After it Happened Boxset: 1-6 Omnibus Edition by Devon C. Ford

Author:Devon C. Ford [C. Ford, Devon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Vulpine Press
Published: 2019-07-17T22:00:00+00:00

THE COMMON DENOMINATOR

Marie’s revelation prompted mixed feelings in Dan. He was utterly overjoyed at the knowledge that she was pregnant, and in the same second terrified that she would die. He felt utterly distraught that their baby would never live.

Being the well-adjusted and emotionally open man that he was, his fear and concern presented themselves as an impotent anger.

This did not impress Marie.

He tried to comfort her, to wrap her up in his arms and recite false platitudes like “it’s going to be OK”, but he couldn’t force himself to lie convincingly. Even for her.

He found himself avoiding her, furthering the distance they felt growing between them. He had to do something. Every problem had at least one solution, and if something couldn’t be immediately fixed with action, then he had no idea what to do or where to even start.

He stalked from room to room, looking for some useful activity or distraction to present itself. He found Kate sitting with Sera in the lounge and stopped. He wanted to confide in Kate, but Sera always mocked him and provoked arguments; he knew it was just their personalities clashing, but he couldn’t deal with that right now.

He mumbled to Kate, asking for a word. A scathing look was fired at him from Sera, and the two disentangled themselves as Kate rose. She walked with him outside, waiting patiently as he directed Ash off to search the bushes and lit himself a cigarette.

“Marie’s pregnant,” he said finally.

No look of joy washed over her face as such revelations usually prompted. The memory of delivering stillborn babies and fighting frantically to save the lives of their mothers was still a raw nerve for her. She knew what the news meant better than most.

“Before you say it was irresponsible, it happened before we knew about the problems. She reckons she’s about five weeks gone,” he said, looking at the floor and feeling utterly to blame for putting her life in danger.

“We’ll do everything we can for her,” Kate replied, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder and feeling his pain for the impending loss.

“Everything,” Dan said with a mirthless smile. “What more can be done than to just try and keep her alive? An abortion?”

He felt instantly wretched for saying it out loud, but he couldn’t help thinking that it was early enough for her to take something and stay alive at the cost of their baby. He stopped and screwed his face up to try and keep the fear and grief locked inside.

Kate surprised him then, wrapping him up in a big hug while telling him it was going to be OK. He wanted to believe her. He almost did. How was it so easy for some people to comfort others, but his attempts just made them angry?

“We’ll look at this again from scratch. Go over all the medical histories and find something,” she said as she let him go.

He mumbled his thanks as she turned and walked back to the house. He stayed outside, letting the late summer morning warm his body.

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