Page 5 of Finding Wonderland

“Forsyth.” Max Dalton, the pain in Vera’s side and one of the older gynecologists, handed her a patient’s chart. He didn’t seem to care that she was already working on charts for three other patients he had passed off to her in other exam rooms. “Got another one for you.”

“Surprise, surprise,” she muttered under her breath as she took the chart without ever looking up. Max was a perfectly fine doctor; nothing extraordinary by any means. He was waiting for his retirement date in a few years as if it were Christmas and had seemingly lost all interest in doing his job.

“Patient told intake she hasn’t had a period in months but assures us she’s not pregnant.”

“She might not be.”

“Oh, please,” Max snorted a laugh. “When you’ve been in the business as long as I have, you begin to know when someone is lying.”

Vera resisted the urge to snap back at so many things. She could yell at him—again—about how their job wasn’t a business and that they were there to help people, not make a profit. Or she could light into him again over not believing a woman when she says something is wrong. At this point, Vera was going to start counting down his days until retirement with him.

Pushing her rolling chair out from the desk, Vera opened the chart as she walked down the hall to the exam room.

Female. Twenty-six. Two live births. No miscarriages. Last period was in February.

Vera did the math quickly in her head. It was September now, which meant seven months had passed since then. If by some way the woman was pregnant, she most likely would know or at least be showing. Especially after two kids. But Vera tried her best not to assume anything about her patients before meeting them. So she put a smile on her face and knocked twice on the exam room door before entering.

“Mrs. Mackenzie?” Vera looked up from the chart at the woman sitting in the vinyl chair. She had dark brown eyes and hair and a sweet smile. A young girl was on her knees in front of the other vinyl chair playing with some action figures. “I’m Dr. Forsyth. It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too. But, please, call me Miss Mackenzie.” She appeared to laugh nervously. “Or Isla. I’m not married.”

“Noted,” Vera nodded as she made the note on the chart before turning her attention to the young girl. She crouched down to her level and smiled. “And what’s your name?”

Giggling, the child abandoned her action figures and climbed up into her mother’s arms. Isla laughed as she tenderly rubbed her back.

“It’s okay, sweetie. Dr. Forsyth is nice.” She looked at Vera empathetically. “Sorry, she gets nervous at doctor’s offices. Even though I told her we’re not here for her.”

“That’s okay.”

Standing, Vera walked to a cabinet over the hand washing station and pulled out a lollipop. She held it up for Isla to approve, which she did with a head nod, before showing it to the kid. Her eyes grew wide, as did her smile.

“I think big girls that come to the doctor should always get something fun. Don’t you?”

“Mhmm.” She took the lollipop out of Vera’s hand.

“What do you say, Mason?”

“Thank you,” she giggled as she slid off Isla’s lap and resumed playing with her toys.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Vera held Isla’s gaze longer than she should have. Shaking her head, she focused back on the chart. “So, I see you’re in for missed periods, is that correct?”

“Yes, and I know I’m not pregnant.”

“I believe you.”

“And I have been remiss about my annual visit to my OBGYN, so I need to get back on track with that. We just moved here, so I wanted to get established as a new patient.”

“Well, we most certainly can do that. And I see our lab tech already took your blood, so we’ll do some tests on that to make sure everything is normal and within range. I can also do an exam and a pap smear today if you want.”

“If we can do everything today, that would be great. I’m starting a new job and little miss here isn’t in school yet, so I’m pulled in about a million directions. Getting this off my plate will take away one more thing for me not to worry about.”

Vera pulled out a backless rolling chair from behind the exam table and sat. “Would you say you have been stressed lately?”

It was a routine question, especially for someone experiencing missed periods. But something flashed in Isla’s eyes that told her stressed was an understatement.

“You don’t know the half of it.”

---