I turned and hurried towards the nurse waiting for me with a teasing smile on her face. I could hear Sawyer’s deep chuckle and knew that everyone who’d seen that interaction could tell that I was in over my head.
“Ms. Lane?” When I nodded, the nurse led me into a private room. “Don’t worry. If Dr. Sawyer flirted with me, I’d probably pass out on the spot.”
I fanned myself. “There’s still time.”
A petite woman in a white coat stepped into the room with us and smiled brightly. Her teeth were stunningly white against her red lipstick and flawless dark skin. “I should go out there and kick Sawyer for getting your blood pressure all high before Kelly takes it. I’ll be sure to note in your chart that it’s not hypertension, just Sawyer-induced panic.”
I groaned. “Somehow, this isn’t even a tenth of how embarrassing my last clinic could be.”
“I’m Dr. Waits, but you can call me Sam. It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Lane.”
“Winnie. It’s nice to meet you, too.” I lifted my arm when Kelly, the nurse, slid the blood pressure cuff under it. “We’ll be the best of friends if we can all just pretend none of that happened out there.”
“No way. I’ve never seen Sawyer flirt with anyone before. He’s been divorced for over a year, and no matter how many women throw themselves at him, he just stays coolly professional. That out there with you? Not a professional bone in sight.” Dr. Sam, because I couldn’tnotcall her doctor, grinned. “I am dying to run out and tease him about it.”
Kelly laughed quietly and typed something into the laptop she was working on. “He really messed with your vitals. I’ll take them again before you leave.”
After a few more minutes of teasing, Dr. Sam listened to my symptoms and had me pee in a cup after Kelly drew blood to run a few tests. She assured me that I was probably just run down from stress, and that she was just running the tests to get a baseline for my charts, but when she came back into the room a few minutes later, her face was purposefully blank.
My heart hammered in my chest, and I instantly started imagining the worst. “I’m dying, aren’t I?”
Dr. Sam laughed easily and shook her head. “No, you’re not dying. You’re not sick at all.”
I frowned. “You might have to work on your ‘everything is fine’ face.”
Her smile was warm as she sat next to me and patted my knee. “Everything is fine, Winnie. You’re not sick, but there is something going on.”
“What?”
“You’re pregnant, Winnie.” Her smile brightened. “I double checked your blood after the urine sample showed positive. Judging by your hormone levels, I’d say you’re a couple of months along. It explains all of your symptoms. Even the weight loss. Some women lose for the first two or three months. The baby weight comes later, with a vengeance.”
I shook my head. My blood was rushing through my head so loudly that it was almost all I could hear. Sucking in a sharp breath, I shook my head harder. “No, that can’t be. I had the shot. I didn’t want to get pregnant again with my ex-husband when we were still married, so I stayed on it. I…”
“How long have you been divorced?”
“A little over a year. I… I got the shot in January, just before his birthday. I knew I wouldn’t be able to get out of sex, and I wanted to be sure that I didn’t…” I cleared my throat. “We got divorced in April.”
“Did you get it again this past January?”
I covered my mouth with my hand and stared at her kind face, twisted with concern for me. “I… I didn’t. I wasn’t married anymore, and I wasn’t seeing anyone. I was busy at work, and I thought I would just get it later.”
Dr. Sam held my hands. “I saw that you have a daughter already. She’s seven?”
I nodded. “Birdie. Are you sure? It couldn’t be something else?”
She shook her head. “I’m sure, Winnie. You know everything I could tell you. I just want to reiterate that you have options still, if that’s something you’d be interested in. Or I can refer you to an amazing OB-GYN. Her name is Dr. Steele, and she’s quite possibly the best doctor I know. Including myself and Sawyer.”
I froze as I thought of Sawyer, just a few walls away in the same building. “You won’t tell him, will you?”
She frowned. “Sawyer? No, honey, this is confidential. Is there a reason—”
I had to get out of there. I stood up and grabbed my purse. “I have to go. I’m so sorry. I just… I have to go now.”
I left her stammering as I practically sprinted out of the office, all the way out to Big Ham. I ran until I was safely inside, and then I focused on speeding away from the clinic, desperate to put space and time between myself and the news.
20
Winnie