I opened my eyes and watched Daniel.s.
Your father whispered.
My son took a step back.
Do you want to?
“The secret has something to do with your father. But not in the way you think.
The doctor looked at us one at a time.
“Mrs. Margaret, before we talk about the past, we need to clarify something. We don’t have a pregnancy confirmation. Ultrasound shows a very large abdominal formation with an unusual appearance. We need a CT exam and additional analysis.
Daniel sat next to me.
“Mom, what does my father have to do with all this?”
I felt I couldn’t put off the truth anymore.
“three days before he died, your father took me to a private medical office in Bucharest.
Daniel frowned upon himself.
Why?
“Because he wanted us to have another child.
My son was left with his mouth ajar.
Sixty-eight years old?
I’ve
gone out of my head.
Robert always wanted a large family. After the children had grown up and left home, loneliness weighed more than he recognized.
In recent years he began to talk about modern medical procedures, assisted fertilization, and women who had become mothers in old age.
I always told him that we already have a beautiful family.
But he was still looking for information.
Three days before he died, he was convinced of me to go to a consultation.
The doctor had explained that a pregnancy at my age would involve extraordinary medical risks and that he did not recommend such a procedure.
I hadn’t started any treatment.
Then Robert had a heart attack and died.
I’d never talked to anyone about that visit.
Why did you hide this from us? Daniel asked me.
Because I was ashamed. I was afraid you’d think we’d lose our minds.
The
doctor intervened gently.
“I understand why this memory disturbs you. But the consultation of twelve years ago cannot explain for itself what we see today. We need to know what the party is.
That afternoon I did the tomography.
Daniel stayed beside me, holding my hand in the waiting room.
When the doctor came back with the results, his expression was serious.
Mrs. Margaret, you are not pregnant.
I felt such a great relief that I almost started laughing.
But the doctor continued:
— You have a very voluminous cystic formation that seems to start from the right ovary area. Contains a large amount of liquid and presses on the surrounding organs.
