It's the fifth time in two months and Daniel keeps coming up with several excuses not to honor the doctor's appointment with his wife Sarah. They've been married for six years and everything seems perfect and well put together except of course they lacked the cry and laughter of a younger human in their home. For the past five years, it's been the same medical report from their family doctor that everything is fine medically, but Sarah felt they should seek other alternatives. At first, she felt maybe Daniel kept busy as work got overly demanding but then it became a recurring issue, so she got suspicious. She knew that she had to act and fast too.
"Doctor, are you certain that I can't carry on with the test alone and then maybe my partner sends his samples to be tested later on?" Sarah inquired while adjusting her glasses upwards from slipping down her tiny nose bridge. Afterwards, she got a wipe to clean off her sweaty palms while she inhaled and exhaled quietly.
"Madam, please you need to calm down, ok? It's hospital policy that both couples are involved in the process. We don't just run tests; we counsel and then introduce other methods of conception to both couples that are either trying to conceive or looking for a modern stress freeway to be parents.
I know that you are eager to get over this situation, but the procedures won't be as effective if we carry it out with just you.
Remember it is called the couple's procedure ma'am, there is a reason for that."
The doctor responded calmly, with a beaming smile which seemed to lighten up Sarah's anxiety. She was already turning red and catching her breath each passing seconds, while forcefully trying to have her way with the procedure.
"So, I guess I should take my leave then, next time?"
"Sure madam, do have a lovely day".
Sarah took her leave but halfway through the main entrance of the hospital, it occurred to her that she forgot her errand bag in the waiting area at the doctor's office. She hurried back to pick it up, doubling her walk speed and covering three gaps with a step of one.
Arriving at the door of the waiting area, she made an attempt to knock but her hands were quickly suspended as her knuckled fingers hung midair. She wasn't sure what she heard, if the doctor just called her husband's name.
Immediately, Sarah started questioning herself in order to make sense from the name she just heard. "Is my husband here in person or is it probably a phone call? How did my husband come in and we didn't pass by each other? I mean, it's one walkable entrance. If it was over the phone, how did the doctor get my husband's contact? Could it be from the medical file that I filled when I came to register at the hospital? Why is the doctor on the phone with my husband?". As she stood by the door post with so many questions running through her mind, the doctor heading out of his office, bumped into her.
Sarah quickly fixed herself up from the shock not to arouse any suspicion. "Oh, sorry doctor, didn't see you there. I rushed back for my bag I had left in the waiting area of your office."
"Really? You are lucky to have remembered on time because I was about to step out for an emergency." The doctor spoke in his usual calm manner, while holding the door for Sarah to get her bag from where she had left it.
Sarah's suspicions grew, she knew for sure what she heard, and she more than ever desperately needed answers. As she drove home, she kept inhaling and exhaling loudly with her mouth trying to calm down as tears rolled down her cheek freely. She wondered, her mind drifted, "could Daniel be sterile?" she questioned.
She thought to go to Daniel's office and confront him while the anger was still burning as that's the only way she could face him but on a second thought, it won't be wise taking such a delicate matter to his workplace giving his social status and how there are people looking to bring him down.
Sarah droves straight home and decided to have a lavender bath to clear her mind. As she submerged into all those soapsuds, suspending her face for some air, her mind raced and all that kept ringing in her head was 6 years.
By the time Daniel was arriving home, Sarah was already calm but had resolved to not let the situation slide. She plotted and then she decided to beat Daniel in his own game.
"I'm pregnant," Sarah's voice echoed in Daniel's head and he was taking aback.
"What did you say?" Daniel paused on taking off his shoes, turned towards Sarah and gave her a piercing look while awaiting a response from her.
Seated on the edge of the bed and backing Daniel, Sarah adjusted her position towards his direction, caught his gaze and then repeated, "You heard me, I'm pregnant"
"But that's not possible", Daniel blurted out in disbelief and just like that Sarah smiled. She had him where she wanted him.
Screaming at the top of her voice, Sarah attacked Daniel verbally, "all these years Daniel, so it's been you. I mean there was nothing that I didn't do, I prayed, I fasted, I even went native with herbs. For what?
All these times, you kept quiet to protect your fragile ego." At this point, Sarah was getting more aggressive in her confrontations. But surprisingly Daniel remained calm. After Sarah burned out, Daniel stood up from where he had a seat, reached out to Sarah and hugged her tightly to himself. A reaction Sarah wasn't expecting, so she broke down in tears as she kept questioning why?
It's been five years since Daniel got the report that given the complication with Sarah's heart, pregnancy will be highly detrimental to her health and ultimately her life. knowing how stubborn Sarah can be and how desperately she wanted a child of her and go through the whole motherhood process, he decided to use his influence and get their family doctor to be injecting Sarah with contraceptives, tricking her that it's to help with her fertility process even when he claimed nothing was wrong with her. The same influence he used on the new doctor the moment Sarah broke the news of their appointment to him.
Being the heir to one of the richest and most powerful family in the country, Daniel knew the influence that he possessed, and he was never hesitant to employ it in any given situation. But at this point, he knew that he had to come clean somehow as Sarah seemed to be on to him.
"I know that whatever I say now will sound like a lie to you but everything that I did is to protect you. I am not sterile, and you are not barren either, but I had a choice to make, a life without you in it or a life without a child. I think you already know the answer."
A long silence ensued, after Daniel spoke. Sarah was burned out and Daniel was confused as to how much Sarah knows. For the first time since they've been married, they had so many uncertainties.
