Chapter 509: Nothing Must Happen To You
Michael knew that Wendy had gotten out of bed and had gone out to the balcony.
But he pretended to be asleep and did not follow her out. He knew that Wendy needed time alone to calm down and sort out her thoughts. So Michael gave her the time and space she wanted.
Standing alone on the balcony at night, feeling the cold wind blowing over her, Wendy stared far away. Lights shimmered under the night sky. There were very few cars at that hour. It felt a little lonely and deserted.
Wendy started caressing her tummy subconsciously. Her mind was replaying the nightmare she just had. She realized that she could not bring herself to accept a baby under such circumstances.
She stood out there on the balcony alone for a long time, so long that she started shivering. Only then did she return to her room. Wendy climbed back into bed as quietly as she could. Then, she snuggled back into Michael’s arms and held his waist tight. She closed her eyes and shifted herself till she found a comfortable spot.
The next day, Wendy woke up early. She looked at the clock. It was only six in the morning. Dawn was breaking and the sky outside the window was turning light.
Wendy continued lying in bed, just waiting for time to pass.
"Are you awake?" Michael had felt Wendy’s body moving and he opened his eyes to look at her. Michael had not slept a wink the entire night. He was aware of all her movements the night before. Whether it was her going out to the balcony, or her reaching over to hold him, or how many times she had turned in bed, Michael knew.
However, he had kept his eyes shut because he wanted to give Wendy some peace.
"You’re awake too?" Wendy saw that Michael was awake. She smiled and sat up.
"Yeah." Michael sat up with Wendy. He leaned over and kissed her forehead. "I’ll make you some breakfast. What would you like to have?" he asked gently.
"I’ll come with you. I can’t go back to sleep anyway," said Wendy.
"Okay," Michael nodded in agreement. The two of them got dressed together.
This was not the first time Wendy and Michael had made breakfast together in the kitchen. They split the work and were busy with their tasks. The kitchen had a beautiful and quiet air about it.
After a while, Wendy broke the silence. "Michael, I would like to talk to you about the baby."
Michael paused when he heard what Wendy said. "Okay," he said gently as if it were nothing.
"I..." Wendy hesitated and bit her lip. After mustering her courage, she continued, "I don’t want this baby."
This was a decision that Michael had expected.
"You said yesterday that you will support whatever decision I make," Wendy said.
She thought Michael was silent because he disagreed.
After she had returned from the balcony, she had not slept at all but had continued thinking about the baby. She knew that Michael might have been the father of this baby. But she was unable to accept the other possibility, no matter how small it was.Wendy continued, "I know that we can do a paternity test soon, but each day this baby stays in me means another day of our bond deepening. Yet this bond isn’t purely the love a mother has for her baby. It’s also mixed with fear. I’m scared that after a few more days, I’d not be able to part with this baby. I’m afraid to drag this out, so I don’t want to keep this baby."
...
Ever since Wendy knew about the possibility of her being pregnant, she had already thought of not keeping the baby. Now that she had confirmed she was indeed pregnant, she felt fearful and helpless.
"Okay," Michael gave a one-word reply without saying anything more.
"You agree?" Wendy was still thinking of ways to convince Michael.
Michael put down the knife in his hand and turned to face Wendy. "I said before that I will support whatever decision you make. Whether you decide to keep the baby or not, I will always support you."
"Thank you, Michael," Wendy thanked him from the bottom of her heart.
Michael smoothed Wendy’s hair and then held her in his arms. He knew that Wendy was the one who was hurting the most from her decision. After all, the baby was growing inside her. She would feel the loss of this child the most.
The nightmare Wendy had last night had also caused Michael to become a little afraid.
He was afraid that the baby would turn out to be fathered by Clement, and he was even more afraid that Wendy would not be able to handle that.
He knew that Clement had caused a lot of trauma to Wendy, so even if it were a one in a million chance that the baby was Clement’s, she would not be able to accept it.
"I’ll go with you to the hospital after breakfast," said Michael.
"Okay," Wendy nodded her head.
They had made a magnificently scrumptious breakfast together. Leah had woken up.
She became very excited when she saw the spread on the table.
On the other hand, Jake could tell that something serious was happening.
After they had their breakfast, Zess sent the two children off to school while Michael went to the hospital with Wendy.
No one else was allowed to know about Wendy not keeping the baby. So Michael had asked Milo for help to find the best doctor and also to make sure that the news will not be leaked.
Before the procedure, Wendy had to undergo a series of tests. Michael waited outside the examination room.
Milo sensed that something was not quite right and sat down with Michael outside the examination room. "What’s going on?" he asked out of concern for his friend.
"You’re not keeping this baby?"
Michael lowered his head, unable to look at Milo. "It’s enough that we have Leah and Jake," he explained simply with a faint smile.
"What..." Based on what Milo understood, Michael had always loved children.
Besides, Michael was so anxious and worried about Wendy, and was rather delighted when he found out she was pregnant. Why would he change his mind and not want the baby overnight?
"Is it because Wendy doesn’t want it?" Milo asked again.
"We don’t want it." Michael sucked in his breath. He did not feel like explaining what happened and kept quiet.
Milo was a sharp man. He could tell that Michael and Wendy had reasons that they did not want others to know.
Milo stopped pressing.
He patted Michael’s shoulder and sighed. He looked like he was trying to comfort Michael.
Very soon, Wendy came out of the examination room. The doctor said with a frown on his face. "I think you should all come into my office," he said.
The three of them entered the doctor’s office together.
The doctor looked at the results of the checkup on his computer screen with a grim look on his face. "Are you sure you really don’t want to keep this baby?" he asked again.
Wendy hesitated before nodding, "Yes." Since she had already made up her mind, she was not going to change it.
"Let me explain before you make your decision," the doctor said.
When they heard the doctor’s words, Wendy and Michael exchanged looks, both with frowns on their faces.
...
The doctor said genuinely sternly, "From the test results, it’s already a surprise that Mrs. Lucas is able to get pregnant again."
Wendy’s body had weakened considerably after giving birth to the twins some years back. She had not paid much attention to her health, so she never got better.
"If the decision is to carry on with the surgery, there will be risks involved," the doctor continued. Statistically, when the fetus is very small like it is at this point, the risks should be lower. But because the walls of her womb are very thin, it’s very likely that she’d lose a lot of blood during the surgery. This could endanger her life."
Michael and Wendy did not like the sound of it. The fact that this procedure could endanger Wendy’s life hit them like a sledge hammer. Michael’s initial reaction was that it could not be done. He immediately said, "No, we’re not doing it."
To him, Wendy was the most important. It didn’t matter who fathered the child with her.
"How big is this risk?" Wendy hesitated for a while before asking the doctor.
"Your womb is weaker than an average woman’s. I’m not confident of my risk assessment, but I’d hazard a guess of around 50% risk of complications," the doctor answered truthfully. "If you choose not to go ahead with the abortion, you’ll have to put in extra care and effort to carry this child to term. Regular checkups and following doctor’s orders should do the trick. Considering this, it might be safer to keep this child than to go ahead with the abortion."
Wendy felt a little hopeless upon hearing the doctor’s assessment. She fidgeted slightly as she gripped the hem of her clothes. She had agonized over whether to keep this child the entire night. When she finally came to the decision of going ahead with the abortion, she was told that the risks involved were high.
"Wendy, let’s not do this," Michael persuaded Wendy as he studied her expression.
"But..." Wendy blinked and she started to cry. She reached up to wipe her face but the tears continued falling uncontrollably.
Michael was extremely heartbroken. He reached out to hug her and said, "Nothing must happen to you. I just want you to be safe."
Milo Lawrence got increasingly doubtful about how to handle the situation. But he helped Michael persuade Wendy anyway. "Auntie Wendy, it’s okay to give birth to another child. Since your body can’t take the risks of the surgery, don’t do it.
Another child is pretty good too, little Leah and little Jake can have another little brother or sister to play with. Here at this hospital, we have the best medical resources in the country, and Professor Lee is the leading expert in gynecology. If you do come for regular checkups and follow doctor’s orders, you and your child would definitely be safe."
He then looked at Michael and his voice deliberately took on an accusatory tone, "Michael, you’ll have to pay more attention to Auntie Wendy in future. You mustn’t do as you wish just for your own sake. Auntie Wendy would really be putting her life on the line just to bear you another child. I won’t take it lying down if you dare treat her poorly again in future."
Although Milo did not know what happened and why Wendy wanted to go ahead with the abortion, he could see that Michael did not wish for Wendy to go ahead with it. It was after all life threatening.
But Michael and Wendy paid no heed to Milo. They were too preoccupied with the matter at hand.
With no one listening to him after he had finished speaking, Milo felt a little awkward and coughed lightly.
