Page 130 of Just Watch Me
“An—” Zane couldn’t go on.
“She didn’t know she was pregnant, apparently,” the doctor said. “But the embryo has implanted in the fallopian tube, not the uterus. It must come out, and it’s too large to be handled with medication. The surgeon may be able to spare the tube, but we’ll see. The important thing is to get it out before the tube ruptures. Ectopic pregnancy is very serious and must be handled immediately.” The dark face was grave.
Part of Zane wanted to think about the “pregnancy” bit, but he couldn’t, not now.“When will I know how it went? How she is?”
“Soon, I hope,” the doctor said. “They may even be starting now. Sit here, and somebody will come find you when it’s over.”
The surgeon came in before Zane would’ve expected him.How long had that been? Forty-five minutes? Surgery was never that fast. Did that mean …
No. It couldn’t be happening again. Not possible.
He knew it was possible.
This doctor wasn’t anything like Fijian. Tanned, fair-haired, and lanky, he had a beaky nose under the green surgeon’s cap. Zane stood again as if he were on strings. He couldn’t read the man’s face. Not at all.
The dread was cold.
“With Skylar, erm, Fairburn?” the doctor said. His accent was British.
“Yeh,” Zane said, and couldn’t manage anything else.
“I’m Dr. Willingham. The surgery went well. We were able to remove the pregnancy without taking the fallopian tube, though there may be some scarring. Also to go in laparoscopically, which will make her recovery easier. It’s a good thing you got her in when you did.”
“Oh,” Zane said, and again, groped for how to go on. “What does she—what will she need?”
“The nurses will go over that with you. She’ll be here for a day or two, but after that, recovery should be pretty quick. A week or two off work, a couple of weeks more taking it easy.” He hesitated, and Zane said, “Yeh?”
“Emotionally,” the man said, “it can be harder. I’m not supposed to say things like that as a surgeon. No bedside manner, that’s the idea. She may need to know that it wasn’t anything she did. Nature doesn’t always get it right, that’s all.”
“Thanks. I’ll tell her. Can I see her?”
“The nurse will tell you when,” the man said, and walked away. Which left Zane to sit in his chair, look down at his clasped hands, and think,What the hell?Also,What do I do now? What do I even say?
It wasn’t one bit comfortable. But how much worse would it be for Skylar?
49
WRONG TIME, WRONG PLACE
“Hey.”
She swam up from the darkness, though the world kept fading in and out. Zane’s voice was soft. Kind. And her tears were right there, spilling over. She was so groggy. What was …
Zane must have seen the tears, because he took her hand. “How ya goin’?” he asked. “All right? Wait, obviously not all right. But—pain? How is it?”
“D-drugs.” Her eyes kept wanting to close, and his face wasn’t quite in focus. She had an IV in the back of her hand, and it was bothering her. “I’ll be … fine. I’m fine.”
She remembered now. She’d been pregnant, and it was gone.
“Skylar.” Too much kindness in his voice, and the tears were rolling down her cheeks now, hot and tickling. He picked up a tissue and dabbed at them. “It’s OK not to be fine.”
It hurt to cry, drugs or no. She cried anyway, and couldn’t even have said why. The pain. The fear. Or something else. “Did they … tell you?” she got out at last. “What it was?”
“Yeh. Ectopic pregnancy. Where it implants in the wrong place. I’d heard of it, I guess, but not much.” He was still dabbing at the tears, then offering her the cup of water with its straw. “We can talk about it later. You should rest now. Want anything? Cup of tea? Tea would be good, surely.”
She shook her head. She wasn’t sobbing, but the tears wouldn’t stop. Resistance down, or something. “Could you … could you stay? For a bit? The kids … but …”
“I’ll stay,” he said. “And hold your hand, too.”
