Doctor’s Duties by K.C. Crowne
Chapter 28
ABBY
Iwalked out of the doctor’s office downtown in a daze. It was late morning, the sky cloudy and a cool autumn wind in the air. I loved fall days like that, when the air was crisp and the weather perfect for cozying up in a big sweater and sipping tea.
But as I stood on the busy downtown street, cars whooshing by and people weaving around me, there was only one thing on my mind.
I was pregnant.
I’d already known from the at-home test that Lexi had given me. But those weren’t always accurate. On the way to the doctor’s office, I’d entertained the idea that I might not be pregnant after all, that it’d been a false positive and the coast was clear.
No such luck. The doctor gave me another pee test, this one confirming that I was pregnant. Then a blood test corroborated it without a doubt. The world had been a blur as the doctor explained to me details about the importance of prenatal vitamins and how I needed to cut out drinking and all the rest.
But when she’d told me my due date w was the tenth of May, the pregnancy had gone from a dreamy idea to a hard-and-fast reality.
I was pregnant.
In less than a year, I’d be holding a newborn baby in my arms, the father none other than Dr. Logan Frost himself. And there was no guarantee he’d even be in the picture. Hell, I didn’t know if I even wanted him to be in the picture.
I made my way to my car, slowly sinking into the driver’s seat. I’d lucked out – the doctor had a late cancellation, which meant that she was able to squeeze me in that day. Sure, the appointment time was during Logan’s class, but it wasn’t like I’d wanted to see him anyway.
I revved the engine and started the drive home, thinking the entire time about my future.
What the hell was I going to do?
My life had centered around med school. I’d graduate and become a doctor. That was the plan. Motherhood had always appealed to me, but that was something to be considered sometime down the road when I was more established, maybe when I was, well, closer to Logan’s age.
But none of that was going to happen. My life had taken a dramatic turn. A future that I’d been so certain about and had thought about so much had now become hazy and unclear. I didn’t know what to do.
I stopped at Chick-Fil-A on the way home, needing a little comfort food. As I waited in the drive-thru I noticed with a wry grin that I was in the same Chick-Fil-A where I’d thrown up in the parking lot the other day.
I popped a few waffle fries into my mouth on the way home. As I chewed, I realized that was something else I’d need to worry about – no more junk food or occasional glasses of wine for the next nine months. Not a chance I’d be using fries as fuel to grow my son or daughter.
Once I was home, I plopped onto the couch and turned on the TV, an episode of Friends starting. Not like I’d be able to focus on it enough to know what was going on, of course. I popped fry after fry into my mouth, not really paying any attention to the action on the screen. Chandler was doing something, I could hear his usual sarcastic uptalk, but I couldn’t be bothered to pay attention.
After a sip of peach shake and a bite of my sandwich, I felt tired and heavy, like my limbs weighed a million pounds apiece.
I closed my eyes and soon fell into a deep sleep.
I had strange dreams during my nap. I imagined living somewhere really green. Somewhere lush and right in front of the mountains. In the dream I was there with two kids – a girl and a boy - and a fuzzy little dog that kept jumping around yipping playfully.
I was happy in the dream. As I played in the grass with my family, I spotted a figure in the distance, tall and broad shouldered, but too blurry to make out. As I watched him approach, my happiness only grew.
I woke up to a firm series of knocks on the front door. The living room was dark, the blinds shut, and the Netflix screensaver was on the TV. I sat up, feeling mega groggy and barely able to think straight. My fries were cold in front of me, whatever hunger I’d felt had long gone.
More knocks.
They were quick and solid, the kind of knocks you’d expect from a cop with a warrant. They were enough to jolt me to alertness, to make me snap out of my stupor.
I became nervous. Who the hell would be pounding on my door like that? I had nightmare visions of some goons hired by my dad coming over to intimidate me into coming back under his wing. It was a little much, but my dad was a man who did anything to get what he wanted.
“Hold on, hold on,” I said as I made my way to the front door. I peeped through the peephole and when I saw who was on the other side, I gasped.
It was Logan.
My hands started to shake as I opened the lock and turned the knob. He stood on my porch with a slightly worried expression on his face.
The conversation I’d been hoping to put off would be happening sooner than I’d wanted.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey. Uh, come in.” I stepped aside and he entered, his irresistible, musky scent following him. “What’s up with the banging?” I asked. “You sounded like you were going to take the door down.”
He turned once he was inside. “Huh? What do you mean?”
With Logan standing there in front of me, all six feet, five inches and broad shouldered with arms as thick as oak trees, I realized the answer – he had no idea he was knocking hard.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “What’s going on?” My eyes flashed as I made a realization. “And what’re you doing here? If someone were to see you at my place…”
“That doesn’t matter,” he said, sitting down in the nearest armchair, his huge size making it look absolutely tiny in comparison. “It’s all over.”
I was confused. A bewildered expression on my face, I stepped over to the couch and sat down, quickly shoving the now stale fast food into its bag and putting it aside.
“Emma Strange, a student in my class, tried to blackmail me into a date or… something. She showed me a picture of you at my place and right in that moment I decided that I didn’t want to do it anymore.”
This was a scary thing to hear. Was this his way of saying he didn’t want anything to happen between us? Sure, I’d been the one to storm out before. But things had, ah, changed in the last few days.
“Didn’t want to do what anymore?” I asked.
“Hide the way I feel about you.”
I said nothing, letting him go on.
“The way you make me feel, Abby, it’s like nothing I’ve ever known in my life. You’re brilliant and beautiful and ambitious and aren’t afraid to make the life for yourself that you know you deserve. And on top of it all, you have a good heart. You don’t want to be a doctor because of money or status, you’re in it because you want to do some real good in the world. And all of that adds up to a woman I’d be a damn fool to not have in my life.”
He sighed.
“You’ve made it clear how you feel. If you don’t want anything to do with me, I’ll accept that. But I’m done living a lie. I spoke to my dean, told her that I had an affair with a student, and that I wanted to turn in my resignation.”
My jaw nearly hit the floor.
“What? What happened?”
He smiled slightly. “Well, she told me that yes, it was against the rules. But if they started throwing the book at professors and students who ended up together, there would be a hell of a lot less babies in the world.”
Babies. I kept my own bombshell to myself.
“She also said she couldn’t let it slide. I told her I wanted to bump up my retirement and she told me that I could start moving my associate professors into the teaching position for my classes and transition out by the end of the semester. No scandal, no controversy. And that means no drama. You can finish the semester without worrying about any of the fallout.”
He went on.
“And my offer still stands. You want me to pay for the rest of your tuition, I’ll do it in a heartbeat. The world needs more doctors like you, and I’m not about to stand aside and let you drop out because you can’t afford it.” His eyes flashed as he realized something. “As far as your father goes – we’ll need to talk to him, tell him the truth. I’ve never been a liar before, and I’m not about to start now. We tell him and then whatever happens, happens. Whatever you want, we’ll do. And —”
He was rambling, and really, it was kind of cute. But I was going to have to get a word in edgewise at some point.
“I’m pregnant.”
He stopped, turning his eyes to me.
“You’re what?”
“I’m pregnant.”
Now it was all out there.
Whatever may come.
