“No. I've never been pregnant till now.” She looked devastated.
“Terrific. A first. We just don't need this headache, Maggie. And when you get an abortion, you'll be crying and whacked-out for the next six months.” He had been through it all before, too many times. He didn't want to go through it with her, or with anyone ever again. And then he looked at her darkly, with suspicion on his face. “Are you trying to trap me into marrying you? Because that's not going to work.”
She jumped off their bed then, and stood glaring at him. “I'm not trying to trap you! I never asked you to marry me, and I won't now. I got pregnant. This is your fault too, not just mine.”
“How the hell could you not know you were pregnant for three
“Well, then I'll deal with it. And I wasn't trying to marry you!”
“Good! Because I won't!” he shouted at her, and with that she stormed into the bathroom, and slammed the door in his face.
She was in there for two hours, and when she came out, he was in bed, watching TV, and didn't say a word to her. Neither of them had had dinner. She had thrown up when she was in the bathroom, crying on her own.
“Is that why you got sick on the boat?” he asked without looking at her.
“Maybe. I kind of wondered, and when I got sick when we got back, I thought maybe it was. That's why I did the test.”
“At least you didn't wait another six months. I want you to see a doctor,” he said, finally looking at her. She looked a mess. He could see that she'd been crying, her eyes were red, and her face was pale. “Do you have a doctor?”
“I got a name from a girl at work,” she sniffed.
“I don't want you seeing some quack. I'll get a name tomorrow.”
“And then what?” she asked, sounding scared.
“We'll see what he says.”
“What if it's too late for an abortion?”
“Then we'll talk about it. I may have to kill you in that case.” He was only kidding, he had calmed down a little, but she burst into tears again. “Come on, Maggie…please… I'm not going to kill you. But I'm upset.”
“So am I,” she said, sobbing. “It's my baby too.” He groaned then, and flopped down on the bed.
“This is not a baby, Maggie. Please. It's a pregnancy, that's all it is right now.” He didn't even want to say the word “fetus,” let alone “baby.”
“What do you think that leads to?” she said, blowing her nose in a tissue.
“I know what it leads to. That's what I'm upset about. Just get some sleep. We'll talk about it in the morning,” he said, as he clicked off the TV and turned off the light on his side of the bed. It was early, but he wanted to sleep. He needed the escape. This was the last thing he needed. This happened to his clients, not to him.
“Adam?” She spoke softly just as he closed his eyes.
“What?”
“Do you hate me?”
“Of course not. I love you. I'm just upset. This was not a good idea.”
“What wasn't?”
“Getting pregnant.”
“I know. I'm sorry. Do you want me to leave?” He looked at her then, and felt sorry for her. This was going to be hard on her too, especially after three months. He knew there were doctors who did it, but it was a much bigger deal than if you caught it right away.
“No, I don't want you to leave. I just want to deal with this, as soon as we can.” She nodded her head.
“Do you really think I'll be a mess for six months?” She sounded worried. This was scary for her too. More than for him. He hated the inconvenience, she had to deal with it, either way. It was traumatic for her.
“I hope not,” he answered her question. “Just go to sleep.”
She tossed and turned all night, and when he woke up in the morning, she was in the bathroom and he could hear her getting sick. He stood outside the bathroom door, wincing. It sounded rough.
“Shit,” he said out loud and went to shower and shave. She came out ten minutes later. He had kept his bathroom door open so he could see her when she did. She looked green. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I'm great.”
He made her tea and toast when he was dressed, told her he'd call her from the office, and kissed her before he left. And then he thought of something terrifying on the way to work. She was Catholic. What if she refused to have an abortion? Now that really would be a mess. What would he tell his kids? Or his parents? It didn't bear thinking. He made the necessary calls as soon as he got to the office, and called her at work at noon. He gave her the names of two doctors, in case one was too busy to see her, and told her to try and see one of them as soon as she could. She called both that day, used his name as he had told her to do, and got an appointment for the following afternoon. Adam offered to go with her, but she said she could handle it alone. At least she was being decent about it. But they hardly talked to each other that night. They were both too stressed.
