Dangers of Love (The Scottish Billionaires #5) - M. S. Parker Page 0,35

I will? I mean, I don’t want you feeling like you can’t ask me to go in the room during appointments or whatever. I mean, if you are pregnant, I want to do that sort of stuff. If you’re okay with it.”

I couldn’t imagine how difficult that was for him to say, especially since, by the end, his ears had turned bright red. I leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Let’s take it one day at a time, all right? Right now, I want to go back by myself, but if I am pregnant, we can talk then about what we’ll do next.”

He nodded, relief on his face, though I wasn’t sure if it was because I hadn’t asked him to come back with me now, or because I hadn’t made any sort of decision about future visits. I honestly didn’t know what I’d want at any point other than right now. And it might not even matter.

We were saved from further discussion by a nurse who came out and called my name. I followed her into the back, where she took my vitals and asked why I was there.

Heat rushed to my cheeks, but I refused to look down. I hadn’t done anything wrong. “An exam and blood work for a pregnancy test.”

She glanced at my file. “Right, I see that Dr. Rhimes put a note on here to do the blood draw first, and then she’ll come do the exam. She’s putting a rush on the test results so they can come in today.”

“A rush?” I asked, my heartrate speeding up.

“Mm-hm.” She didn’t sound worried as she went about getting the things she’d need to take care of the basics.

When she didn’t give more of a response, I flat-out asked the question, not even trying to hide the annoyance in my voice. “Why is she rushing it?”

“Oh.” The nurse seemed taken aback, but she recovered quickly enough. “I don’t know.”

Another few seconds passed, and I began to wonder if this was going to be a pattern. Unfortunately, I was not in the right presence of mind to be patient and polite, and while I’d never been shy about making my thoughts known, the incident in Iran seemed to have given me a new sort of boldness.

Like finally drawing a line in the sand with my family.

If this woman thought she was going to get off easier than them, she was sadly mistaken. “Does it say in my file? I’d like to know why my test is being rushed. I’m grateful that I won’t be waiting as long as I thought would be necessary, but I would like to know why.”

She sighed as if I’d asked her to do something extremely difficult, but she did turn her attention back to my file, so I held my tongue.

And held it.

And held it.

Just when I was about to snap at her to hand over my damn file so I could read it myself, the door opened, and Dr. Rhimes came in.

“Good morning, Aline.” She smiled at me and then looked at the nurse, the smile vanishing. “Do you have a good reason as to why you aren’t done, or at least in the process of taking Miss Mercier’s blood?”

The tone made me think I wasn’t the only person unhappy with this nurse’s work, and I had to stop myself from snickering.

“I told her there was a rush on her test, but then she wanted to know why.” The nurse sounded like a petulant child. “I didn’t know, so I was looking it up.”

Dr. Rhimes walked over to the door and opened it. “I’ll take it from here.”

“Fine.” The nurse practically stomped out of the room.

When Dr. Rhimes turned back to me, she said, “I’m sorry about her. She’s my partner’s niece, and she did well in school, but her bedside manner…leaves something to be desired.”

I snorted, then laughed, some of my unease fading. “That’s one way to say it.”

“Let me get that blood drawn first.” Dr. Rhimes went over to the items the nurse had already gotten out. “And yes, I am ordering a rush. Getting pregnant with an IUD is extremely rare, but it can also be dangerous.”

All of that tension returned and multiplied. I’d known that, of course. When I’d gotten the IUD, she’d explained everything, and I’d read all the literature she’d given me. I’d heard all of it again when I’d gone to the doctor I used in Stanford when I couldn’t get back here for appointments.