Chapter 1

“Mrs. Begley, could you wait in the waiting room? I need to speak to Deborah alone and examine her to determine what’s wrong with her. I’ll send for you as soon as I’m done.”

Deborah watched as her mother frowned. “I think I should stay, Doctor. After all, I am her mother.”

Doctor Todd smiled. “Yes, I know you are. However, Deborah is eighteen and an adult. HIPPA regulations make it plain that I can’t have you stay for her exams anymore.”

“Fine, Doctor, but her father will not be too pleased about this. He doesn’t even want her to see a male doctor, but you were the only person with an opening today.” With those words, her mother huffed out of the room and shut the door fairly hard behind her.

Doctor Todd looked up at Deborah, who was sitting on the side of the exam table holding a pink plastic basin against her upset stomach. He smiled at her. “Okay, I asked your mom to leave so you could answer my questions honestly. Deborah, how long have you been feeling sick in the mornings?”

“A couple of weeks.”

“Um hum, and do you feel ill any other times during the day? Or is it mostly when you first get up? Do certain smells make you feel ill?”

Deborah thought about it. “It is mostly about the first hour after I get up and yes, any fried food smell makes me sick to my stomach.”

The doctor nodded and made notes on the iPad in his hand. “I see. Are you feeling tired and worn out more? Do you find you can’t seem to get enough sleep?”

“Yes, I’m constantly tired, and I fall asleep just about anytime I stop moving. What do you think is wrong with me?”

“I need to run a couple of tests, but Deborah, I need you to be perfectly honest with me. Is there any chance you could be pregnant?”

Deborah stilled as the words of Nick Nash came back to her from a month ago. “There’s nothing to worry about Deb, no-one gets pregnant the first few times they have sex. Trust me, this will help you tap into the passion for your music.”

“Umm I don’t know. Maybe?”

“Let me ask this, then. Have you had sex at any time in the last couple of months?”

“Yes, but you can’t get pregnant the first few times you have sex, right?”

Doctor Todd sighed. “I’m going to guess you didn’t use any form of birth control, did you? I know you aren’t on the pill. Did you go by the health department and get a spermicidal foam, or the sponge, or make the guy use a condom?”

Deborah was getting worried. She couldn’t be. Daddy would kill her. “No, he told me not to worry. No one got pregnant the first few times.”

“Okay. Well, that’s not true; it only takes once for a woman to get pregnant. I’m going to have Nurse Houlihan come in and take some blood, and I need you to give us a urine sample, but I don’t think you’re sick, Deborah. I think we’re going to find out that you’re expecting.”

With those words, the doctor left. Deborah felt stupid. She should have never let Nick talk her into having sex. She had been so afraid that she’d get pregnant, but he had so much experience and had been convincing that she wouldn’t. If she was, what would she do? Daddy was going to ask Mom what the doctor had said. If her Mom didn’t have the answers, then he would demand them from Deborah. What would he do when she told him she was going to have a baby? How could she have a baby? She was only eighteen.

The college she was going to was a denominational run school. They wouldn’t allow an unwed mother to enter. I’m in so much trouble! She thought. She prayed that Doctor Todd was wrong, but deep down inside, she knew he wasn’t. Then she leaned over the pink container and lost what was left in her stomach.

*****

Heath Gladstone rolled over and looked at the clock. It was almost noon. Time for him to get up and start getting ready for his internship with Mike Brady at Brady Architecture and Construction. He wouldn’t have to go far to get to the job site at least. Mike had assigned him to work on the construction project right here at his brother’s remodel and expansion project.