Broken Soul (Jackson Family 3)

jaxon

I wasn’t goingto lie—the amount of blood she’d been losing had freaked me out a bit, but the fact that Emmaline wasn’t freaking out told me it wasn’t that bad. I was thankful I’d allowed Emmaline to go check on Inessa. God only knew what the hell I would have walked in on later that day when I’d finally decided to face her again.

Inessa moaned quietly in pain, curled in a ball on the chair, pressed against my side. I pressed my lips to her hair, tightening my arm around her. I hated how slow emergency rooms were, but I also knew that some other illnesses and injuries took precedence over a woman with a painful period.

Even if she had been pregnant and was miscarrying, they still wouldn’t put her first. An early miscarriage wasn’t something they could help or do anything to prevent.

Finally, after two hours, a nurse called us back into a triage room. She took Inessa’s vitals and asked her about her pain levels. The ten she announced made me clench my jaw. And I knew she wasn’t lying because she was fucking silently crying as she answered.

We were finally put in a room a few minutes after that, and soon, a doctor came in to talk to her. It hadn’t felt like it was happening fast enough, though. “Good morning, Inessa. I see you’re here about period pains, yes?”

“Yes,” she wheezed, her fingers twisting the sheet in her fists. I circled her wrist with my fingers, drawing her eyes to me. She slid her hand back a little until she was holding my hand in hers, squeezing tightly.

I fucking hated this for her. I just wanted to take away her pain, and I detested that I couldn’t fucking do that for her.

“How long have your menstrual cycles been like this?” he asked her.

“Years,” she answered.

Years?

And she’d never gotten fucking help?

I wanted to strangle each and every last member of her family that had been in charge of her care before she became mine.

The doctor frowned at her. “And you’re just now being seen about this?” he asked in disapproval.

“In my defense,” she grumbled, “my mother insisted it was normal. I just got married. My husband insisted I come.”

“Good thing he did. Periods should not be this painful or this heavy.” He looked at her. “Let’s get you in for an ultrasound. I want to take a look around. After a few tests, we’ll go from there, okay? For now, I’m going to give you some pain medicine. Sound good?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

A nurse came in a few minutes after the doctor left and injected Inessa with some pain medication. It didn’t take long for it to work, and Inessa relaxed, her hand not so tight around mine anymore.

Thank fuck for medications. I hated seeing her suffer.

“I have half a mind to throttle your mother,” I hissed.

Inessa looked up at me. “Pain was not spoken of in my family. We were all to act as if pain didn’t even exist.”

I shook my head. “You are a woman, not part of the day-to-day operations of their family shit. You’re not required to hide your pain, bunny.” Her face softened at the familiar nickname.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” she whispered, apologizing for the umpteenth time.

I leaned down and softly kissed her. “I’m sorry, too, baby girl. But no one can fault you. You were hurting, and you didn’t know how to cope.” I gripped her chin. “From now on, just be open with me,” I ordered. “I can’t help you or soothe you if I don’t know something is wrong.”

She licked her lips, giving away her sudden nerves. “Are you going to punish me?” she softly asked, her anxiety showing in her tone of voice.

I shook my head. “No, my little wife. I’m not a monster.” And if I punished her for doing something that had been engrained into her from a young age—well, that wouldn’t fucking help matters. It might push her away. “Just focus on getting through this, okay?”

She nodded. I let her continue holding my hand. Eventually, we went back for the tests they wanted to run, and I waited on the other side of the curtain—much to my dismay—as the ultrasound technician took images of her fallopian tubes and uterus.

About thirty minutes later, we were back in the room, waiting for the results which I knew could take a while. Inessa finally slept, the medicine having slowly pulled her under. I stayed awake, occasionally texting Darren, Adrian, and James back when they would ask if there were any new updates on her.

I hated playing the waiting game, but I was a patient man. You didn’t get where I was without being one.

Finally, the doctor came in, knocking lightly on the door before he did so. Inessa slowly woke up, blearily blinking at the older man. “Hi,” she croaked.

He grabbed a stool and settled into it. He handed her two prescription bottles. “I went ahead and had these filled for you. One is Toradol, which is a pain killer, but not considered a narcotic. The other is promethazine. The combination of the two should help your pain levels. Be aware that you’ll probably be pretty sleepy on the meds. Just remember to eat and stay hydrated, and you will be fine.”

She handed me the prescriptions, and I stuck them in the pockets of my sweats. “Next, I want to go over your test results. I was thinking you might have had endometriosis, but you actually have PCOS.” She and I both frowned at that. “Your blood work also shows elevated levels of testosterone and your sugar levels are a bit high.”

Her frown deepened. Concern swirled in my gut for my wife. At her frown, he further explained. “PCOS is polycystic ovarian syndrome. It means you have quite a bit of cysts on your ovaries, which causes the pain every single month that you feel. I suggest trying Ovasitol as a supplement, and possibly add some Chromium, Ashwaghanda, fish oil, fiber, vitamin D3, and magnesium to your supplements as well.” I made a note of those in my phone with my free hand so I could make sure to get them for her before we went home. “Also, add some flax seed to your diet, and possibly some CBD. A little dropper should be fine; just make sure you get the one that’s to be administered beneath your tongue.”

“Doctors actually recommend CBD?” she asked incredulously.

I laughed softly. My little bunny was so innocent sometimes.

The doctor grinned at her. “Those of us who know how helpful it can be, yes.” He stood from his chair. “Also, try going gluten and dairy free. You should notice some improvements after a while.” He cleared his throat. “Just try those things and then check with your PCP in a month. Sound good?”

She looked over at me. I cleared my throat and stood up, shaking the doctor’s hands. “I’ll get her in to see an OB,” I assured him.

“A nurse should be in soon with your discharge paperwork,” he told Inessa. “Hang in there. You’ll get right in no time.”

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