“Oh, yeah,” he said, pulling his hands free of her nether regions and pushing himself away on the stool to discard his gloves in a nearby wastebasket. “You can sit up now.”
Aileen pulled her feet out of the stirrups they had been resting in during the physical part of his exam and sat on the edge of the table. He stood and walked over to her, grabbing a small pad of paper on the way.
“Okay, so you are only a few days along from the looks of it, just like you indicated. You’re going to be sick for probably the next week or so, maybe longer. It’s different for everyone, but it depends on how long it takes for your body to adjust. I’m going to give you some prenatal vitamins and supplements to help both you and the babies.”
“Do you know how many there are?”
“No. We’ll have to wait until they get a bit bigger and we can do an ultrasound. Even then, it might be hard to tell. It’s not uncommon for one to hide behind others, so it can be difficult to get a clear idea before the actual birth.”
“Due date?”
“I’m sure you know there is a reduced gestation with Omegas, but they are usually spot on time. Calculate six weeks from the date of conception and you’ve got your date, but we’ll confirm it when we are able to do the ultrasound.”
Aileen nodded, already mentally calculating this. She tried to think of anything else she could ask, but nothing came to her. She was barely listening as he gave her some final instructions and told her he would meet her back out in the waiting room with the prescriptions. Once he was gone, she got dressed and went back out to find him talking quietly to Yakov, who looked like he had been hit in the guts.
“There’s our girl!” Dr. Curtis said.
Yakov turned toward her. There wasn’t a hint of amusement on his face. No excitement. No happiness. Instead, he looked like a man who had just been diagnosed with a terminal illness. She would imagine that, for him, it was much the same. He turned and walked out with only a polite goodbye to the doctor.
At the car, he opened the door for her without a word. They rode home the same way, in complete silence. It wasn’t until Yakov parked the car and turned it off, that he finally spoke.
“Don’t tell anyone about this yet,” he said before getting out of the car and going into the house without waiting for her.
Aileen sat there for a moment contemplating what she should do next. She couldn’t remember a time when she had felt so many emotions at once. The fear, self-pity, and even anger all swirled together into a confusing vortex of bewilderment. After a few more moments of just sitting there alone with her own turmoil, she finally got out of the car and went into the house. It was quiet other than the rattling of pots and pans from the kitchen. She ventured that way, thinking that perhaps Ruby hadn’t gone home, after all.
Instead, she found Yakov chopping up vegetables and tossing them into a large wok on the stove. She turned to go, but he stopped her.
“You need to eat,” he told her. “When did you eat last?”
“I’m not hungry,” she lied.
“I don’t care. You can’t afford to go without eating. Both you and the babies need your strength. I called your prescriptions in to the pharmacy. They’ll deliver them tonight.”
“Aren’t they closed?’
“I don’t know. They’ll deliver them for me, though.”
“I see.”
He laid down the knife, tossing the last of the vegetables into the wok and turning to retrieve some noodles from the cabinet. She watched as he dropped them into a pan of water he had already put on to boil before returning to push around the vegetables with a wooden spoon.
“Are we going to talk about this?”
“Yes, but not until I’ve had time to wrap my mind around it. This wasn’t part of the deal.”
“I know that. I didn’t do it on purpose.”
“I didn’t say that. I’m not a complete dick, Aileen. I’m just shell-shocked right now.”
“How do you think I feel?”
He stopped stirring for a moment and looked at her, almost if he was trying to figure out how she felt.
“I don’t know. I can imagine you are just as devastated by this as I feel.”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to discuss options?”
“Do you?”
“Honestly? No. I’m not happy with the situation, but I can’t say I’d be any happier with choosing to end things.”
“Me either. Still, wow. It’s a lot.”
“It will be, but we will manage.”
“Listen, Yakov. I know you didn’t sign up for this. We had an agreement. You don’t have to do anything. We can fulfill our contract and I’ll deal with this on my own.”