Semua Bab Diagnosis: Love: Bab 171 - Bab 180

ALISONWe ate in companionable silence until both of our plates were empty. When I started to get up to clear the table, Noah stopped me with a hand to my shoulder. "I got this. Sit." He picked up both of our plates and carried them to the sink to rinse them off before sliding them into the dishwasher. "Hey, I know you said you don't love sweets right now, but I did bring over a little dessert if you want to check out the smaller box." I reached for it and took a peek inside. "Oh, my God. Cannoli. I love these." "Think you can eat one, or doesn't it sound good right now?" I considered. "They smell good. Maybe just a taste . . ." I lifted one to my mouth and crunched down on it. "Oh, sweet baby Jesus. This is so good." I demolished it and was licking my fingers before Noah even made it back to the table. "I guess some sweet things are still appealing." "I see that." Noah glanced from the box to me and back again. "Are you still hungry? Do you want the other one, too?" I hes

ALISON"I'm mortified." I covered my face with my hands. "This is so embarrassing." Dr. Pickler, the hospital's obstetrics attending, glanced up from his tablet. "Get used to it. Pregnancy and childbirth are one long exercise in losing your dignity." "Thanks for that word of encouragement." I was grateful for my good sense in having chosen Maggie Corning as my midwife. This guy had no bedside manner whatsoever.Before he could open his mouth and stick his foot in it again, the door to my room flew open, and Noah burst in. "Alison." His face was red, and he was breathing hard, as though he'd been running. "Thank God. They wouldn't tell me where you were, and I had to call Emma to get her to talk to the nurse so I could get in here-" He sucked in one deep breath and let it out. "Are you-how are you? What's going on?" I blinked a few times. "How did you know I was here?" Before he could answer, my brain caught up with what he'd just said. "Oh. Emma called you. I totally forgot t

NOAH"All right, Ms-uh, Dr. Wakely. I think we're going to send you home later this morning." The same doctor who I'd met the day before pulled the earpieces of his stethoscope from his ears as he straightened. He'd taken Alison's blood pressure and pronounced it improved. Her temperature was lower, hovering just around ninety-nine. She still looked wan and pale to me, and the dark circles beneath her eyes were even more pronounced, but I was pretty sure she wasn't feeling nearly as sick as she had the day before. "Good." Her voice was raspy, and she'd developed a slight cough. The doctor counseled us to let him know if her breathing was labored or if the cough became increasingly worse, and he offered some pregnancy-safe meds to help ease her symptoms. "Now for the next five to seven days, I'd like you to stick to bed rest as closely as you can. Get up to use the bathroom, and if you're feeling significantly better after the first few days, you could be up a little more, maybe

ALISONWhen I'd bought my three-bedroom house in Bayerton, I'd wondered if I was crazy to choose a home with so many extra rooms. I had planned to use the extra bedrooms as an office and a guest room respectively, although I'd been dubious about who'd be coming to visit me, making the guest room necessary. Now, of course, I planned to turn the small room near mine into the baby's nursery instead of an office. I'd long ago given up on the plan to make the bedroom into an office when I'd realized that I preferred to do any paperwork at home downstairs in my living room to be comfortable. I'd ended up buying a bed for the guest room on a whim when I fell in love with a pretty fourposter at an antique fair. I'd bought a new mattress for it that remained wrapped in plastic, sitting on the bed frame without sheets or a quilt. I explained all of this to Noah as we drove home from the hospital. "At least you won't have to sleep on the sofa," I told him, finishing my meandering story of

ALISON"There's the glowing mama-to-be!" Emma folded me into a tight hug as I stepped into the cabin. "Look at you, Alison. I don't think you've ever been more beautiful." I wrinkled my nose. "Oh, tell me, what is it that you find more attractive? The way I waddle instead of walking? The swollen ankles? The red nose?"She gave my arm a gentle squeeze. "It's the whole package, sweetie. You just look . . . happy." She studied me. "Are you?"I hesitated. Answering that question in the affirmative felt . . . dangerous. Risky. The last time I'd copped to happiness, it had been cruelly yanked away from me. If that happened again . . .But no. I wasn't going to think that way. I remembered something that Brooke had said to me at a recent session: Don't let fear rob you of joy.So now, I let out the smile that I was feeling and nodded. "I am. I really am. I mean, life isn't perfect. I'm still nervous about motherhood, and sometimes, I wonder how I'm going to juggle everything. But I'm t