Page 77 of Muskoka Miracle

She nodded. “It’s the right thing to do.”

“Speaking of right things, it’s not right that you’re feeling so unwell. We should take you to the doctor’s.”

“I hate going to the doctor.”

“I know.” After her car accident injuries meant she’d spent months in hospital, she avoided medical appointments like the plague. Hmm. Clearly, he had to find another way to broach this. “It’s just, well, I was wondering, seeing you’ve been feeling off-color, do you think there is any chance you might be, uh, expecting?”

She squinted up at him, clearly confused. “Expecting? Expecting what?”

He smothered a smile. He had to make this plain. “Do you have a pregnancy test somewhere around here?”

Her eyes widened. “What?”

He grabbed his car keys. There had to be a pharmacist still open at this hour. “I’ll be back in—”

“Wait. There might be one upstairs. Why?”

He looked at her.

“Oh, Dan. No.” She shook her head. “I was bleeding last week, Dan. Remember? I even had cramps too, and I—”

“Sar, sit down, and relax. I’ll go see if there’s one upstairs.”

“But—oh.” She slumped back onto the sofa.

Whoa. That wasn’t supposed to happen. “Sarah?”

She opened her eyes. “I’m so tired.”

“Do I need to take you to the hospital?”

“What?”

As he’d hoped, the threat woke her up. She didn’t like hospitals, after her months of enforced stay after the accident. Call him cruel for suggesting it, but it worked.

“Wait here.” Like she was going anywhere.

He hurried upstairs to their bathroom and soon found the packaged kit. Then returned downstairs. Handed it to her. “Can you take this test?”

“Why? So you can be disappointed again?”

“Please?”

She sighed, he helped her up and she moved back into the toilet. Closed the door. And he prayed.

The sound of flushing and rinsed hands preceded her return, a little stick in front of her.

“How long do we need?”

“Two minutes.”

She placed the test on the plastic packaging, and he set the timer. They held each other, not looking at it. He didn’t want her spirits crushed again.

He so needed to man up right now and be the husband she could lean on, no matter what happened to that little white stick.

“Hey, Sar, it’s gonna be alright. I love you.”

“I love you too.” He gazed into her green eyes steadily, watching as the worry and fear faded and a measure of peace filled them instead.

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