Part 23 (1/2)
”Thanks,” Melanie said, her tone dry. ”I think I'll take my chances.”
In the waiting room, Melanie took a seat while Vivien signed in. Nearby two women talked idly until one of them held up a copy of the Weekly Encounter. ”Oh, my G.o.d,” she said. ”This Scarlett Leigh is really p.i.s.sing me off.”
”Tell me about it,” the other one said. ”Her rant about helicopter parents needing to get a life was the worst one yet. And that one about mothers being indentured servants went way too far.”
”Don't you wonder who's writing that c.r.a.p?”
”Yes, and if she's local she better be wearing a disguise.”
”Speaking of disguises . . .” One of them nodded toward Vivi. ”What's with her?”
Melanie and Vivien sank lower in their seats just as the nurse stepped through the door and said, ”Venus? Miss Williams?”
Everyone in the waiting area looked up. ”What are you doing?” Melanie asked through locked lips as Vivien stood.
”That's me.”
”You chose Venus Williams as an alias?” she asked as they walked through the door and followed the nurse back to the scale. ”Because it's such a common name?”
”It was the first name that popped into my head,” Vivien said as they continued down the carpeted corridor.
”And then I was just sort of stuck with it. Not that it seems to have stopped Mr. Just Peachy.”
Melanie shook her head as Vivi eyed the scale, only stepping onto it when the nurse gave her no choice.
”Please tell me that number isn't right,” Vivien groaned. ”I keep waiting for some recorded voice to shriek, *Get on one at a time.' ”
The nurse made her notation on Vivi's chart without comment and led them through to the examination room.
Melanie sat in the extra chair while Vivi got undressed, put on the cotton gown, and lay down on the examining table looking like a beached whale.
”Well, h.e.l.lo, Venus,” Dr. Gilbert said as he entered the room. ”How are you feeling?”
”Okay.” Vivi struggled up on her elbows. ”Dr. Gilbert, this is my sister.”
”So you must be Serena,” he said with a wink. ”I'd know you anywhere.”
The doctor cracked up over that one. ”Listen,” he said. ”I'm really sorry about that Just Peachy thing. I don't really understand how he tracked you here. But I've told my people that anyone who exposes confidential patient information will be out of here on the spot.”
”Thanks,” Vivi said, though she knew from personal experience that a little thing like office policy was unlikely to stop Matt Glazer any more than it had ever stopped her.
”Now then,” Dr. Gilbert said as he consulted his chart and then her stomach. ”You're right around thirty weeks. We shouldn't be too far off of that mid-April due date.”
Only a little over two months to go, Vivi thought, still unable to imagine actually giving birth. Or any of what would come afterward. ”Where are we fruitwise?” Vivi asked as he palpitated her stomach.
”Zooming in on that watermelon,” he teased. ”You've got a big'un in here.”
”Football player or cheerleader?” Melanie asked.
”Your sister said she wanted to be surprised,” Dr. Gilbert said. ”I think that was the visit where she likened her uterus to a Cracker Jack box.” He chuckled again.
”So,” he said as he helped Vivien into a sitting position. ”Tell me about your birth plan.”
”Birth plan?”
”Yes, what are you planning for the birth of your child?” he asked. ”Have you been taking Lamaze cla.s.ses? Do you have a birth partner? You need to think about whether you want to do this *naturally' or you're open to drugs. We do everything we can to do things the way you want.”
Vivien almost laughed. She'd done pretty much no planning up until now and it seemed a little late to start.
”My plan is to show up at the hospital, get an epidural, preferably in the parking lot. And then let you remove the baby from its resting place as quickly and painlessly as possible. I am not leaving pain management up to my ability to breathe.
”As to a birth partner . . .” Her voice trailed off as she looked at Melanie. ”I'm sort of hoping Serena here might be willing to help me out.”
”Of course I will,” Melanie said. ”I wouldn't miss it.”
”All right then,” Dr. Gilbert said. ”I'll see you two four weeks from now. After that we'll be in the home stretch and I'll see you every two weeks.”
After the doctor left, Vivien got dressed and shrugged into her disguise. Melanie gave her some s.h.i.+t about that as they walked toward the checkout desk.
”Melanie?”
Both of them turned as the male voice reached them. A white-coated stethoscope-wearing doctor approached with a big smile on his handsome face. ”I thought that was you. How are you?”
While Melanie blushed at the obvious delight on the doctor's face, Vivien read the name embroidered on the pocket. His name was Dr. Summers, and every bit of his attention was focused on Melanie. ”Fine,” her sister said as her hand was swallowed up in the doctor's larger one. ”Vivi, this is Dr. Summers. He delivered Shelby and Trip.”
Vivi extended her hand to the doctor, noting the salt-and-pepper hair and intelligent blue eyes that would have enabled him to play a doctor on television if he weren't already so busy being one. She looked down at their hands as they shook h.e.l.lo and noted the absence of a wedding ring. Not definitive, of course, of marital status, but promising.
”I was so sorry to hear about J.J.,” he was saying now to Melanie. ”I meant to call but I hated to intrude.”
”Thank you,” Melanie said. ”How are Barbara and the kids?”
”Good.” He hesitated. ”I mean they are good, but Barb and I aren't married anymore. We got divorced about a year ago.”
”Oh, I'm sorry,” Melanie said. ”That's too bad.” Vivien could tell just how sorry Melanie wasn't. ”Actually, it's better for everybody. It was long overdue.”
”Oh. Well, that's good then,” Melanie said, leaving the ball squarely in the doctor's court. There was a long pause while Vivien held her breath waiting to see whether Dr. Summers was as interested as he seemed.
”Maybe we should get together and, um, catch up sometime.”
Melanie had apparently been rendered speechless, so Vivien took a turn at charades, jabbing Melanie softly in the side to get her attention and then nodding her head up and down as subtly as she could. ”Oh!” Melanie said as Vivien's second jab helped her locate her voice. ”Oh! That would be, um, great.” She nodded her head vigorously. ”I'd, um, really like that.”
The head nodding continued with both Melanie and the doctor smiling somewhat inanely. When Vivien couldn't take it anymore, she withdrew a slip of paper from her purse, wrote Melanie's home and cell numbers on it, and handed it to the doctor. Then she grasped Melanie by the arm and dragged her sister down the corridor and out of the office, her trench coat flapping out behind her.
29.
THERE WAS SOMETHING about being in the final two-month countdown that made the fact of her impending motherhood impossible for Vivi to ignore. Of course, the bulging stomach and gargantuan b.r.e.a.s.t.s, along with the swelling hands and feet, were even more unavoidable reminders than the winnowing number of days on the calendar. The fact that the lethargy had returned didn't help, either. Any last vestiges of denial had been brutally ripped away by the unavoidable changes in her body.