Page 53 of Doctor Grump

“She had an epiphany,” I responded simply. “The doctor came by and told us that Dad is stable, but he had some kind of poisoning.”

“Where would he have gotten poison from?”

“No clue. The doctor said it might be from his food or something else in the house, but they’re still running tests.” He sat beside me, his hand going over mine once again. “Mom is devastated. This is one more thing you know.”

“What does that mean?”

“They’ve been having rotten luck like me.”

Ian was frowning at what I said, and a thoughtful look entered his eyes. “You should all get tested for the poison too.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Well, if the doctor isn’t sure what caused it, it might be something that could affect all of you later.”

“But I haven’t been staying with my parents for some time.”

“Still,” he said in an unyielding tone. “You should get checked.”

I frowned but capitulated, knowing it was easier to go along with it than to argue with Ian.

I went in to talk to the doctor, who thought it was a good idea, and he referred me to the labs for a blood test. After that, we waited a few hours for the results, after which the nurse called me into a room by myself.

“Good news,” she said with a cheery smile. “Your blood work came back great. No trace of poison.”

“Thank God,” I said as relief rushed through me.

“Yes, you and your baby can rest assured that you will be fine and have a healthy pregnancy.”

All of a sudden, everything in me stopped and came to a screeching halt. Pregnancy? What the hell was she talking about? “What are you talking about? I’m not pregnant.”

The nurse frowned, looking down at the folder again. “You’re Piper Santorini, correct?”

“Yes, I am.”

“I thought so. Says here there were hormones in your blood suggesting that you are pregnant. About eight weeks.” She looked up at me, frowning. “You didn’t know?”

I shook my head, and my confusion lasted for a few more seconds as the words made little sense to me. Slowly, it began to sink in incrementally, and the implications became clearer to me until the horrible possibility was stark.

I was pregnant with Ian’s baby.

22

IAN

Piper was uncharacteristically quiet on the ride home.

She had been like that ever since she emerged from the hospital room. I’d immediately gone to her, worried that maybe she got poisoned too, but she assured me that wasn’t the case. Although, she refused to show me the lab report confirming it, which made no sense to me. If she was completely fine, why had she practically yanked the report out of my hand when I attempted to see it?

But then again, if she was poisoned, why wouldn’t she stay at the hospital rather than insist we go home?

I would have demanded that she tell me what was going on before we left, but at the time, she had looked so overwhelmed. Like she might shatter at any moment. I hadn’t had the heart to put her through any more shit that day. Besides, if she was going to break down, I didn’t want her breaking down here in front of people. She would hate that. I wanted her to do it at home in the comfort of my arms.

Nevertheless, I would be getting the truth out of her one way or another, even if I had to be an asshole to do it.

But I let her keep her secrets as we drove home. When we drove into the lot, and I opened the door for her, she exited the car blankly with a faraway look on her face. She didn’t acknowledge when I fell in step with her, nor did she even seem to notice I had opened the door for her. It was like she was moving in a trance.

Kendy was in the living room, watching TV, and she looked up when we entered.

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