Page 50 of Five Alarm Love
“Before we broke up and before he… anyway.Ryan and I had long conversations about family and future and what we wanted together.”
Tuli did not want to hear any of this.Every muscle tensed.He gripped his bucket handle.He should have been there, not Ryan.
Tuli had doubted his own value and what he brought to the table as a poor guy from a broken family.He had hesitated.Hell, he still doubted his value, especially his value to a woman like Lou.Rubbing his leg, he clamped his jaw tightly and forced his hand to rest at his side.Thanks to his injury, now he had even less to bring to the table.
“I ordered some testing,” she said.
“Testing?”
She glanced at him, her brown eyes and lightly tanned skin glowing in the sunshine.“We had agreed to get the testing but broke up long before the results came back.”
The smooth line of her throat as she swallowed tormented him.
She continued, “I have a feeling the results would’ve ended our relationship anyway.”
Tuli hated the direction this conversation was headed, but Lou was his friend, and by God, he’d hang in there for her.
Tests.Results.Her family.The pieces slotted together in a terrible logic.“Wait.Do you mean…”
Her voice was so quiet, he had to strain to hear the words.“I got tested for Bledsoe Syndrome.”
Tuli froze.He studied Lou’s stiff frame, her knuckles turning white as she clutched her bucket in front of her.Her gaze focused on something a few feet to the side.
“I have it.”
A rushing sound filled Tuli’s head.His heartbeat thudded in his brain.He wanted to hold her and tell her something—anything—that would make this better.Her frame was so tight, he worried that one touch would shatter her.
Keep talking.Ask questions.Be supportive.“But you don’t have any of the health problems that Gordy does.”
A nod.Her gaze rose and met his briefly.“I have what’s called a balanced translocation.”
He racked his brain.Came up with nothing.“What’s that?”
“Gordy has extra genetic material on chromosome 14.That’s what causes Bledsoe Syndrome.”
“Okay.”
“I have that same extra genetic material on one copy of that chromosome, but there is a corresponding deletion of that same material on the other copy of the chromosome.”
High school biology didn’t prepare him to understand this information.“I’m not following.Doesn’t that mean the extra material plus the reduced material equals a normal amount for you?”She looked normal.Not that appearance told the whole story of these sorts of problems, he guessed.Hell, he had no idea.He wasn’t a doctor.
“Yes.The net result is a normal amount of genetic material for me.”
“So that’s good.Right?”
“It’s good for me.It won’t be good for any child.One hundred percent of offspring will have something”—she choked—“wrong with them.A genetic condition.Could be nothing major.Could be Bledsoe Syndrome.Could be something totally different and worse.No way to know.”The corners of her mouth fell and her chin quivered, but she didn’t make another sound.
Everything became clear in one big, giant rush.His friend, hurting.Her future, gone.Too late, he put down his bucket, eased her bucket from her clenched fingers, and set it on the ground.He pulled her into his arms, so gently, fighting the need to embrace her tightly until he completely surrounded her.He wanted to be the buffer between Lou and reality.He needed to protect her from this information.
But all he could do was to provide support and human touch.After a few seconds, Lou gave a shuddering sigh and slid her arms around his back.His shirt tightened around his chest as she fisted the fabric on his back, constricting him in an act of comfort for herself.
She could have all of it.Take up his space.Use him to squeeze the pain out if it brought her relief.He didn’t care.
Her occasional sniffle gutted him more than a loud sob ever could.Raising one hand, he cupped the back of her head and pressed her face to his neck, dipping his chin to bracket her.He braced his legs shoulder width apart, wincing as her added weight made the muscles in his right leg shake.
He’d be damned if he would let her fall.
Her voice was so quiet against his neck that he had to strain to hear it.“Anyway, it was probably a good thing that Ryan and I broke up.That would’ve been a deal-breaker.”
