Overboard: Somebody to Love #4

2

Justin’s POV

            I had just wrapped the first scene of the day when Madelyn called me.

            “Hey babe, what’s up?”

            “Justin, I don’t want to freak you out, but the doctor’s office just called. Something is wrong with my blood work results. They want us to come in together to get the results as soon as possible.”

            “I’m on my way.” I hung up. I was pretty much in shock. I had no idea what was wrong with her, but I knew it wasn’t good. She had been so tired in the last couple of weeks; I should’ve known something was wrong. If anything happened to her, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. I should’ve known.

            Kenny drove since I was a wreck. When we got to the house, Madelyn was strangely calm, as if she had already accepted the news we hadn’t heard yet.

            “Mads?” I sat on the couch next to her.

            “Come on, let’s go. We need to get this over with. I’m ready.”

            I was taken back by her strange response, but I didn’t argue. I picked her up off the couch and carried her out to the car.

Madelyn’s POV

            I was horrified as Justin carried me into the doctor’s office. Ever since the doctor had told me I wasn’t allowed to walk on it, Justin had carried me everywhere. Paparazzi caught every embarrassing moment of it. I buried my make-up free face into Justin’s shoulder. I could feel him shaking, and I knew it wasn’t from my weight. Sure, I had gained a couple of pounds from not running as much in the last couple of weeks, but I knew that wasn’t it. He was trembling with fear.

            When we got inside they gave me a wheelchair to sit in so Justin could put me down. I didn’t know which was worse, but at least the wheelchair wasn’t going to drop me. I didn’t know about Justin, since he was so shaky and nervous. We went to the third floor and into a meeting room where we waited for Dr. Pulmor.

            “I know its cancer.” I whispered to him.

            “You do not know that, Madelyn.” Justin said firmly. He wouldn’t even look me in the eye.

            “I do. I have a feeling.” But Justin wasn’t going to hear anymore of it. “It’s something horrible, Justin. Why else would they have told me to bring you for support?”

            Finally, after what seemed like years, Dr. Pulmor came in.

            “Madelyn, Justin.” He shook our hands and sat down across from us. Justin reached for my hand and squeezed it tight.

            “There are some abnormalities in your blood work. Which poses a problem for surgery.”

            “What exactly is the problem, doctor?” Justin asked. “What’s wrong with her?”

            “Madelyn, you’re pregnant.” He smiled. “Congratulations!”

I wanted to smack him. He had scared us both half to death, but ultimately he had delivered the worse news possible. A small part of me wished it was cancer instead.

            As soon as he said the words, I felt my perfect world come crashing down around me. My heart sank. I didn’t want to be pregnant. How in the hell had I gotten pregnant? There was supposed to be a less than one in a million chance that I would ever get pregnant again, and now here I was.

            I felt tears forming in my eyes. I couldn’t even bear to look at Justin. He had wanted a baby. I was the one who had been against it. The doctor’s face looked puzzled. I was in tears, not happy tears, and Justin was just staring at me.

            “So, we have a couple of options. You can wait until after you have the baby to have surgery, but then you are risking losing mobility in your knee for good, which ultimately means you would never run again. Or, we can do the surgery with only spinal anesthesia and mild pain medicine.”

            I couldn’t even speak I was so distraught.

            “Will having surgery while she’s pregnant put her at any higher risk?” Justin asked.

            “Not significantly. It would be more of a risk to the baby.”

Justin’s POV

            As soon as the doctor told Madelyn the news, she basically shut down. I could see it in her eyes. She didn’t know what to do. The doctor sent us home to think about our decision.

            I knew what Madelyn would choose. Running was a huge part of her life. She couldn’t bear to lose it. And, she didn’t want this baby. She wasn’t about let this unwanted baby stop her from ever running again.

            “Mads?” I reached my hand over to hers as I drove. She hadn’t spoken a single word since we had left the doctors office. She moved her hands out of my reach and looked out the window. I kept driving, staring straight ahead. When we got home, she hopped out of the car before I had a chance to get to her. I knew she wasn’t supposed to be walking on her knee, but I didn’t know if I could stop her right now.

            “How did it go? What’s wrong?” My mom asked

            “I’m pregnant!” Madelyn screamed, finally letting all of her emotions out. I was shocked. I hadn’t ever seen her yell at anyone but her parents or me, and definitely not my mom.

“But it might as well be cancer. It’s going to ruin my life!” She yelled as she walked upstairs. I heard the door to our bedroom slam. I told myself it was just her hormones, but I knew it was more than that.

            “I take it you guys weren’t trying to have another baby?” My mom chuckled.

            “Well, we’ve been talking about it a lot lately. I wanted one. She didn’t.”

            “Then why did she let this happen? She can’t blame you if you guys were being careless.” I sighed, we hadn’t told anyone about Madelyn’s complications.

            “First of all, I think we have learned our lesson about being careless. We have been careless twice in our entire relationship, and it ended up in our three kids.” My mom laughed at that.

“But we weren’t being careless this time. There was a complication during the twins’ c-section. The doctor told Madelyn she had a one in a million chance of ever conceiving a baby again, and those a huge odds. So we stopped using protection, figuring it wouldn’t happen.”

            “Well, it did. And now you two have to deal with it.”

Madelyn’s POV

            I laid on the bed and cried for an hour. How had this happened? Was God trying to punish me? I didn’t want another baby. I wasn’t supposed to be able to get pregnant ever again. So why had this happened? Why was God ruining my perfect family?

            Justin came in an hour after I had disappeared to the bedroom.

            “Babe, do you want to talk about it?” He laid his hand on my shoulder. I slapped it away.

            “Don’t touch me. You did this to me. Once again, you get your way in life! You always get your way. And now you’ve ruined my life, Justin.”

            I got up and ran downstairs, wincing with the pain. He followed me, yelling, “Madelyn! Wait! You aren’t supposed to be using that knee!”

“What’s it matter now? I’m not ever going to be able to run again!” I grabbed my keys off of the counter and headed towards the door.

            “Where are you going?” He yelled behind me.

            “I need to think!” I yelled back. “Without you!”