Fertility: A Novel

by Gelberg, Denise

  It was into this scene that a nervous Rick entered around five. He was about to meet Sarah’s mother. Apparently, he’d also be meeting her friend, a woman Jeff had raved about at breakfast — someone from Chicago whom he’d run into the day before. And then there was Anna, the child he would publicly claim as his own. The crowded room was a plus. The presence of strangers would help keep everyone on their best behavior.

  Sarah had been on the lookout for him. His note had said he’d try to drop by in the late afternoon. When they saw one another, they locked eyes and smiled like co-conspirators.

  “Oh, Rick,” she said, in a voice that carried above the room’s chatter. “I’m so glad you could visit while my mother and Devorah are here.” The discussion Eva and Devorah were having about paper versus cloth diapers stopped in its tracks. They both looked up to see a tall young doctor in green scrubs and sneakers. His dark hair and eyes and intelligent good looks impressed them both.

  “Mom, Devorah, this is Rick Smith,” Sarah said.

  There was nothing in any parenting manual that provided Eva advice on how to meet the man who’d impregnated her daughter. She decided to go with simple good manners. She got up and extended her hand.

  “How do you do? I’m so pleased to meet you. I can’t say Sarah’s told me a whole lot about you, but what she has said has been unfailingly complimentary.”

  “Well, I’m happy to hear that,” Rick said, looking directly at Sarah. “Your daughter can be inscrutable at times.”

  “Oh, you think so?” Eva asked. “So glad I’m not the only one who finds her so.”

  Sarah defended herself. “What’s this? Time to beat up on the patient?”

  “Not at all, sweetheart. It’s just that you’re a very private person,” Eva said sweetly.

  “Enough about me,” Sarah said, eager to change the subject. “Rick came here to meet you — and to spend some time with Anna.” Then turning to Rick, she added, “And we have a special bonus for you: my best friend Devorah, who’s here from Chicago.”

  Now was his chance to do a small favor for Jeff, who had taken a lot of crap from him over the last months. “Nice to meet you. My good buddy, Jeff, mentioned you were here. I must tell you that you made quite an impression on him, and he’s not easily impressed,” Rick said, slathering on the flattery.

  “So glad I impressed a man with such high standards,” Devorah replied without hesitation, though her cheeks colored a bit.

  “No mean feat and I’m not just saying that,” Rick said.

  Just then, two more visitors came in to see the room’s other occupant. Sarah proposed they relocate to the patient lounge. Now wearing rehab’s obligatory “street clothes,” she struggled to get off the bed without help. She nixed the idea of using a wheelchair to get to the lounge. Watching her work so hard to produce forward motion with the walker brought Devorah to tears, and a lump to Rick’s throat. Eva, Devorah and the baby followed slowly behind as Rick walked with Sarah, taking tiny steps to match hers one for one. It took them five minutes to walk the fifty feet to the lounge, but when they arrived it was clear Sarah felt victorious.

  “They tell us we have to push ourselves,” Sarah said as she gingerly lowered herself into a chair in the unoccupied lounge. “Please,” she panted, “everyone sit down.”

  “That was amazing,” Rick raved, taking the chair next to hers.

  “I don’t feel amazing, but the therapists say I will feel a little less crappy every day.”

  “Oh, really?” Eva asked, a bit miffed the staff couldn’t think of a more articulate way to express themselves.

  “Well, they use more professional terms, but that’s the gist of it. Phew. I’m glad we’re out of that room. This is a little better for Rick’s visit with Anna. Devorah, can you do the honors?”

  “It will be my pleasure.” Devorah got up and placed Anna in her father’s arms. “Isn’t she a beautiful baby?”

  Although he’d held her once before, this time he was ready to be Anna’s father. He stared at her for at least a minute and no one spoke. Both Eva and Devorah felt as though they were intruding on an intimate moment.

  “Maybe Devorah and I should give the three of you a few minutes by yourselves,” Eva offered.

  “Would you mind very much, Mom?” Sarah asked.

  “Not at all. This is a special time for you. We’ll come back in a little while,” Eva said as she and Devorah headed for the hallway.

  Once they were alone, Sarah watched Rick stare into Anna’s eyes and play with her fingers. The sweetness of the moment was tinged with melancholy, and all the willpower in the world couldn’t keep her from tearing up.

  When he looked up to see her crying, he was baffled. “Hey, what’s with the tears?”

  “I’m crying because you came so close to missing out on Anna — and she you.”

  “Hey, we’re going forward now, remember? There’s no profit in looking back. We have this beautiful little girl and we’re going to do right by her. That’s the game plan now,” Rick said.

  “You’re right. Of course, you’re right. Just keep talking to me.”

  “Ah! I knew you would come to see my value.” He took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

  “Yes, I am coming to see your value, as you put it,” Sarah said, wiping the tears from her face with the back of her hand.

  “Glad to know I’m growing on you,” he laughed. “Okay if I take off her hat?”

  “You’re the pediatrician. They gave her to me with a hat, and we’ve been keeping her head covered. Do we have to?” she sniffed, interested in Rick’s professional opinion.

  “It helps her regulate her body temperature. But it’s not necessary every minute of the day.” He pulled off the knit cap, revealing her thick, platinum hair.

  “You’ve got to be kidding!” he exclaimed. “She’s a blond?”

  “I guess it comes from my mother and grandmother. They were blonds in their younger days. She obviously didn’t get it from either of us,” Sarah said, blushing at the thought that their mingled genes had created Anna.

  “We can credit all the grandmothers. My mother is…well, was a blond, too. Her whole family has that Nordic look, you know, the blue eyes, light complexion and hair.”

  Just then Devorah came into the lounge, camera in hand.

  “I’m just here to document the moment. I’ll be out of here in no time.”

  Rick reached across Sarah’s chair to put his arm around her while he held Anna on his chest facing the camera. Rick grinned at Sarah. Sarah’s elusive dimples made an appearance as she looked at Rick holding their daughter. Two delighted parents and their new baby: a moment savored by people from every corner of the earth across the millennia — and saved for posterity by Sarah’s clever friend.

  * * *

  When Joseph arrived at the hospital, he headed directly to the lounge, as per Eva’s directions. There he found his family — and the man who’d fathered Anna. Like his wife, he was uncertain about how to handle himself. On the one hand, he was pleased that the man had apparently agreed to take responsibility for his child. But on the other hand, the fact that he’d walked out on Sarah still set Joseph’s teeth on edge.

  Eva broke the ice. “Joe, come and meet Rick. Imagine. We have our very own pediatrician to consult with now!” Eva exulted. “How lucky can a baby be — to have a father who’s an expert in childhood medicine?”

  Rick stood up and gave Sarah’s father a firm handshake. He was taken by how much the woman he loved looked like the man in front of him. “Very nice to meet you, Mr. Abadhi. I would have to say that you and Sarah share a strong likeness. Those must be powerful genes, because Anna looks like she’s going to fall right in line with the two of you,” Rick said, doing his best to chat up Sarah’s father.

  “Yes, and my mother — the first Anna Abadhi — shared our facial features as well. Perhaps you’re right. Powerful genes, indeed,” Joseph said, trying his best to be agreeable, though unaware of any scien
tific basis for the idea.

  “However, it seems as though Anna’s grandmothers won the day on her coloring. My mother, as well as Eva — and I guess Sarah’s grandma — have passed on their blond hair and blue eyes. Lucky Anna,” Rick said, trying to keep things light. “She’s a beautiful baby.”

  “Rick, did you know that my father works in regenerative medicine?” Sarah interjected, hoping to help the conversation along. “You know, using stem cells to regenerate organs?”

  Rick felt like a five-hundred-pound weight had been lifted off his back. Making pleasant conversation with a guy in sales or finance would have been tough sledding. But regenerative medicine, well, that was something else entirely. And, of course, it offered an alternative to the uncomfortable subject of where he’d been until now.

  “No, I didn’t know that. I would really enjoy learning about your work. Right now I have a young patient whose kidneys are beyond repair. If we manage to get her through this crisis, dialysis will be the only way to keep her alive. She’ll be tethered to a machine for years. If she’s extremely lucky, someday she may get a transplant. But if we could teach her body to regrow a kidney, now that would be the ticket.”

  “That objective drives our research,” Joseph said. “We’re actually working on liver regeneration, but we hope that if we’re successful, our research will be applicable to other tissues and organs.”

  “That’s got to be so exciting,” Rick said in earnest. “You’re on the cutting edge of medicine. I enjoy patient contact, so my bent is toward clinical, but if I were to lean toward research, your field would be hard to beat.”

  If there was something that matched Joseph’s passion for his family, it was love for his work. Rick’s enthusiasm for his research provided a channel in which the two men could move while each took the measure of the other. It didn’t take either man long to figure out he was dealing with a person of substance. Under other circumstances, they would have instantly taken a liking to one another. However, given the reality that they neither knew nor trusted the other’s intentions, the jury was out on whether they would ultimately find a way to get along.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  About a week into the rehab regime, Sarah, Eva and a social worker met to discuss where Sarah should go after discharge. Sarah’s vote was to go home, but there were obstacles — namely, she lived alone and had two flights of stairs to negotiate. Her parents’ house was more accessible, and, of course, help would be readily available. Given her newfound grit, Sarah knew that if the decision didn’t go her way, she would swallow hard and do what needed to be done.

  During her lunch break, she was trying to tamp down her excitement about the prospect of leaving the hospital when the phone rang. She reached it on the seventh ring.

  “Hello, Sarah, is that you?”

  “Harry, how nice to hear your voice.”

  “How’re you doing today? The operator told me you moved to another room.”

  “That’s right. I’m in rehab now and they’re trying to kill me. But if I live, they say I’ll be as strong as an ox.”

  “Tough therapy?”

  “The understatement of the year.”

  “You can handle it, Sarah. Remember, you’re the health care group’s premier marathon runner.”

  “Actually, it’s hard to remember. But I have to tell you, rehab is harder than running a marathon.”

  “Never having done either, I’ll take your word for it. Hey, I wanted to tell you that I spoke with Grant Salbago from the San Francisco office — the guy I told you about who specializes in construction law.”

  “Oh, thank you, Harry. I really appreciate it.”

  “It was no big deal. The good news is he’s agreed to watch my back, albeit at a distance, if we decide to negotiate a settlement with Arkin.”

  “That’s good. I know you think a lot of him.”

  “I do. Now the question is, do you feel up to having a preliminary meeting with Arkin and his lawyer? He’s apparently champing at the bit to get the settlement show on the road.”

  The thought of meeting with Mark Arkin unnerved her. Before the accident, she had always done her homework before entering into negotiations. Appearing cool and self-possessed was indispensable, and her extensive preparation had given her the mojo she needed. But now that would be tough to pull off.

  “When does he want to meet?”

  “Later today or tomorrow.”

  “So soon?” Sarah asked.

  “Yeah, it seems he’s a man in a hurry. Too soon for you?”

  “I’m just afraid I’ll sound tentative. I’m not quite myself.”

  “If that’s your reason for demurring, forget it. I’ll handle the negotiations. You can just sit there and look not quite like yourself — which is the whole point, after all.”

  “Okay. If you think you’re ready, I’ll follow your lead.”

  “Good. I’ll get back to you with the where and when as soon as it’s nailed down.”

  “Oh, if I’m not here when you call, you can call my mother’s cell and she’ll relay the information to me.” She gave Harry her mother’s number before saying good-bye.

  After lunch, Sarah had trouble concentrating on her therapy. She did all the painful exercises, but kept thinking about how changed she was from the time she had last met with Mark Arkin. She remembered she had been nervous that day — nervous, but also ready. How different this meeting would be.

  Eva arrived at two with the baby, in time for Sarah’s afternoon break. She put Anna in Sarah’s arms and then handed her the message she’d taken from Harry. It read, “They’ll be at the hospital at five o’clock. I’ll arrange a conference room for the meeting. Don’t worry. I’ve got you covered.”

  “I guess it’s going to happen today after all,” Sarah muttered.

  “What is Harry referring to, honey? He can’t be asking you to work, can he? It’s much too soon for that, sweetheart.”

  “Oh no. Harry’s not inviting me to a work meeting. This is about a proposed settlement for my injuries. The developer wants to meet with me — but it’s completely confidential, so mum’s the word,” she said, glad her roommate had gone home that morning.

  “How about Dad?”

  “Well, of course Dad’s okay, but let’s keep this to ourselves. I’m not even sure what I should ask for. I’m going to have to rely on Harry to represent my interests,” Sarah said.

  “Harry’s been wonderful to you. Don’t you think he’ll do a good job?” Eva asked.

  “I know he’ll do his best,” Sarah said. “He’s conferring with someone from our firm who specializes in construction law. Together I think they’ll be able to offer me good counsel.”

  “Who was the developer, Sarah?”

  “Mark Arkin.”

  Eva grimaced. “Arkin? That blowhard? I never could stand that man. He’s always trumpeting his wealth and power. He’s so coarse, so blinded by that enormous ego of his, a real k’naker. If he was Joe Blow, no one would listen to a word he says. But in this country, where money justifies everything from bad manners to high crimes and misdemeanors, he’s a macher.

  You’d better keep the bastard away from me, after what happened to you and the baby. If I lay eyes on him, I’ll tell him what he can do with himself and his luxury condo towers.”

  Sarah had never seen her mother so irate. It was true that Arkin provoked strong feelings from almost everyone in the city — either admiration for a guy who’d built a fortune from nothing, or contempt for his drive to win at all costs. As for Sarah, she felt strangely neutral about him.

  “Mom, did you know I settled a case with Arkin about a year ago? It worked out well for all parties. When he found out I was among the injured, he called Harry and told him that he was favorably impressed with me and that he wanted to make things right. I guess that’s the alleged motivation for the meeting this afternoon.”

  “No, I didn’t know. You’ve always kept your work to yourself.” Eva took a breath an
d began to build up some steam. “And as for him being favorably impressed with you, he’d be a fool not to be. You’re a beautiful, intelligent woman, a top-notch attorney and a new mother who nearly lost her life to his ‘development project.’ He’d better come up with something that can begin to make amends for the harm he’s done you,” Eva seethed.

  “Well, Mom, we’ll find out in a few hours just what he has in mind.”

  * * *

  At a quarter past four, when Sarah’s hour-long lesson on the care and cleaning of external fixator pin sites was done, she inched her way back to her room, determined to get herself together for the meeting. In terms of clothes, there were few choices. With the bulky metal apparatus on her leg, pants were out of the question. The only clothes that fit since she had delivered Anna were the maternity dresses that Eva had brought to rehab. She selected a black jumper and a gray turtleneck, borrowed some lipstick from her mother and ran her fingers through her hair. When Harry appeared at ten before five, Sarah felt presentable.

  “Mrs. Abadhi! It’s a pleasure to see you again, especially with Sarah doing so much better,” Harry schmoozed.

  “Yes, I agree on both counts. Sarah filled me in on your meeting. Would you prefer that Anna and I leave while you talk?”

  Harry looked at Sarah for guidance.

  “It’s okay if you stay, Mom. Just remember what I said about loose lips.”

  “Of course, darling. Consider my lips hermetically sealed.” Eva pantomimed the locking of her lips and then turned her attention to Anna, who was working herself up into a lusty howl after losing her pacifier.

  Harry proceeded with the outlines of his game plan. “Sarah, I think our best strategy is to let them talk — you know, hear them out. We don’t have to agree to anything today. You can think about whatever it is they offer, and I can pass it by Grant. We can make a counter offer sometime next week or the week after, if you prefer.”