Fractured (Lucian & Lia #2)(39)
We are both laughing over his comment when the door opens and someone I presume is the doctor steps in. She appears to be in her fifties, with shoulder-length brown hair, heavily tinged with gray. I like her immediately when she puts her hands on her hips and looks at Lucian with a resigned huff. “What are you doing in here with my patient, Lucian Quinn?”
He grins in return, looking a tad sheepish. “We’re together,” he says, taking my hand. “I’m Lia’s boyfriend.”
She takes his sleeve and starts ushering him toward the door. “I don’t care if you’re her God, you’ll have to go back to the waiting area. I have to adhere to all of these privacy policies they have floating around now.” I almost laugh when I see him holding onto the doorframe, clearly torn about leaving. Dr. Kay gives him a reassuring pat on the shoulder, saying, “I’ll take care of her, Luc.” He reluctantly walks out into the hallway and she shuts the door behind him. She turns back to me, shaking her head. “I swear that boy is just as stubborn today as he was when he was a child.”
I smile in answer, feeling myself relax. I’m secretly glad she made Lucian leave the room, although I hope Laurie has already gone. “So, you knew the boy before the man?” I ask, dying of curiosity. I wonder if she knew Lucian’s parents before they passed away.
She walks to the sink to wash her hands, looking back over her shoulder as she says, “Oh, yes, his mother and I were childhood friends. I still miss her,” she adds quietly, seeming lost in thought for a moment. As she dries her hands, she looks me over before sitting on a stool next to the exam table. “Luc told me what happened to you when he called to make your appointment. I’m very sorry that you had to endure something like that, Lia.”
I feel my eyes well up at her kindness. I feel the crazy urge to lay my head on her shoulder and soak up all the comfort I know I would find there. My emotions, it seems, are still all over the place. Instead, I manage to get out a shaky, “Thank you.”
She reaches over to pat my hand before opening a file. “Luc had a copy of your chart sent to me from the hospital.” She digs a pair of glasses from her jacket pocket and glances through the papers the folder contains. “I know I need to use that fancy iPad for all of this, but I still love to flip through pages.” Raising her brow, she whispers, “Plus, I’ve already broken one of the things by dropping it a dozen times.” I laugh in response, relieved that I’ve recovered from the threatened crying jag of a few moments ago. “All right, Lia, let’s look at your nose first.”
Gently, she removes the bandages and the splint from my nasal area, throwing them into the trashcan behind her. She gently probes my nose, causing me to wince, as the area is still tender. When she pulls back, I look up and ask, “Has it healed?”
She nods, saying, “It looks good. There is some remaining swelling, and as you noticed, it’s still tender. You may end up with a small bump on the ridge of it, but it’s too early to tell. Just let me know if you have any issues with severe congestion. As for your wrist and fingers, you’re a few weeks away from removing the cast. I’ll have the girls out front schedule another appointment for that.”
“Okay,” I say disappointed. I had hoped to get rid of it all today, but at least my nose is free now.
She drops back on her stool and studies me for a moment. “How are the contusions on your body healing?”
“They’re mostly fading now.” I hope she won’t press me on seeing for herself. That’s still not something I want others looking at, even if the evidence is almost gone now.
She nods, seeming satisfied with my answer. She looks in my folder again, asking, “Are you having any headaches, even minor?”
“Just a bit the first few days I was home but nothing since then.”
She makes a note in my chart. “Good. I’ll want to schedule one more CT scan just to make sure all of the swelling in your brain has subsided. According to your chart, it was almost normal when the hospital released you. Are you still taking the pain pills you were prescribed?”
“No,” I wrinkle my nose, thinking about how bad the pills made me feel. “I really haven’t needed anything, even Tylenol, in days.”
“And the only medication you’re currently taking is birth control pills?”
“Yes,” I say automatically before I freeze. My breath wheezes from my lungs, and I feel dizzy with shock. “No! Oh, dear Lord, I haven’t taken them since…” I’m in complete panic mode now, unable to believe that something I’ve done for so long has completely slipped my mind for not just days, but weeks.
“Lia.” She pats my knee reassuringly. “It’s perfectly understandable that you would forget that with everything that has happened. Have you had sexual relations since you left the hospital?”
I squeeze my eyes shut, unable to believe this is happening. “Yes, daily…for four or five days,” I admit haltingly. Sometimes more than once a day, but I don’t add that part. Why, oh why couldn’t we have waited to have sex until I had seen the doctor?
She still looks calm, even in the face of my obvious distress. “Do you know where you are in your cycle?”
“I have no idea,” I say, wracking my brain. “I don’t have a period very often since I went on the birth control pills, so I haven’t been keeping up with it. I’ve never had a reason to.” She probably assumes I said that because I’ve always been careful when in reality, other than once, I never had sex before I met Lucian. “I’ll take one as soon as I get home.”