Page 71 of Size Doesn't Matter

Gathering her into his arms, he sat on the edge of her bed and held her, stroked her hair and reassured her. She’d done nothing wrong.

As heartbroken as he was to lose another child, he was more concerned with Sophie’s wellbeing. He needed to know she was going to be okay. He needed her to know it too.

Where is the fucking doctor?

Another forty minutes passed before the curtain drew back and a doctor appeared. An older looking man with greying hair and a clean shaven face. A stern looking man with hard features and a distant gaze. Old school. “My apologies for the wait,” he said, his tone short and to the point. “We’re short staffed today.” He flipped open the folder in his hands. “Now, Miss Bennett, can you tell me what happened?”

Jack tried to move away and give Sophie space, but she refused to let him go, her grip tightening on his shirt. “After we had sex this morning, I started feeling nauseous again. I thought it was morning sickness until the pain hit me and I started to bleed.”

“And why do you think it’s a miscarriage and not your period?” he asked, not even looking up from the file. “The symptoms can be very similar.”

Sophie shook her head. “I took a bunch of pregnancy tests when the nausea first started.”

“And when was that?”

“A little over a week ago. They all came back positive.” After a beat of silence, she added, “My cycle has always been irregular, and it’s always heavy and painful, but it’s been over two months since my last period. I’ve never gone that long without bleeding before.”

The doctor took notes as Sophie talked, his pen flying across the page, but he didn’t look up at her even once, and his tone remained cold and unaffected. Jack knew the reason for it, professional distance, don’t get involved, but it didn’t stop him from wanting to shake the man and make him look at the woman in front of him. Make him acknowledge her pain.

“And how far along do you think you were?”

Jack squeezed Sophie’s hand and took over answering. Maybe Dr Douchecanoe would respond better if a man was doing the talking. “About five weeks,” he said. “New Year’s Eve.”

“You’re sure of your dates?”

“I am.”

The doctor nodded and made more notes, then as expected, he looked to Jack and not Sophie. “Unfortunately, with such an early state pregnancy there’s little we can do but wait for the body to expel the tissue on its own.” He scribbled more notes. “I will ask your girlfriend to take another pregnancy test though. The hormones required for a positive test will still be present in her system, so this will tell us if she was actually pregnant, or if this is just her irregular menstrual cycle at work.”

“I’m sitting right here,” Sophie muttered, but the doctor ignored the comment.

“A nurse will be back shortly with the test,” he said, then pulled the curtain back. “How’s your pain?”

“Painful,” Sophie said, not quite snapping the word at the doctor.

“I’ll order you some pain relief too.”

And with that he was gone again, and the curtain fell back into place.

“How do you really feel?” Jack asked. “I know you can handle a decent amount of pain but I need to know if you are truly hurting.”

“Jack, I’m fine,” she sniped, then winced and bit her lip, indicating she was anything but.Stubborn brat.“I’d kill for my heat pack though,” she added through gritted teeth.

Jack scrubbed his hand across his jaw. “Is he right, do you think? Could this just be your period?”

“You both seem to be forgetting about the pregnancy tests I took. Three of them. All positive.” She folded her arms and scowled. “If you don’t believe me, ask Abby or Lucy. They were there when I took them. In fact, it was their suggestion to do all three just in case the first one was wrong, mostly because none of us believed I could be pregnant since we’d used protection for all but our last time together that night, and even then, you didn’t come inside me.”

“Yes, I spoke to someone about that too. Our family doctor, my cousin Matt. He said it was possible to become pregnant even when using condoms, and thatwhereI came on you was more than sufficient to knock you up. It’s not common but it does happen.”

“I’m not your ex,” Sophie said, her voice so quiet Jack almost didn’t hear her.

“I know you’re not her, Soph.”

“Do you?” she demanded. “You obviously don’t trust me or you wouldn’t have asked your cousin if it was possible.” She swiped at her tears. “I would have shown you the tests if you’d asked. Hell, I would have taken another one if you’d wanted me to.”

“Soph—“

“Maybe I should have,” she whispered, more to herself than him. “Then we would have known for sure.” She stared at him, searched his gaze with wild eyes. “Do you even want to be with me if I’m not pregnant?”

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