Their Pregnancy Gift by Kate Hardy

Author:Kate Hardy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2017-11-23T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

ALEX CALLED HIS family doctor first thing the next morning and was relieved to get an appointment for later that day, after his shift ended.

‘So what can I do for you, Dr Morgan?’ the doctor asked.

Alex explained the situation about his biological father having recently died from Huntington’s. ‘So I’d like you to refer me for testing, please.’

‘Are you showing any symptoms of the disease?’ the doctor asked.

‘Not yet,’ Alex said grimly. Though he’d been watching himself closely.

‘Then we can offer you a pre-symptomatic predictive test. It’ll show whether you’ve inherited the faulty gene, but we can’t tell you when you’ll start to show symptoms. You’ll need to have genetic counselling before we do the test,’ the doctor said.

‘We can skip the counselling,’ Alex said, ‘because I already know I want to do the test.’

The doctor shook his head. ‘When we do testing like this, it’s always in conjunction with genetic counselling and it tends to be four appointments—one where they gather information, one with an in-depth discussion, one where they actually do the test, and one where you get the results. The whole process can take up to six months from start to finish.’

The problem was, he didn’t have six months. ‘I understand that,’ Alex said carefully, ‘but in this case I can’t wait that long because there’s a baby involved. We didn’t plan the pregnancy; and, apart from it not being fair on any of us to have to wait that long for the results, we need to know as soon as possible in case we need to do a prenatal diagnosis test for the baby. I know it takes at least two weeks between the blood test and getting the result, because you need to check the CAG repeat in the DNA, but can we at least telescope the first three appointments together?’

The doctor looked thoughtful. ‘I might be able to fast-track the counselling in this situation, but you will still need to see a counsellor.’

‘I’ll do whatever it takes,’ Alex said, ‘but I need an answer as fast as possible.’

‘From what you’ve told me, you’ve known about the situation for a while and chose not to get tested before. The first thing the counsellor’s going to ask is why.’

‘Because knowing wouldn’t make a difference,’ Alex said. ‘I can’t change my lifestyle or take any kind of treatment to stave it off, so it felt a bit pointless having a test. But my circumstances have changed now, and so has my opinion—I need to know if I’ve inherited the faulty gene, for the baby’s sake.’

‘What support do you have?’ the doctor asked.

A mother who was racked with guilt, a father who’d be there for him but Alex had a nasty feeling that it would put extra strain on his parents’ relationship, and Dani: though it wasn’t fair to burden her with his worries either. Plus he’d deliberately pushed all his friends away. Which left him isolated, by his own choice. ‘Loads,’ he lied.

‘Sometimes it

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