18
‘Mrs Markham to Doctor Chen’s office, please.’
Chloe got up and walked quickly to a bright blue door, knocking once and then opening it when she heard the doctor call, ‘Come in’.
Juliet Chen swivelled round in her chair and gave Chloe a smile. Chloe had only seen Dr Chen a couple of times, mostly for repeat prescriptions, but she was instantly put at ease by the other woman’s sympathetic bedside manner.
‘Hello, Chloe,’ Dr Chen began. ‘What can I do for you today?’
‘Well,’ Chloe paused, ‘I think I’m pregnant.’
‘How wonderful!’ The doctor’s smile broadened, then she noticed the lack of excitement from Chloe and asked, ‘And are you happy about this?’
‘Yes, yes I am.’ Chloe tried to animate her face but her features were like stiff dough. ‘It’s just…’ She felt tears prickle her eyelids. ‘It’s a difficult time.’
‘Okay.’ Dr Chen nodded as though she understood everything. ‘Let’s start from the beginning. When was your last period?’
‘About six weeks ago, I think.’
‘You think?’
‘I’m never very regular, and it’s always pretty light, so I find it hard to keep track.’
‘Well, I’ll take a urine sample in a second.’ The doctor moved to glance at her notes, then looked back at Chloe. ‘But I’d just like to do an exam. Is that okay?’
Chloe nodded, and wished away the ensuing five minutes as she lay on the bed while the doctor poked and prodded her. Once she was sitting back down, Doctor Chen turned to her and paused, looking at Chloe intently.
‘You certainly are pregnant, Chloe, but I would say you’re quite a bit further on than six weeks.’
‘Really?’
‘I’d say more like nearly four months, judging by the size and shape of your uterus.’
Chloe sat up, incredulous. ‘But I can’t be. I’ve had periods.’
Dr Chen smiled. ‘Don’t worry, Chloe. As you say, they’ve been light, and it does happen with some women. I’m going to get you organised for a scan straightaway, to make sure. But I’d prepare for a baby in about five months, not seven, if I were you. Didn’t you notice your stomach changing?’
‘Well, yes, I suppose.’ She had noticed the roundness to her stomach recently. ‘But only in the last week or so, since I’ve known. I just thought that was what happened.’
‘It does, but normally a little further on than six weeks,’ Dr Chen said kindly.
‘But I haven’t felt sick at all.’
‘That’s a good thing.’ Dr Chen smiled, then paused again on seeing Chloe’s unhappy face. ‘Is something wrong, Chloe?’ She sat patiently, hands in her lap. Chloe wondered if the pose had been taught to her at medical school.
‘It’s my husband…’ Chloe started, but trailed off, unsure how to explain.
The doctor looked briefly at her notes. ‘Is he unhappy about the baby?’ she asked.
Chloe shook her head. ‘He doesn’t know.’
If the doctor was surprised she didn’t show it, but laid a hand on Chloe’s arm. ‘Tell him,’ she encouraged. ‘He needs to know, and you need to be taken care of right now.’
Chloe nodded. It wasn’t as simple as that, but doctors’ sessions usually lasted ten minutes, and if Chloe started pouring her heart out she would be here a lot longer than that. So she just took her referral for the ultrasound and left with a quiet ‘thank you’.
When she got outside she suddenly felt nauseous, as though all the morning sickness she had avoided so far had been stacking up inside her to come in one enormous wave at that moment. She got halfway along the surgery path, then had to lean into some bushes and deposit most of her lunch, thankful that there was no one around to see her.
This was no good. She had to tell Alex about the baby. In fact, it now seemed stupid she hadn’t done so already. Whatever his thoughts about Julia, the idea of being a father would distract him so much that this little hiccup would pale in comparison. Wouldn’t it?
Before her thoughts could take hold of her she tried Alex’s mobile, but there was no answer. That was weird. He normally picked up when he was working at home.
A jolt went through her as she remembered looking at his phone the night before, and before she could question what she was doing, she was dialling Mark.
19
Mark was walking out of the office when his phone rang. He reached inside his jacket pocket, pulled it out and flipped it open.
‘Mark, did Alex call you at the weekend?’
Mark heard the sharpness in Chloe’s tone and was surprised. ‘Er, yes, he did,’ he said, then paused, not knowing how to follow it up.
‘Oh, okay. What did he want?’
She asked it as casually as she could, but the pause that followed was packed with tension, as though she were holding herself still in readiness for his answer. A strange wave of emotion came across Mark, and with some surprise he found himself saying, ‘He dialled me by mistake, it was a five-second call. I don’t think Alex and I have all that much to talk about.’
‘No, I don’t suppose you do,’ Chloe answered, but the suspicion was still clear in her voice. ‘Okay, then. Thanks.’ And she was gone.
Mark made his way out, thinking of the restaurant last Thursday: Julia’s obvious distress, Chloe’s blatant innocence as to what was going on; and Alex’s shocked face. Then he remembered the man’s haughty voice on the phone at the weekend.
Why should he bloody well get away with it? Anger rose in him, crushing every other thought, and he turned back. He pushed open his office door, pulled out the rumpled piece of paper from his desk drawer, and marched into Chloe’s room, flinging the miserable scrap on to the table. He borrowed a biro to annotate it.
‘
20
Alex was exhausted. As he tussled with each waking minute, a dark-haired wraith-woman paced the corners of his mind, darting out before him then back to the shadows again before he could stop her. In his dreams the night before she had been there too, wearing a vest top and a short skirt with thick ugg boots, her back to him, walking fast. Although he was running, lungs stinging with gasped oxygen, he could not close the gap. He had cried her name, but she gave no sign she had heard him. Then fog descended around them and she disappeared.
By the time he had got up, Chloe was gone, just a note from her on the table telling him she had an early meeting at work and signed with a ‘C’ – love and kisses conspicuously absent. He had tried not to read anything into that, but who was he kidding?
He thought about ringing her. At work she was invariably with clients or colleagues, however, so she would
