by reality, she swallowed around a dry knot. She’d already told him there wouldn’t be a problem—didn’t he believe her? Since he was being such a jerk about everything today, she wouldn’t argue.
Desperate to save face, she shrugged free of his hold. “I’ll handle the tests myself, thanks,” she said as she walked away, trying her best to stand straight and look confident, while feeling anything but.
That night, still fuming, she stopped at the corner ma and pa grocery store and found a pregnancy test purporting to identify a pregnancy within seven to ten days after the missed period. But Polly hadn’t missed her period, which wasn’t due for another three days. Would she be able to hold tight and wait for three days then buy the test? The blood test John had ordered could tell much sooner than the urine test, but her pride had tripped her up and kept her from consenting. She was sure that just because John Griffin had ordered the test and the results would be sent to him, he wasn’t going to be the first to know if, and that was a very big if, she was pregnant or not.
Of course she wasn’t pregnant. She took her pills every night as directed.
For some illogical reason, that night when she prepared her dinner she made sure it was well balanced and nutritious as one short phrase whispered in her mind—What if?—which was quickly followed by a heavy brick of panic landing in her stomach and replacing her appetite.
* * *
Monday morning, officially late for her period, Polly showed up at work withdrawn and anxious. Dread trickled down her spine as she remembered the antibiotics she’d taken a few weeks back for a sinus infection. It was a known fact that antibiotics could interfere with the potency of birth control pills for up to two weeks. It had been more than two weeks since she’d taken them, though, and that kept her hopeful all would be fine.
“Hey, Polly, how’s it shakin’?” the ward clerk Rafael asked as she passed the nurses’ station.
“Meh,” she said, and walked on.
“What? If you’re not in a good mood, how the heck am I supposed to be?”
She stopped in her tracks and saw honest surprise in his dark chocolate-colored eyes. “I guess you’ll just have to work extra hard at it today, Rafe ol’ buddy.”
“That’s cold, forcing a man to be in a good mood for no good reason all on his own.” He laughed. “See, even in a bad mood you make me smile.”
“What’s this I hear about little Miss Sunshine being in a foul mood?” Brooke said, approaching Polly and putting her hand on Polly’s shoulder. She rubbed back and forth. “You okay?”
Did her face have to be an open book?
“I’ve been better.” She should have gotten her period on Saturday, but so far there wasn’t even a hint that it was on the way. She had a question she wanted to ask Brooke, but didn’t want to be blatant about how a person went about getting a pregnancy test done at Angel’s, so she decided to wait for a better time under less obvious circumstances.
On Wednesday morning, Brooke assigned her once again to Eugenia, who was constantly being assessed and visited by social services, play therapists, speech therapists, and just about every doctor on staff. Polly looked forward to spending the day with a little girl who needed love as much as she did.
During Eugenia’s bed bath, Polly tickled and teased the child to get her to laugh, which she did more easily this week than last.
“Mornin’, peanut,” a woman with a heavy Texan drawl said. “How’s my girl today?”
Polly looked up to see the beautiful blonde Dr. Layla Woods. “Can you say good morning for Dr. Woods, Eugenia?”
“Mun.”
Dr. Woods smiled at Polly, then at Eugenia. “That’s very good.”
Polly loved her accent. As Dr. Woods warmed the child up with a game of peek-a-boo and then delicately did a quick physical assessment of Eugenia, Polly studied her flawless complexion and gorgeous Texas-bluebell-colored eyes. She’d seen her before on the orthopedic floor several times making general medicine rounds, always smiling and gracious. Always approachable.
Polly had heard rumblings about Dr. Woods and the head of Neurosurgery, Dr. Alejandro Rodriguez, the most gorgeous man on the planet. Bar none. But she didn’t want to get caught up in hospital gossip and had paid little attention to the stories.
She looked back at the doctor, who’d finished up her examination of Eugenia with a tap on the tip of the toddler’s nose. Dr. Woods could easily be a cover model or actress with her good looks, but there was an added ingredient, sort of like a secret sauce, that made the whole recipe of Layla Woods extra-special. Perhaps seasoned by her own life, the woman oozed compassion.
And that’s when it hit her. No risk, no gain, right?
Polly cleared her throat and worked up the fortitude to ask the question of the day. “Dr. Woods, um, may I ask you a favor?”
“Sure, whatcha’ need?”
“Could you order me a pregnancy test?” she mumbled, embarrassed.
“A pregnancy test?”
Polly wanted to shush her, but didn’t have the nerve, instead lowering her lashes and staring at the floor. The perceptive doctor quickly caught on.
“Oh,” she whispered, looking around. Thankfully no one else but the toddlers were in the two bed-ward. “Sorry. Certainly. I’ll order that right now. You want a blood test, right?”
Polly nodded. “Thanks so much.”
Dr. Woods winked, jotting down Polly’s last name from her name badge, then Polly gave her medical record number.
“Your secret’s safe with me. Good luck, whichever way you hope it turns out.” She smiled and after pinching Eugenia’s cheeks and kissing her forehead the lovely doctor left the room, heading for the nearby computer to input that order.
At the end of her shift Polly stopped at the lab to have her blood drawn. After a long day and a crowded subway ride home she was hot and exhausted and didn’t look forward to taking those five flights of stairs up to her room. A room that didn’t even have air-conditioning. If this was how it got in early July, how would she survive the rest of the summer?
While making a mental note to buy a big fan, she let herself into the apartment. Mrs. Goldman, her landlady, sat in the tiny, dim living room watching TV and didn’t even look up, which Polly was glad about. The last thing she wanted to do was get sucked into one of her landlady’s long and meandering stories tonight. After a snack she slipped into her room and took a nap.
A couple of hours later she decided to check her e-mails and saw the notice from Angel’s hospital about her test results. Quickly accessing the hospital patient medical records program, she went into her account, eager to end this chapter in her book of life’s mistakes. The sooner she knew all was clear, the faster she could close the door for good on John Griffin and move on. She’d sweep her regretful actions into a corner and forget about them, like she had so many other things in her life. Though forgetting her incredible night with John would take a lot of effort.
Opening up her lab test page, her hopeful attitude got
