“Yes.” I knocked on the door. “Janelle, I’m coming in if you’re ready.”
“I’m ready.” Her voice came through the door.
I entered the room, and Girdy joined me. She’d stay during the actual examination and leave once it was finished. I had Janelle put her feet in the stirrups of the table, and I did a quick pelvic exam. There was a definite softening of the cervix, and combined with that and the home pregnancy tests she’d taken, I was sure she was pregnant.
“You can sit up.” I smiled at her, pulling off my gloves.
Girdy quietly slipped from the room as Janelle adjusted the flimsy paper gown. Her eyes glittered with worry as she watched me. “What do you think, Dr. Thornton?”
“I think you’re pregnant,” I said bluntly. “But we’ll do a blood test to confirm.”
“Oh, God,” she whimpered. “Now what am I going to do?”
“Whatever you want.” I crossed my arms. “Do you feel ready to have a child?”
She frowned. “I thought I was. Archie and I had planned on trying right away.”
“Okay. So, is your hesitation simply that you’re carrying the child of a con man?”
She winced. “You do put things succinctly, Doctor.”
I grimaced. “Sorry.”
Sighing, she said, “No, it’s better that you’re forthright. Not everyone appreciates that about you, but I do. My parents just dance around everything. That’s probably why their marriage is a nightmare.”
“Is it?”
“Oh, yes,” she murmured. “I’m sure you already knew that.”
I shrugged. “I thought your parents had a sort of understanding with each other. Your mother drank too much and slept around, and your father put up with it so long as she didn’t embarrass the family too much.”
“There you go again.” She laughed weakly. “But you’re not wrong.”
“But it’s not the same now?”
She wrinkled her brow. “They’re different lately. At each other’s throats a lot more.”
Because of what they were doing to Royce, I felt a perverse sense of satisfaction hearing they were miserable. “Do you know what’s changed?”
Janelle met my gaze, looking uneasy. “The recall election has caused a lot of strife.”
“But… they were in it together. Why would there be strife? Sheriff Callum is the one being attacked.”
“God, I know,” she said quietly. “I’m truly so sorry, Dr. Thornton. I loathe what my parents are doing. I hope you don’t blame me too.”
“Of course not.”
“Okay, good.” She slumped with relief.
“I still fail to see why the recall election is a burden for your parents. The whole thing was their idea. They have money and power on their side.”
“I don’t know what it is with them, but…” She bit her lip, looking like she wanted to continue but wasn’t sure she should.
“You can tell me anything you want. It stays between us.”
She gave me a trusting smile. “Okay. Well, I… I think the problem is Mom is different. Before, she let Dad boss her around, and she just got drunk and… you know… slept with other men. But lately, she’s not drunk as much, and I haven’t seen her hit on a young guy in ages.”
“Really?”
