“Who are you?” Quinten asked bluntly, which surprised a chuckle out of her. She didn’t think she’d find amusement in this place.
The man’s eyes flickered back and forth between them, and Saige knew. “Doctor Erikson.” A memory teased her mind but was gone before it became clear. She’d talked to this man during the two weeks that she remembered, but he’d been a lot different back then. Now he seemed to have aged about twenty years.
“Yes,” he confirmed, and showed them into an office that looked to have seen better days. “Sorry about the mess. I couldn’t find something.” He cleared his throat and indicated with his arm that they should sit.
The silence stretched on until the doctor dipped his head and gazed at his entwined hands on the desk. “I’m going to be blunt so that I don’t waste anyone’s time. You’re here because you want to know why you spent two years in this facility.”
Saige nodded and clung to Quinten’s hand. The doctor noticed and stared at Quinten. “I’m glad that you’re finally together.” He turned to Saige and winced. “When you were first brought here, you didn’t speak and would spend hours staring into space. A week later, it was as though you’d woken up. That’s the only way to describe it. You started asking for that young man.” He nodded toward Quinten. “When he didn’t come, you started to cry and beg for a cell phone. You didn’t seem to remember what had previously happened—the abduction or selecting Mr. Peterson as your attacker. Your father didn’t like how it distressed you not having Mr. Peterson with you.”
“So, you’re telling me that...”
“That you thought he abandoned you. That’s what your father wanted you to think.”
Saige heard Quinten curse under his breath as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. He kissed the top of her head, and said to Erikson, “Go on.”
The doctor stared at her sadly as though he was making a decision. Finally, he said, “I’m dying…” He held up his hand to stop them from saying anything. “After I found out and got over the anger…I realized that I needed to right the wrongs I have committed. I’ve spent the last few days writing a report for you. You’ll probably receive it at your address in Tampa within the next day or two. I needed to tell you everything before I take it to my grave.” He rubbed at his forehead and sat back in his chair, looking exhausted.
“What’s in the report?” Quinten asked. “Please don’t make her wait for your report to arrive. She’s waited long enough.”
“As I should imagine you have,” the doctor added. “I wanted to avoid this because it isn’t pleasant and it certainly wasn’t legal.”
A shiver ran through Saige at the doctor’s words. Quinten tugged her closer.
The doctor sighed. “From the time you realized that Quinten would never be coming for you, until two weeks before you left this facility, we kept you drugged.”
Saige had known that it had to be something like that but having it confirmed made her want to scream or hit something. The sad thing was that she didn’t have any strength for anything right then. She’d been on an emotional rollercoaster for weeks and felt that she was going to crash anytime soon.
“Is that everything?” Quinten questioned, his head dipped to the side.
Doctor Erikson shook his head. “Unfortunately it isn’t, and I’m just going to say it. After you’d been here for a few weeks you were taken into surgery.” He closed his eyes, and kept them closed. “I performed an...abortion.”
A pin dropping could have been heard in the silent room following Doctor Erikson’s confession.
The clock continued to tick, but Saige couldn’t form any words to describe the shock that she felt at hearing his admission. He’d taken Quinten’s child from her body and all she felt was numb. Saige lifted her head to look at Quinten and realized that he was just as shocked.
Neither of them had expected that bombshell to be revealed and now they’d have to deal with it...once they worked out how to do that.
“I’ve told you everything and it’s also written in the report I’ve sent you. All I can say now is that I’m so sorry...I should have ignored the threat from your father, but I didn’t.”
“My father?” Saige whispered, hoping she’d misheard him.
The doctor hesitated and replied, “Your father…he threatened me and authorized the abortion and the drugs we used over the course of your stay here. You would have still been here to this day if I hadn’t finally stood up to him and stopped administering the medication…”
* * *
5:30pm
* * *
Quinten’s concern for Saige had started to override the shock of their discovery at the hospital. She hadn’t spoken since they left, apart from telling him to head for her father’s house. He wasn’t sure confronting her dad today was the best idea, considering how quiet and upset she was. He understood it though.
After everything she’d been through at the hands of Paul, and to have her own father responsible for taking their child, was unthinkable. His hands clenched around the steering wheel at the anger he felt, he just hoped they didn’t get pulled over because his driver’s license ran out years ago. He wasn’t only angry at the loss of their child, he was angry that he hadn’t been able to do anything to help her back then.
“Don’t,” Saige whispered, and placed her hand on top of his. “What we learned today was a shock, but as long as we have each other, we can get through this, right?”
He swallowed and nodded, emotion too close to the surface for words.
Saige moved closer and rested her head on his arm. He slipped his hand to her thigh and intertwined their fingers when her hand slipped under his.