"Lisa Tuttle - Pathology" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tuttle Lisa)

tree at the very bottom of the garden. The back door was locked and bolted, but I got the keys from the
top of the fridge and let myself out.
I could find nothing out of the ordinary. No protrusion, no growth, only the weathered gray paint
beginning to peel away from the wall in a few places. Everything looked exactly as it always had. I
touched it to be sure. I listened to a bird singing, and the distant wind-rush of traffic. Another train rattled
by, and when I looked up a few pale faces gazed at me blankly over the fence. It was obvious that none
of them saw anything to get excited about. I started to feel like an idiot.

Slowly I went back inside to offer Daniel some lame excuse for my excitement. тАЬI thought I saw
something. I donтАЩt know whatтАФa sort of hallucination, I guess it must have been. I donтАЩt know why. . . .тАЭ

He laid a cool hand caressingly on my hot face and looked at me very tenderly. тАЬExcitement, maybe?
Hormones?тАЭ

I realized then that he must have known, or at least started to suspect, about the pregnancy as soon as I
did. Even though we didnтАЩt live together, weтАЩd never spent more than a night or two apart.

I started crying. Daniel wrapped his arms around me and held me close. He murmured his love in my ear.
тАЬWhen will you move in? This weekend?тАЭ

I gaped, sobs shuddering to a halt. тАЬBut . . . if this place isnтАЩt big enough for the two of us . . .тАЭ

тАЬBut itтАЩs not just the two of us anymore. EverythingтАЩs changed.тАЭ He smiled joyfully. тАЬMy workroom can
be the nursery.тАЭ
***


I donтАЩt like doctors, and I canтАЩt stand hospitals. I donтАЩt even like visiting people in them, and my one
experience as a patientтАФafter a burst appendix at the age of eightтАФwas enough to put me off for life. I
knew that even if I was to have a home birth (Daniel agreed that was best) I would still have to visit a
doctor, but I kept putting it off, and somehow got through the whole of my first trimester, grimly putting
up with the sickness and the pains, still avoiding the evil day.
Daniel, who had become very protectiveтАФensuring that alcohol, caffeine, French cheeses, and shellfish
did not pass my lips, constantly querying my emotional, mental, and physical healthтАФaccepted my fear of
hospitals and didnтАЩt push. When I finally, with great reluctance, decided that IтАЩd have to go register with
the local GP, he shook his head. тАЬReally, thatтАЩs not necessary. I know how you feel, Bess, so IтАЩve asked
my mother to come тАЩround and have a look at you.тАЭ

тАЬYour mother?тАЭ HeтАЩd never mentioned this personage before; from the way he shrugged off my
questions about his background IтАЩd gathered only that he and his parents were not close. тАЬIs she a
doctor, then?тАЭ

He looked oddly embarrassed. тАЬWell, yes, of course. SheтАЩs a specialist in, you know . . . in private
practice, of course, but she wonтАЩt charge us.тАЭ

And, for me, she would make house calls. I was relieved.

Her appearance surprised me. She had aquiline features very like DanielтАЩs, but she looked far too young
to be his mother. Except for her hair, which was coarse and heavily streaked with gray, IтАЩd have thought
her not much older than I was. She seemed uncomfortable with her own attractiveness, dressed in a