I stared at him.
“Why?”
He said nothing.
The doctor slowly closed the file.
“This is something your wife needs to know.”
Michael’s face went pale.
My heart started pounding.
I looked from him to the doctor.
“Please,” I whispered. “Tell me.”
She removed her glasses, looked directly at me, and asked,
“Did he ever tell you the doctors said he could never have children?”
I slowly turned toward my husband.
And the look on his face told me he already knew exactly what she was talking about.
My face went pale.
For a few seconds, I could not speak.
Michael was sitting beside me, but he suddenly looked like a stranger.
“What does she mean?” I asked.
He stared at the floor.
The doctor glanced between us.
“Michael?”
He rubbed both hands over his face.
“I was told something years ago,” he said quietly.
“What?”
“That I probably couldn’t have children.”
My chest tightened.
“Probably?”
The doctor turned the monitor slightly toward us.
“That is the problem,” she said. “The record I’m looking at does not say probably. It says the patient was diagnosed with a condition that made natural conception extremely unlikely.”
