Page 64 of Prognosis Incompatible

CHAPTER TEN

––––––––

MADELINE made a hugeshow of unplugging the machine and cleaning the transducer as Marcus stood beside Tabitha, patting her back. She watched their casual intimacy with a sick fascination. Part of her wanted to run from the room but her body was reacting sluggishly to the frantic get-out signals from her brain.

‘I’m...so...sorry,’ Tabitha faltered out between huge sobs. ‘Please don’t h...hate me. I’m so...sorry.’

‘Come on, Tab. Stop crying.’ Marcus wiped the goo off her tummy gently and pulled her shirt down. There was obviously more to this story. ‘Sit up, dry your face and tell me what’s going on.’

Tabitha did as he asked and Madeline handed him a box of tissues before heading for the door. She had to get out of here. Marcus and Tabitha needed to talk and she needed to leave them to it.

‘I have a patient to get back to,’ she said as she opened the door. ‘Take as long as you need.’

‘Wait, Maddy,’ Marcus said.

Madeline shook her head, refusing to look at him. ‘I have to get back.’

And she stepped out of the room and shut the door.

Marcus’s heart felt like a hot stone in his chest. She looked miserable and he couldn’t blame her. Performing the ultrasound must have been difficult and he really wished he could go to her. But, whether he liked it or not, this thing with Tabitha took precedence right now.

Grabbing a glass of water from the sink in the corner, he handed it over. ‘Talk,’ he said eventually, when her sobs had slowly dried to the odd hiccup.

‘It’s Tony’s.’ Tabitha stared into the glass of water. ‘That’s why he left me. I told him I was pregnant and he freaked.’

‘But...why?’ Marcus could understand a twenty-two-year-old freaking out but a guy in his mid-thirties with a career and a stable source of income?

‘Something about not having a clue about kids. I think he just panicked, it wasn’t like we’d planned it or anything. And then you came along that night and I thought maybe if I got back with you then Tony would be jealous and realise that he couldn’t live without me. Or the baby.’

Marcus shut his eyes. ‘God...Tab. What the hell were you thinking? This isn’t like you.’ None of her behaviour since landing on his doorstep had been like the Tabitha he knew.

‘I know, I’m sorry, I was desperate. I know how you feel about fatherless kids and, well...you’d married me once before for the sake of a baby.’

‘How long did you plan on keeping this charade up for? Would you really have let me marry you?’

‘Would you have married me?’

---