Finally, she gave up and went to lie down, trying to stave off the ill feelings. Instead, she tossed and turned as they got progressively worse. Unable to stand it any longer, she got up and went to the bathroom, barely arriving at the toilet before retching horribly.
“Just what I need, a bug,” she groaned, retreating to the bed again.
By the time Bradley had arrived, she was feeling a bit better, though still not quite up to par. She felt exhausted and on the verge of being ill again, though not quite as nauseated as she had been earlier. It seemed like, if she was careful, she’d be fine, but if she moved even the least bit too much, or too fast, she’d end up hurling again.
“I’m taking you to the doctor,” Bradley said after he saw her.
“What? No. It’s just a bug or something,” she protested.
“You’re never sick and now you’ve got dark circles under your eyes and can barely keep a cup of ginger ale down. It can’t hurt to have you checked out.”
“Fine. Let’s go and get it over with.”
“You are the worst sick person ever,” Bradley joked.
“I might be, but you’re stuck with me.”
“True,” he replied in mock regret.
Kay got changed and followed him out to the car to make the trek to the clinic frequented by the clan, one where the doctor was from a different friendly clan that kept their secrets, as there were a few slight differences in their anatomy than that of humans.
Luckily, it wasn’t very busy on a Sunday and she got in pretty quickly, with Bradley sitting just outside the door as the doctor did his exam and took a few blood samples. Kay returned to the waiting room with Bradley while they awaited results, each of them sitting there flipping through magazines.
“I think we’ve wasted our time. I’m beginning to feel just fine now. I told you it was probably just a bug. It seems to already be passing.”
“Well, I rather be safe than sorry,” he replied idly, still flipping through an old issue of a woman’s beauty magazine curiously.
“Getting makeup tips?” Kay asked, nodding toward it.
“Trying to understand women,” he quipped.
“Let me know if you learn why we marry toads and expect them to turn into princes,” she said playfully.
“Why, I oughtta . . . Ribbitt,” he replied, looking shocked at the last part.
“Bradley and Kay?” the receptionist called.
They stepped up to the front desk and she instructed them to walk down the hallway to the doctor’s office for a consultation. They were both nervous as they sat down across from his desk and awaited the verdict. No matter how much you believed that you were just fine, there was always some tiny part of you that had to consider the worst.
“Well, you don’t have a virus or any other dreaded illness that will send you packing for the leper colony,” the doctor told them.
“That’s good, but she was really sick earlier. What would have caused that?”
“My guess is that you caused that,” the doctor said, not batting an eyelash.
“I’m sorry?” Bradley replied, confused by the statement.
“Usually, when a man and a woman come in here and she’s pregnant, the man can usually be held accountable for it.”
Bradley and Kay both stared at him for a moment, speechless. It was Kay who finally broke the silence.
“Did you say pregnant?”
“Yes. I take it that it was unplanned?”
“Well, yes. I mean, no. We talked about having children and I stopped taking the pill. We were just going to let nature dictate when we became pregnant,” Kay told him.
“Seems nature’s answer is now.”
“But I just stopped taking the pill yesterday!” Kay exclaimed.
“Now you won’t have to take it again for at least six months,” the doctor replied.
“Is that safe? I mean, I expected it to take a while. Is it safe to get pregnant so soon after getting off it?” Kay asked.
Bradley was quiet, still looking stunned by the news even as she continued to ask questions.
“I know women who have gotten pregnant while still taking it and continuing to take it for a period before they discovered they were pregnant. There is very little chance that you’ll have any problems as a result.”
After a litany of additional questions, the doctor finally wrote a prescription for prenatal vitamins and sent them home. Bradley continued to look shell shocked, hardly speaking a word between the clinic and home. Kay finally broke the silence as they pulled into the driveway at the house.
“Bradley, are you okay? Are you happy about this? You’ve hardly said a word,” she said.
“God, yes. I’m over the moon and I’m also terrified. I mean, we didn’t expect this to happen so quickly. I thought I’d have a few months to prepare myself for it, you know, maybe read some books and learn how to be a father.”