Page 33 of The Light to My Darkness (The Light to My Darkness 1)

messy looking. And the prominent nose. He really did look like an older version of the actor that played Professor Snape. I almost laughed out loud, envisioning him in a robe instead of scrubs. For some reason, it made me miss Dr. Jones. And his warm hands. And kind smile. And blue scrubs.

I shook the thought away. Dr. Nelson was great. I shouldn't have compared him to my last OB-GYN. Besides, I couldn't go back to Dr. Jones. He was retired. And James was thinking of suing him. God, I really hoped he didn't go through with that.

I watched the two of them walk out into the hall. As soon as the door closed, I could hear their heated exchange through the thin walls of the hospital room. I climbed out of the bed and started getting dressed, trying to ignore their words, but I couldn't.

"She said she had chest pains," James said.

"Which is ridiculous. You can't feel a heart murmur getting worse."

"Getting worse? Who said anything about it getting worse? Is the leak growing?"

"Mr. Hunter, it isn't getting worse. It would still be classified as moderate. I just meant that the condition can't be physically felt."

"Are you calling my wife a liar?"

"No, I didn't..."

"If she said her heart is hurting, then her fucking heart is hurting."

"And I just told you that such a thing is theoretically impossible."

"So you are calling her a liar."

"I'm just saying that bored housewives sometimes need attention!" Dr. Nelson snapped.

I bit the inside of my lip. Bored housewife? I smoothed my dress back into place. I actually had thought that the pain was in my head. It had only started after I was aware of my heart murmur. Was I really going crazy? I placed my hand on the center of my chest. So why did it hurt right now? I grabbed my purse off my chair. Bored housewife. Dr. Nelson's words echoed around in my head. I wasn't sure any combination of words had stung so badly. And it wasn't true. I was a wife and a mother and an author.

The taste of blood filled my mouth. I had bit the inside of my lip so hard that I had pierced the skin. Bored housewife. That's what people saw when they looked at me. It was basically what Jen had said to me just a few hours earlier today. What else was I going to do with my time if I didn't hang out with them? Well, I had things to do. I surely had new rejection letters to open. And agents turning me down via email. Fuck Dr. Nelson. And fuck everyone else too. Bored housewife my ass. I wasn't some young trophy wife like the tabloids claimed. Clearly. People who got rejected as much as me weren't trophies.

I pushed the door open and almost ran right into James. I could almost feel the heat radiating off of him from the way he was fuming.

Dr. Nelson plastered a smile on his face and turned to me. "Just keep taking the vitamins, Mrs. Hunter, and the rest of your pregnancy will go smoothly." He glanced at his watch. "Now, I have a tee time I need to get to. Good day to you both." He nodded curtly and walked away.

"Great. Everything is fine." I cringed at my use of the word fine.

"I'm going to make another appointment with the cardiologist," James said and reached for his cell phone in his pocket.

I grabbed his arm to stop him. "Really, James. It was just a false alarm. I'm sorry about ruining your afternoon."

"Ruining my afternoon?" He ran his hand through his hair. "You're not ruining anything. Your chest hurts. We're going to go see someone who will listen."

I felt the pain. I truly did. But that didn't mean that my mind wasn't somehow causing it to happen. If I thought about it enough, of course it would hurt. In the back of my head I knew that Dr. Nelson was right.

"Does it hurt right now?"

Yes. Maybe if I ignored it, the pain would go away. "James, the baby is okay. That's all that matters."

He lowered his eyebrows. "I didn't ask if the baby was okay. I'm asking about how you feel."

"I think Dr. Nelson is right. I'm thinking about it too much."

"God, don't listen to that prick." James lifted his cell to his ear and turned from me. "Yes I need to make an appointment for my wife."

"James." I put my hand on his bicep. "I don't think that's necessary." He shrugged away from my grip.

"She's been having chest pains," he said into the phone.

"James." He was being exasperating.

---