Final epilogue
Lilly Bradley
New York-Presbyterian Hospital
"Here are your results," announced the nurse. I took them, but before opening them, I stopped when I heard she wasn't finished speaking. "You need to see the general doctor; he will explain the details of these tests."
"Thank you." She showed me to the office, and without realizing it, someone came up beside me. I turned my head, and it was my mother. "Mother..."
"I saw you pass by. What are you doing here?" I tensed up as she glanced at the envelope in my hands.
"Do you remember Jackson's obsession with me redoing the tests?" She frowned and then nodded. "I did them and just now managed to come to pick up the results."
"That was weeks ago. Why only today?"
"Mother, I have a lot of work and it slipped my mind."
"You need to organize yourself better." A nurse called her, and she said goodbye to me, leaving me in front of the doctor's office. After a few minutes of waiting, the nurse called me in. I entered, the doctor introduced himself, I took a seat, and handed him the results. He nodded slowly as he read them, then looked at me over the rim of his glasses and began to explain each percentage in detail.
"So, everything is fine?" He nodded. "I thought something was wrong since I've been very sleepy lately and feeling tired."
"That's normal in your condition." His words confused me.
"I didn't feel like this before." It must be the levels he mentioned. "So there's nothing to worry about?"
"No, just a good diet and what the obstetrician prescribes." He wrote something else on a sheet while the word "obstetrician" echoed in my head. "Here you go, you can see Dr. Mendoza, she's one of the best obstetricians in the country."
"Wait, I think there's a mistake. Why do I need to see an obstetrician? It could be a gynecologist, but if that's the case, why do I need to see her?"
"No, it's an obstetrician. A gynecologist specializes in the female reproductive system and its diseases. Obstetrics deals with women during their fertile period, in your case... pregnancy." I raised my eyebrows in surprise and let out a nervous laugh.
"No. I think you're mistaken, I can't be pregnant. It's impossible. I have my regular periods, I take my birth control pills, even use condoms and..." I made a hand gesture in the air, "when we forget, I take the morning-after pill, so it's impossible. I can't be..." My voice grew higher until it was just a thread, and I finally fell silent. The doctor looked concerned.
"You didn't know?" he asked, confused.
"Do you think I'd be like this if I knew?" I pointed at myself with my index finger, on the verge of a breakdown, telling myself there had to be a huge mistake.
"I recommend you see Dr. Mendoza, but the tests confirm you are pregnant." The doctor called a nurse to take me directly to the obstetrician, apparently thinking I might faint on the way. I followed her. The obstetrician introduced herself, and the nurse handed her a sheet. I sat in front of her desk, and she kept talking about the hormone in my system and blah, blah, blah. I was in a daze, trying to remember when I didn't follow my rules. My fingers rummaged through my bag for my phone with trembling fingers, without taking my eyes off the doctor. I needed to call my mother or Leah. My throat was completely dry. My fingers touched something inside my bag. When I looked down, I saw the package. My trembling fingers turned it to see the contents, and there it was: the morning-after pill still in its package. I closed my eyes, and my lower lip trembled.
"Miss Bradley?" The doctor's voice snapped me out of my bubble. I opened my eyes and looked at her. "Are you okay? You look pale... Do you want some water?" I barely nodded. Stupid, stupid, stupid! You've been so careful, and now you're pregnant! You're an idiot! I scolded myself in my head. How did this happen...? I was interrupted by the doctor, who looked a bit worried about my expression. I accepted the bottle of water and opened it to drink. When I finished, I looked at the doctor. "Better?"
"Thank you," I barely managed to say. "It's just..." I cleared my throat. "I'm just now realizing that... I'm pregnant."
"I'll do the ultrasound and tell you approximately how many weeks you are, as well as confirm that everything is fine..." I didn't even know how I got to the examination table. She put the cold gel on my belly and started moving something over it. My mind was blank. How will I tell Jackson? Will he postpone the wedding? Will he think I did this to trap him? I closed my eyes and began to cry, bringing my hands to my face so the doctor wouldn't see how pathetic I was. "Relax, don't worry, look..." My crying turned into mere sobs as I removed my hands from my face and turned to look where she was pointing. "Look, it's here, it looks pretty good." I wiped my tears without taking my eyes off the screen. "From the measurements," she began to say, "you are approximately six weeks pregnant."
"What? I was hospitalized a month ago, and they didn't tell me anything," I said, frowning.
"If it was a month ago, it was still too early to detect. What did they give you?"
"Just fluids, I had a stress episode..."
"Oh, if it was just fluids, and no blood test was done, you wouldn't have known..." She looked at me. "Are you okay?"
"More or less, I didn't expect this news..." After the examination and my crying crisis in front of her again, she gave me instructions that I had to follow to the letter. I took a taxi and asked the driver to take me somewhere. When I arrived, I started walking and stopped at a bench, looking into the distance at the Statue of Liberty. The sun was shining high, there was a bit of a fresh breeze, and the noise of the seagulls, as well as the people passing by, filled the background of my thoughts. The crying returned again, and I didn't even try to wipe away the tears. That’s why I had been so emotional. I blamed the excitement and nerves of the engagement, finally meeting a good man who loved me, but... it was because of the little one growing inside me. I closed my eyes and scolded myself for all the wine I had drunk. "Stupid," I said to myself. I spent an hour and a half like that until I heard my phone vibrating in the distance. I didn't want to think about anything. I had to figure out how to tell Jackson. I didn't care if there was no wedding or if he refused to continue the relationship. I just wanted to be calm... I placed my hands on my belly... so it could develop well without stress.
"Lilly?" I jumped in place when I heard Jackson. I removed my hands and looked at him as he approached me. "What are you doing here? Do you know how worried I am, along with your family, not knowing where you were? I thought something had happened to you! They saw you at the hospital, but you didn't come to the company afterward." He was worried and furious, but more worried. He came closer when I didn't say anything and knelt to be almost at eye level with me. His hands rested on my knees, but one reached out to caress my cheek. "You've been crying," he said, frowning. "What happened? Why are you sitting here?"
"Jackson," I said his name, but nothing more came out of my mouth. How would he take the news?
"Tell me, talk to me, honey. What's going on? Is it the result of your tests?" I nodded slowly, keeping my eyes on his. "So," he swallowed hard, "did they give you news?" I nodded. "Do you have something?" I nodded, and he looked alert. My hand pulled the ultrasound from my bag and handed it to him. Jackson took it and then looked at it. I could see his frown, confused. I leaned forward and pointed to the little dot. "What does this mean?" he asked, looking up at me. My lower lip trembled.
"That little dot has something of yours and something of mine," his eyes widened. "I'm six weeks pregnant." The tears fell, but I pressed my lips together.
"Preg... What? Pregnant? Pregnant?"
"Very pregnant."
"And is the baby okay?" I felt a wave of something wash over me at his question. "But... are both of you okay?" I covered my face with my hands and began to sob uncontrollably. I felt him lift me to my feet and wrap his arms around me. "It's okay, honey," his voice broke. "You're scared, just like me... it's okay," he whispered near my ear. My crying turned into sobs with intermittent sighs. "You need to stay calm..." I pulled away from him, and he took my face in both hands. "We're in this together, okay?" His eyes glistened. "You need to cradle it until it comes into the world, and when it does, I'll change the diapers myself," he made me smile, "I'll make the bottles," his thumbs began to wipe my cheeks, and my hands held onto his forearms, "Do you know what it won't lack?" He paused. "Love." I wiped his tears and then kissed him. When we parted, I confessed again.
"I'm scared..." I said between hiccups from crying.
"Me too, but if we're together, we can handle anything, honey. Because we're a good team... okay?" I nodded slowly. "I love you, Lilly."
"I love you too..."
"Shall we go home?" I nodded again. He left a kiss on my forehead. "I like the advantage our baby has given us," we started walking toward the car.
"What advantage?" I asked.
"We'll get to our happily ever after sooner."