He pushed the doctor’s office open and stepped to the reception desk to the left of the entry. “Mrs. Kincade is here.”
“Hello Mrs. Kincade,” the bright eyed nurse said and smiled, but her eyes were darting back to Quinton. “It’s good to meet the lucky woman who landed him as a husband. Or maybe it’s unlucky.” She giggled. “I guess it depends on the way you look at it.”
“I’m the lucky one, Susan. I don’t know why, but this wonderful woman seems to love me.”
“Who wouldn’t?” She smiled again.
“I think I’m lucky, too. It’s nice to meet you,” Jillian broke in. She couldn’t help wondering if this had been another of Quinton’s conquest. A “BM” which she’d labeled the women Quinton had been with. To her, these letters meant “before me”. And she had these thoughts about almost every woman she met, though Quinton had given her no reason to think he’d ever step out on her again. She shared most everything with him, but this little code of hers was one secret she kept in her heart and shared with no one.
Jillian knew Susan hadn’t been a BM when the nurse said, “I’m glad somebody finally settled him down. I was tired of the women who come in here saying, ‘Susan why don’t you introduce me to your cousin?’ or ‘Susan, I need a job. Do you think you could get your cousin to hire me?’ It became downright annoying.”
“Well, you can tell those who come in not wanting jobs, he’s off the market for good.” Jillian smiled up at her husband.
“That’s for sure.” Quinton winked at his wife.
“I’ll do just that.” She handed Jillian a clipboard with some forms attached. “Please fill these out and I’ll get you back to a room as soon as I can.”
They sat in the corner and filled out the papers together. Quinton gave her all the insurance information and she put down her past medical history then listed her former doctors and the operations and medications. By the time they were through, the nurse called her back to a room. Quinton followed.
They were in the examining room only a minute when the door burst open. A large, tall woman with salt and pepper hair up in a ball on the top of her head and reading glasses on her nose came in. Her voice was softer than her appearance. “Well, as I live and breathe, Quinton Kincade finally found somebody either stupid enough or strong enough to marry him. I’ll reserve my opinion on which one it is until later.”
Quinton laughed. “Hello, Aunt Lillian. I want you to meet my wife, Jillian.”
“Hello, Jillian.” The doctor reached out and took her hand. “At least he picked a pretty one.”
“Thank you.” Jillian smiled at the friendly woman. Quinton was right. She was going to like this doctor.
Lillian pulled up a stool and sat down facing them. “Of course I’m going to give Jillian a complete physical, but for now, tell me what seems to be the problem.”
“I’ve lost my appetite and I get up tired most days.”
“She throws up now and then and she gets dizzy,” Quinton added.
“Any aches or pains?”
“Sometimes, but nothing I haven’t had before this ailment.”
“Her breasts are sore sometimes and there are a couple of lumps which haven’t been there until lately.”
The doctor raised her eyebrow. “How lately?”
“A week or so.” He looked at Jillian and grinned. “I found them by accident.”
“I’m sure Jillian hasn’t had to give herself breast exams since being married to you. I know my nephew’s reputation.” Lillian winked at them.
Jillian blushed and Quinton smiled.
“Any discharge from the nipples?”
“I haven’t noticed any.”
“Tell me about your periods, Jillian.”
“They’ve been irregular for the past couple of years. I’ll skip a month every so often. In fact, I’ve gone as much as three or four months without having one then it’ll pop up again.”
“When did you have your last period?”
“I’ve only had a couple since we were married.” She thought back. “I had one the first month and one the second month. I think that’s all.”
Lillian twisted her mouth as if she was thinking, but wasn’t ready to say anything. “And you’ve been married how long?”
“Six months.” Quinton said. “We were married in September.”
“So that means you’ve gone about four months this time.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“We looked up her symptoms on the computer. What we found scared us. It said she was showing some signs of a dreaded disease I can’t pronounce the name of.” Quinton reached for Jillian’s hand. “We thought we’d better see a doctor before we jumped to conclusions.”
“It pays to do that.” Lillian stood and moved beside Jillian. She looked in her ears. Changed instruments and looked in her eyes. She then told Jillian to open her mouth and say “ah”.
Turning to Quinton she said, “I’m going to give Jillian that physical I mentioned. I’m actually going to run some tests, too. I think you need to wait outside for this.”
“But…”
“Don’t argue, Quinton. I’ll give you a shot if you do and I know how you hate shots.” She grinned at Jillian. “He used to run from me when he was younger. Now he just looks like he’s going to hit me.”
Jillian smiled. “I’ll be fine, darling.” She squeezed Quinton’s hand.
Quinton stood then bent down and kissed Jillian’s cheek. “I’ll be right outside.” He looked at Lillian. “Be good to her. If you’re not, I’m going to throw you out of the family.”
When the door closed, Lillian shook her head. “I don’t know what you have that those other women didn’t have, but that boy is crazy about you.”
“I love him, too.”
Lillian looked at her a long minute then she smiled. “I do believe you do.” She stood. “I’m going to send the nurse in to get some blood and I want a urine sample. You get undressed and put on one of these lovely gowns we use. I’ll be back shortly.”
It seemed like it took hours to get all the tests and then for Lillian to do the examination, but it only took a little over an hour. When it was over, Lillian smiled at her. “Jillian, I’m going to do one more test, but I think Quinton should be in here for this one.”
“Is it that bad?”
“We’ll get our answer when he gets here.”
“Should I get dressed?”
“There’s no need. You’d just have to take your clothes back off.” She turned toward the door. “Don’t worry. He’ll think you look pretty even in the gown. You can sit in the chair if you like.”
In a minute, Quinton came into the room. Jillian was still sitting on the table. He went to her and held out his arms. She leaned against him.
“Do you know anything?” he asked.
“She said we’d get an answer when you got here. So far, I know nothing.”
“I don’t know anything either.”
“Quinton, I know we said we weren’t going to talk about it, but I feel I must. The symptoms said this could be deadly.” When he started to say something she shushed him. “Let me finish. If we get bad news, I want you to know the last six months with you have been the happiest of my life.”
“Oh, Jillian. I only started living when I married you. I’ll move heaven and earth to find a cure for whatever you have. I can’t face life without you.”
The door opened and Lillian walked in. “Okay, you two. This is a doctor’s office not a bedroom. Let’s show a little restraint.”
Jillian blushed and Quinton laughed. He said, “Sorry, old girl. When I get around this woman, I can’t help myself.”
“I see that.” She looked over her glasses at them. “Why don’t you take those chairs and we’ll talk. I’ve got some answers for you.”
Jillian hopped down and they pulled the chairs close together. They held hands as they waited for the doctor to begin.
“First of all, let me assure you that Jillian isn
’t in any danger at this point. What she has is completely curable.”
“Thank, God!” Quinton said. “I could kiss you, Aunt Lillian.”
“Don’t you dare, and sit still. I’m not through talking yet. Don’t you even want to know what she has?”
“I don’t care what it is as long as it’s curable; do you, honey?”
Jillian shook her head. Tears had filled her eyes and she couldn’t speak.
“Well, I’m going to tell you anyway. Now sit still.” Lillian grinned at them. “First, let me ask you something. When was the last time you had sex?”
“Don’t tell me we have to give up sex.” Quinton stared at her.
“Of course not. I know you, and you couldn’t continue to live if you had to do that.”
Jillian sniggered. “It was last night, Lillian.”
She nodded. “And how often does this occur?”
“At least four or five times a week,” Jillian muttered.
“I don’t see what our sex life has to do with anything, but to be honest we have sex almost every day. Sometimes more than once.”
“Whew. I’m sure glad Albert is satisfied with a couple of times a week. I wouldn’t have the stamina to go at your pace, my dear.” She grinned at Jillian again. “Now to get on with it. I was asking about the sex to kind of set a time frame. Since you didn’t tell me it was once a month or so and knowing how horny you both are, it didn’t give me any clues at all.”
Quinton frowned and Jillian looked concerned.
“My best guess is it happened sometime in October or early November. Anything special about those dates?”
“Jillian was kidnapped in October.”
“I was only held one night and one day. I talked my kidnapper into letting me go.”
“I bet you had a lot of sex when you got home.” She looked over her glasses at them.
“Lillian, what in hell does our having sex have to do with Jillian’s illness?”
“Honey, your sex life has everything to do with it. It caused it.”
“Can having sex make you sick?” Jillian stared at the doctor.
“No, Jillian. Having sex doesn’t make you sick, but it sure makes you pregnant.”
Jillian’s mouth flew open. She looked stunned.
Quinton muttered, “Do you mean…”
“I could be off, but I’d say Jillian is about three and a half to four months pregnant.”
Jillion stared at the doctor. “How in the world did that happen?”
“If you don’t know by now, there’s no use in explaining it to you.” The doctor stood and grinned.
“But it’s impossible. As much as I want a child….I mean…why… I was married for a long time and never got pregnant, but…” Her voice trailed off.
Quinton squeezed her hand. “Couldn’t having a baby now be dangerous?”
“I don’t see why.” Lillian shook her head at them.
“But, you know Alice died in childbirth.”
Lillian shook her head. “She had a heart attack, Quinton. I don’t foresee anything like that happening this time. Jillian is a strong healthy woman, but you know I’ll keep a close check on her.”
Jillian began to grin. “So, I’m really pregnant?”
“Yes, Jillian, you’re pregnant.”
“Oh, Quinton!” Jillian looked into his eyes. “I can hardly believe this, but I’m going to have your baby! I’m so thrilled.”
He smiled down at her. “If you’re happy, then I’m happy, too. I only want you to be all right.”
“I’m sure I’ll be fine.” She turned back to the doctor. “Won’t I, Lillian?”
“I don’t see why not.”
Quinton shook his head. “Can you believe we made a baby? Before she could answer, he went on, saying, “I can’t wait to tell everyone we know.”
Her eyes misted. “I want to tell John and Marilyn first.”
“We’ll do that.” His obvious excitement began to build. “In the meantime, I’ll check about turning the south suite into a nursery. It’ll have everything in the world it needs. We’ll even get it a dog. A white one, like you had.”
“It’ll poop on the Kincade’s pristine lawn.”
“Hell, who cares. That lawn belongs to you and me now. We’ll put any animals you want out there.”
“Oh, Quinton, you’re wonderful. Do you think I could have a cat, too?”
“Absolutely. I can see the three of them romping and playing in the backyard now.”
“We’ll play with them, too.”
“Of course we will when it gets bigger. But for the baby, I’ll hire the best nurse in the area. Maybe Susan would like the job. You’re going to be the perfect mother. I can’t wait to see you with that baby in your arms.”
Lillian clapped her hands. “You can’t have Susan, but I’ll help you find a good nurse. Now, if you two will settle down, I have another test to do.”
“What test?” Fright entered Quinton’s eyes. “You said Jillian was going to be all right. Is there something wrong with the baby?”
“Jillian is going to be just fine and as far as I can tell, the baby is, too. I want to do a sonogram to see how big the little Kincade is and how it’s doing. I thought you might like to see it on the screen.”
“Really! Can I?”
“Yes, Quinton, you can.”
“That’ll be great.”
“If Jillian will get back on the table…”
“No problem.” Quinton lifted her up in his arms, kissed her on the lips, laid her on the examining table and stationed himself close to her head where he could look into her eyes.
As the test proceeded, Lillian showed them the heartbeat and they saw the child’s formed head and little arms and legs. “Want to know what sex I think it is?” She glanced at them.
Quinton looked at Jillian and she nodded.
“See that little hang me down there?”
“Yes.”
“I think that’s a penis. Looks like you’re probably having a son. We’ll be able to tell better a little further along.”
Quinton closed his eyes because he didn’t want his wife or his aunt to see the tears there. “I always wanted a son.”
“I always wanted a baby. I didn’t care what, but I’m so glad to know I’m having Quinton Kincade, the fourth.”
He opened his eyes and looked into hers. “Do you mean that?”
“I mean that.”
Quinton didn’t try any longer to hold back the tears as he leaned down and kissed Jillian on the mouth. “I wish I could say something more profound than I love you, but that seems to be all that comes out.”
“That’s all I ever wanted from you, Quinton. As long as I have your love, I have it all.”
Doctor Lillian Higganbotham stepped back and swallowed, but she couldn’t control the tear that slid down her cheek as she watched the ecstatic couple. This was going to be one lucky baby.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Agnes Alexander’s first book was published in 2004. A Bought Bride is her 28th novel. It is the 2nd Romantic Suspense published by Whiskey Creek. They have also published 6 Western Historical Romances for her. Traveling is one of her passions and she has visited forty-eight of the fifty states. She says the other two are on her bucket list. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Carolina Romance Writers, Sisters-in-Crime, Murder we Write, Writers of the Triad, Tarheel Writers Roundtable, Western Writers of America and two local groups. She loves hearing from her readers and can be reached through her website: www.LynetteHallHampton.net
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WHISKEY CREEK PRESS
www.whiskeycreekpress.com
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