She looked away. ‘No.’
‘And the doctor, have you seen him yet?’
‘This afternoon.’
‘Well, at least that’s something,’ Laura said approvingly.
‘I’ve been putting it off,’ she admitted. ‘I’m not greatly enamoured of doctors myself. But Paul Anderson is very good.’
Laura nodded. ‘I’ve heard that he is.’
Kelly stood up. ‘I have to be going now, my appointment is in half an hour.’
‘I hope everything goes all right,’ Laura told her. ‘You’ll call me?’
Kelly assured her she would. ‘Don’t get up,’ she advised as Laura tried to struggled to her feet, bending down to kiss her affectionately on the cheek. Laura and she had become very close the last few weeks, and Laura was the nearest thing she had to a sister.
Kelly waited nervously outside the doctor’s office, the receptionist occasionally giving her a friendly smile. She knew her pregnancy was a reality, that wasn’t what was worrying her. She just had a dread of being told there was anything wrong with this pregnancy.
She looked up as Paul Anderson came out of his office, a welcoming smile on his face. He was a tall loose-limbed man in his early fifties, still quite handsome, although his hair was iron grey now.
‘Mrs Lord,’ he shook her hand warmly as she stood up. ‘Come into my office,’ he invited, seeing her seated before going behind the mahogany desk and sitting opposite her. ‘I was hoping to see you here again,’ he smiled.
Kelly played with the strap of her handbag, her hands suddenly hot and clammy. She sat on the edge of her seat, every muscle poised for flight. ‘You—you were?’ she licked her lips nervously.
‘Oh yes,’ he nodded. ‘Your husband isn’t with you?’
‘Er—no. He—he had to work.’
‘Mm, I remember he was a busy man. Still, shall we get the examination over with first, and then we can discuss things more clearly.’
Kelly suffered the examination with gritted teeth, although Paul Anderson couldn’t have been gentler, and dressed with shaking hands while he went to wash his hands.
‘Well,’ he gave a satisfied smile ‘I’m happy to diagnose that you are pregnant.’
Her breath left her in a sigh, relieved it had been confirmed, even if she had already known it to be fact.
He wrote something down in his notes, Kelly’s file open in front of him. ‘Five or six weeks, I should say,’ he murmured thoughtfully.
‘Six and a half,’ Kelly muttered.
His raised questioning blue eyes. ‘You’re that sure of the date?’
Her cheeks blazed with colour. ‘Yes.’
‘Oh well, that stops a lot of speculation. Of course, the same problems are going to apply.’
She frowned her puzzlement. ‘Problems?’
‘Yes,’ he smiled. ‘You’re going to have to be just as careful.’
‘But surely that’s only natural?’
‘I meant extra-careful, as you were before.’
‘Not careful enough, apparently,’ she recalled with some bitterness.
‘No,’ the doctor agreed gravely. ‘Perhaps this time you’ll remember that pregnant ladies, especially ones as delicate as you, do not go running about the streets,’ he told her sternly.