home?’

Candy nodded.

‘I knew you were pregnant before I did the test,’ Anton said, which concerned him a little as it did not seem to fit with her dates. ‘We could do an ultrasound now, here, and see exactly where we are,’ he suggested. ‘Are you ready to do that?’

She nodded.

‘Go to the examination table and undo your jeans. He came over and had a feel of her stomach but said nothing—though he was starting to think that Candy would soon be in for another shock.

He squeezed some gel on and turned the machine away from her. ‘Can you turn the sound off, please?’ Candy said, because she didn’t want to hear its heartbeat.

‘Of course I can.’

He took a few moments, running the probe over her stomach and pushing it in over and over.

‘I really am sorry to interrupt your lunch break,’ Candy said, more for something to say because she was dreading the next conversation.

‘My wife would have been nagging me to do an ultrasound on her anyway.’ He smiled and then he looked across at Candy. ‘I shan’t be discussing this with her.’

‘Thank you.’

He had finished.

‘Stay there,’ Anton said as she went to sit up. ‘You are close to thirteen weeks pregnant, which means conception was eleven weeks ago.’

‘I’ve had my period, though.’

‘Breakthrough bleeding,’ Anton said. ‘Nothing to worry about. All looks well on the ultrasound. Obviously your hormones are everywhere right now.’

‘Would the Pill have harmed it?’

‘No. Many, many women I have seen have taken the Pill while not knowing that they are pregnant. You’ve had no symptoms?’ Anton checked.

‘Not really.’ Candy shook her head and then lay and thought back over the past few weeks. ‘I had what I thought was a bug and I’ve felt sick a couple of times and been a bit dizzy, but I never really gave it much thought.’ She looked up at Anton. ‘I’ve been so tired, though. I mean seriously tired. I actually booked a holiday because I was feeling so flat.’

‘Candy,’ Anton said gently, ‘I’m not surprised that you have been feeling exhausted—it’s a twin pregnancy.’

It was just as well that he had kept her lying down.

Candy lay there, stunned, trying and failing to see herself as a mother of twins. Finally she sat up and when she took a seat at the desk Anton gave her a drink of water.

‘I don’t know what to do.’

‘As of now,’ he said, ‘I would expect that your mind is extremely scattered. Is there anybody that you can talk to about this?’