Page 36 of Lost and Found
?
Perhaps any recommended spellcasters?
Thank you in advance,
Bea Marshall
Date: May 3, 2026
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Cycle
Ms. Marshall,
Thank you for letting us know. Neither Dr. Nielsen nor I are aware of any spellcasters that we can recommend. I believe this, as well as your greeting, were attempts at humor, which I admit went over my head. I also understand people are prone to do this in high-stress situations in which they feel a lack of control, but I can assure you, you are in good hands with us. As we discussed, I will give you the after-hours phone number. You are welcome to text anytime with any questions.
Considering your contraceptives schedule, as well as your estrogen levels being on the low side, you should begin estradiol injections on 5/12. Those injections will go for two weeks, after which you will begin Lupron injections. These will continue until around one week before your target transfer date. Therefore, you will stop estradiol on 5/26, start Lupron on 6/5, stop on 6/19, and your transfer date is tentatively scheduled for 6/26. I have attached a calendar with all of this information plugged in for your convenience, including the additional oral medications you will begin and when.
Should your transfer be successful, you’ll begin progesterone injections for one month after a positive pregnancy test result. You may test ten days post embryo transfer.
Barring any changes to this plan moving forward, I will be charging the card we have on file on 6/15, as that will be the week we thaw your eggs. Shortly thereafter, I will be in constantcommunication to keep you up to date on the fertilization process and success rate.
Thank you,
Francine Mozzeley
CLINICALCOORDINATOR,PNW REPRODUCTIVE ANDCRYOPRESERVATION
I let myself feel mortified for about thirty seconds. Who could blame me for trying to bring some personal flair into the most personal experience of my life? That I did so by trying to make a joke—well. Maybe Silas is rubbing off on me already.
IVF is also the most clinical and scientific experience of my life, in addition to being complicated on every physical and emotional level, so of course I’m feeling a little all over the place.
In the days after our dinner at Starhopper and establishing our rules and a list, Silas and I settle into a pattern of unconventional domesticity. We’re both off on Monday, so, over an impromptu shared breakfast, he offers to swing by my house with me to check on things and replenish supplies for the cleaning service while there’s a gap in the renters. On Tuesday, he gets Fisher wrangled onto a FaceTime call to educate us on making our own sourdough starter. We agree on Jane Dough for a name since we can’t come up with anything better.
On Wednesday, I get home to him blasting something from the nineties, head bobbing while he sautés a skirt steak for tacos. “You good with spice?” he calls out when I walk through the door. He keeps moving to the music with his spatula pointed at me. The sheer, unabashed silliness of it makes my cheeks ache.
On Friday, he asks me what I want for dinner, and I know that I probably shouldn’t like that he’s assumed we’ll eat together, but I do. When I promptly answer, “I want pad thai,” the look hegives me can only be described as heated. Tension-stacked jaw, hard-focused eyes.
“What?!”
“Sorry,” he says. “That was just . . . one of the sexiest things I’ve ever witnessed.”
“Me knowing what I wanted to eat?” I laugh, warmth popping like popcorn in the pit of my stomach.
