“NO!Dad, no, I didn’t get things mixed up, I heard what I heard, straight from her mouth.I can’t be the one that breaks up a family, whether he wanted it or not – that kid deserves to have both of its parents.”
“I understand, believe me, I understand where you’re coming from.And I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do.But Ellie, I think you’re making a mistake.I can tell how much he means to you.”He hugs me and reassures me that he’s here for me and he’s on my side.
I jumped off the couch and ran to the bathroom, throwing up again.Dad followed me and brought in a glass of ice water for me to rinse and spit.I wiped my mouth and looked up at him from the bathroom floor, “Dad, I don’t feel right.Something’s wrong.”
It was the last thing I remember before waking up in a hospital bed.I looked around, not seeing Dad anywhere in the room.I was hooked up to monitors and IVs and I had to pee really bad.I found the nurse button on the remote next to me and pressed it.Almost instantly, a nurse was in my room asking what I needed.“I have to pee.”I told her and she smiled, helping me wrap the IV tubes around the wheeled stand and walking me to the bathroom.“Why am I here?”I asked her when I had finished, and we walked back to the bed.
“You were brought in this morning.Your father said you fainted and blacked out after vomiting.He said you had been through an eventful day and had been extremely upset, is that right?”
“You could say that.”I brought the blanket up to my chin, it was cold.
“Ms.Michaels, I need to go over some things with you and I need to ask you if you would like your father in here while I ask some questions.Somepersonalquestions.”She looked at me, sympathy leaking from her expression.I have no idea what kind ofpersonalquestions she has in mind but no, I didn’t want my dad in here when she asked them.
“First, can you tell me your full name?”she had her clipboard and a pen.
“Ellie Michaels.”
“And your age?”
“Sixteen, almost seventeen.”
“Ellie, are you sexually active?”My eyes shot up to her.Why does she need to know that?
“Yes?”it came out as a question.
“It’s okay, Ellie, no one is here to judge you, I promise.”She smiled and I relaxed a bit.“When was the date of your last menstrual period, if you know.”
I thought about that for a minute, “My last regular period was May 15th.”I told her.“But I was on vacation and just assumed that things got thrown off because I changed my routine.I had some spotting last week and assumed that was my period coming late.I hadn’t really thought about it.”
“Are you usually very regular?”She asked.
“Yes, every month.But like I said, I was on vacation the whole summer, it just got messed up.”
“Mmmhmm.”She wrote something down on her clipboard, then she pulled out a circle chart thing and wrote some more on her clipboard.“I’ll just be right back, Ellie, give me a second.”She walked into the bathroom and came back out holding a stick.“Yes, that’s pretty positive, I’d say.”She tossed the stick into the trash can and walked back over to me, placing her hand on mine.“Ellie, I don’t want to alarm you, but I need to tell you something, okay?”she squeezed my hand.
“Okay.”I said slowly, “What is it, what was positive?”I asked.
“That was a pregnancy test, Ellie.It was positive, you’re going to have a baby.”
“I’m … wait and I’m what?”I shook my head.“Are you sure that was my test?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“But.Oh my God.”The realization just slapped me in the face that I slept with Lee and … him.“If —if there were two people that I slept with, is there a way to know?”I almost couldn’t get it out.
She was caught off guard with that question, I could tell.“I – we can run paternity tests when the baby is born to confirm who the father is, yes.Unless you know the dates of when you slept with both of them?”
“I do.I do.”I nodded my head quickly because Ihaveto know if there’s any chance that Lee is the father of my baby.“One of them was um multiple times between June and three nights ago.The other was just once, two nights ago.”
It felt like something was stuck in my throat and she offered me a cup of water.After I sipped it and handed the cup back to her, she smiled calmly and very reassuringly.
“I think we can safely say that the young man you slept with multiple times is indeed the father of your baby.”
I sucked in a breath.“Are you sure?”
“Pretty sure, yes.We’ll do an ultrasound to get a better estimate but from the date of your last period, that makes you roughly twelve weeks along.A one-night stand from two nights ago would not have resulted in your current pregnancy.”
“Oh my God.”I’m relieved and almost happy, but then that realization hits me again and I see Maggie’s face in my mind.“I’m … and she’s … I think I need to throw up.”
