After The Honeymoon

22. ABCDs

4 Months Later

Omar

I stared at Madi's text message on my phone.

Madi: Come down as soon as you can.

I was signing out to my co-resident at that time. Ordinarily, I would not have thought too much about that text. This wasn't the first time Madi would be picking me up from the hospital or been in a rush to get somewhere. But she wasn't supposed to be here. She was supposed to be on-call this weekend in St Louis. While I covered the weekend in Chicago. 

I texted back immediately.

Me: Is everything ok?

Madi: I need to tell you something.

Oh Madi, what did you do now? I groaned internally. The last time she had to 'tell me something' our lives fell apart. 

It had been four months since that awful day when we'd allowed everyone around us to drive a wedge into our relationship. Madi had gotten most of her memory back. She had even rejoined her fellowship a few weeks ago. But she never remembered the time immediately before and after her accident. Whatever we knew, we had pieced it together based on the police report and Mrs. Patel - who indeed had told my wife that love was an action, not an emotion.

We had guessed that Madi had heeded our elderly neighbor's advice to take a break and really think about how she was going to work on our marriage by driving to her apartment in St. Louis, the one place she could be on her own without all the family drama. Somehow on the way there she had either fallen on asleep or swerved to avoid hitting wildlife on the highway and ended up in the ditch. 

As she recovered at home, we both heeded Mrs. Patel's advice and actively chose each other every day over our careers and the opinions of others. I refused to work in the lab on the weekends, and she quit working the extra shifts. Instead, we took a road trip, or indulged in what had become our favorite activity. And no, it wasn't done in our bed!

We took up bicycling. We biked for hours, along the lake and the historic parts of Chicago, in other parts of Illinois and surrounding states. And in the process, we discovered ourselves and each other, strengthening the beautiful bond between us - all while we planned our future together. 

That was exactly why I had assumed that we would never keep anything from each other again. It was an assumption I was afraid might be untrue as I quickly signed out and made my way out of the hospital. She was standing just outside the front door, pacing around nervously.

"Alright Madi - lay it on me. What did you do now? Just tell me the truth. I promise to not judge," I told her as soon as she saw me.

"I didn't do anything. I just need you to come home." She started walking briskly towards her parked car even before she finished that sentence. 

"Madi, what is going on with you?" I jogged to catch up with her. 

She kept walking till I grabbed her arm to stop her. "You are scaring me. Why did you come here all the way from St. Louis? Did something happen?"

To my surprise, she blushed a deep crimson color. "I used one of those home tests, and I am ovulating," she muttered while staring at the ground. 

Confused, I had to ask. "What does that mean?"

"Have you forgotten basic human biology? My ovaries released an egg, or will soon," she started walking again. "You are wasting time. We have to go home." 

"Oh." Her reason for dragging me from the hospital to our apartment had sunk in by the time we got into the car.

"Madi, did you come all the way here to make babies with me?" I bit my lip trying to not laugh in her face.