Page 10 of Fated

“That’s good. First, I want you to understand that there could be any number of reasons why your period was that painful and unpredictable. I don’t want you to get it in your head that you can’t have children. We don’t know that. Secondly, I need to schedule you for some furthermore invasive testing so we can get a better picture. How does that sound?” By now I am silently crying, wiping my face and trying to get a grip.

“That sounds good.” I tell him hiccupping, and trying to calm myself.

“Alright. I am going to have my nurse come in here and take some blood and urine from you. I need to do a vaginal exam; however, I do this on the same day as the comprehensive exam at the ambulatory office in Charleston. So, once my nurse comes in, you can go. Just make sure to make an appointment for testing at the desk before you go.”

“Thank you so much, Carter. I assume we can keep this between us?” He chuckles and shakes his head like I am ridiculous.

“Rachel, if you wanted this to be a real secret, you should have gone to the OB/GYN in Charleston. In this town, all things come out eventually.” The moment he says it I recognize my mistake and begin to get nauseous. What was I thinking?

I am so distracted that when the nurse leaves, my phone rings and I notice it is Winona from the pet adoption place. Great! Something to take my mind off this, but I walk right past the appointment desk. I wave quickly at Ms. Ethel and walk out.

“Winona hi. I was going to call you.”

“Well great minds. Have you spoken with your husband?” Yeah but not about what I should really be telling him.

“I have. He said we could go for it. I was thinking of holding it at our home and having my sister cater for it. We could turn it into a charity event as well as bring in some of the Charleston folks and ask them to donate to the shelter. What do you think?” She squeals in my ear. I find myself laughing pulling my phone away.

“Oh my gosh I am so happy. Yes. A hundred times yes. You have a vet in town right?”

“We do actually. He is a large animal vet since most of this town uses horses as cars, but I think he sees small ones. What do you have in mind?”

“Well I was hoping he could donate some time to help with vaccinations and chipping the animals. I would ask the one I normally use but he and my sister just broke up, so I am protesting him in solidarity with my sister.” I laugh because she tickles me. Winona is this sassy, smart, completely adorable young lady who says the first thing that comes to her mind. I love her.

“Well in that case I will go to his office right now and talk to him about it. Why don’t you look at the calendar and give me a few dates and then I can see what is available. Talk in a few days?” It will give me time to talk to my husband about more important things, like the family I can't give him.

“Sounds great. Talk to you soon.” Hopefully I’m still married when we talk again.

ChapterEleven

Lloyd

“As you can see there is more than enough room for expansion, gentlemen. Our little town is mere minutes from Charleston but far enough away where competing with other franchises such as yours won’t be an issue. I know it seems lacking now, but with your business coming here and the other ones I have lined up, word of mouth will spread, and your business will pick up. As a charter town, we have a little more leeway on what we charge on taxes.”

“Who determines that?” Hoffman, the owner of Yoga 2.0 asks, as I showed him around the town and some of the vacant buildings we have.

“Good question. That is something that is decided upon by me and our charter members, consisting of descendants of the founding families. We all want what's best for the town and so we will decide accordingly.” He nods and continues to look around. “Do you have any more questions?”

“Not right at this moment. We have quite a bit to discuss. We will be in touch.” Nodding, I shake both of their hands and wait for them to get in their car and leave. Once they drive off, I unbutton my jacket and sleeves and take off my tie.

“Thank fuck.” I say to myself, locking up the building behind me. I make a detour to the general store to grab some dog food and see if they have any collars. The shelter gave us food to hold us over and my wife has been so busy spoiling those damn dogs, we have barely shopped for them.

When I make my way to the animal section, I see three different collars and grab them, happy that is something we can check off our list. To get to the entrance, I have to walk by the onesies, and I can’t help picking one up and looking at it. My mind conjures an image of what our son and daughter will look like and suddenly, I can’t wait to be home so I can make this onesie a reality.

“Oh hello Mayor.”

“Ms. Ethel, how are you?”

“I am doing well, thank you. I was just trying to call your wife. She forgot to make her appointment for the ambulatory center.” She says it so matter-of-factly, but my mind is fucking with me now.

“I’m sorry, what are you saying?” Maybe I heard her wrong. Her eyes widen and she realizes she obviously made a mistake.

“Never mind, Mayor Hollow. I think I had the wrong wife. You know how it is. My eyesight is not the best and my hearing could leave a lot to be desired. Ignore the ramblings of an old lady. Good day.” She drops whatever was in her hand like a hot potato and scurries out of the door. Tempted to follow her and force her to tell me what is going on, I think better of it and decide to go to Carter instead.

With purpose I walk across the street and into the doctor's office. “Mayor Hollow, can we help you?” Carter asks, looking at me like he has no clue why I am here.

“Tell me what is going on with my wife.”

“You know I can’t do that, Lloyd. Doctor patient confidentiality is in place.” Is he serious?

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