Chapter 16.

Megan slipped into the plain hospital gown. She wrapped up her clothes in her bag and hung the bag on the overhead rack.

She went out of the changing area and following the doctor's earlier instructions, lay down on the bed. She was surprised to discover she was slightly trembling and for a brief moment, she regretted her decision to come by herself.

Just that morning, her mother had insisted on going with her but Megan had refused, not wanting her mother's dramatics to cloud the whole thing. Anthony had also called the night before, insisting to pick her up "just as a friend" but she had resisted adamantly.

It wasn't that she didn't need the shoulder to lean on but she just wasn't sure who's shoulder she should be leaning on. The missing memories were messing her up so bad that now, she was about to meet her baby all by herself.

Dr Louis reappeared through the door, wearing a smile that can only be described as soft. She was a strongly built woman with a pretty face and hair packed up in a neat bun.
"Does your bladder feel full now?"

Megan nodded. Earlier, she had been given a large bottle of water to drink.

"Great. That means you are ready for your sonogram. "

She put on her white jacket and gloves and was humming a tune that helped Megan relax. She appeared by the bed and lowered it and then sat on the chair and put on the ultrasound machine. The screen came on and Megan trembled a little more.

"Relax. There's no need to be nervous. Since this is an early ultrasound, there's really nothing to be nervous about. It's just routine to make sure there's really a baby in there."

Megan gave her a small smile, unable to form words. She hadn't considered the possibility of a false pregnancy before.

Dr Louis spread a blanket over Megan's lower body and raised her gown, spreading a cold gel over her abdomen. Then she grabbed the transducer and slowly began to take it around Megan's abdomen, peering at the screen.

"Why didn't you come with anyone?" Dr Louis asked Megan in a near whisper.

To Megan's surprise, tears sprang up in her eyes and she was embarrassed. Nothing about the question had warranted her tears.

"I am so sorry, it must be the hormones that are causing these stupid tears."

"It's fine. Just relax, we don't want to alarm the baby."

The doctor kept moving the transducer and Megan's bladder felt so uncomfortable. After what seemed like ages but was in reality, only about eighteen minutes, the doctor gave a sweet soft sigh.

"Oh, there's our little one."

Megan looked to the screen and found herself transfixed. She honestly couldn't make sense of anything but she knew that it was her baby she was looking at and that made her heart beat hard in her chest.

She couldn't believe she had really been carrying a life inside her for more than ten weeks now. It doesn't even make sense.

She didn't know she had said that out loud until the Dr smiled and replied "It never does at this stage. While I can make out the head and the arms, your baby still looks very fuzzy from our view. When you come back for your 20th-week scan, it will all come together. "


Later, Megan sat on the chair facing the doctor in her office. The doctor also mentioned that it was still too early to tell the gender of the baby.

"I am worried about you Megan. Your mother told me everything and how you have been avoiding the issue."

Megan felt a little irritation towards her mother but quickly swallowed it down, knowing that she meant well.

"I am fine Dr Louis. It just took me a while to be, but I am now."

"I am glad. For as long as your child is in your womb, you have to remember you share the same health, even more so your mental health and you need to take very good care of it."

Megan nodded her head, taking the doctor's words to heart. Now that she had an ultrasound picture of her baby, her responsibility to the child felt even more real than it did before.

"About your memories, you have a CT scan with Dr Walters in neurosurgery. I ordinarily wouldn't recommend a CT for an expectant mother but it's safe since it's not an abdominal one. It's just to check once more to see if everything is fine with your brain waves."

Megan thanked the doctor, assuring her once more that she would be careful and not handle the pregnancy alone.


At neurosurgery, Dr Walters ends up being a short and bald man with loud and hearty laughter. He looked a lot like a character from a child's book and that immediately made Megan feel calm.

He repeated Dr Louis fears about the CT scan but mentioned that they had discussed it out and would prefer that to an MRI scan. Megan gave her approval for the scan.



After another two hours, a very tired and hungry Megan was told by Dr Walters that she was completely fine.

"From the CT scan, your brain is very fine. There's no particular reason for your memories to still be missing."

"Then why are my memories still missing? Shouldn't there be something I can take for it?"

"The brain is a tricky organ and I like to say it has a mind of its own. There's nothing I or any other doctor can recommend to you. Instead, take care of yourself and the baby. Your memories will come seeking you."

As if she hadn't heard that before. That was the same medical rubbish she had heard about eight weeks ago and she was tired. Where was the advancement in science now?

She however thanked Dr Walkers and left the hospital, feeling more dejected than she had arrived. She decided to grab a quick meal at a restaurant she knew was close by to the hospital. She had eaten there once with one of her work colleagues, Sarah, and the crusted Mac n Cheese with chips had been so good.


As she walked on the sidewalk with her mind still preoccupied with the rejecting news of her memory, she ran into someone and was about muttering her apologies when she looked up into the face of her former boss, Greg.

"Megan?"
"Greg."
"I can't believe it's you. What? Are you so depressed about your unemployment that you now run into people randomly on the streets?"

Megan got so angry that she couldn't control her tongue. "You know what, Greg. I'm not up for your shit and I don't have to take it either. I no longer work for your arrogant little ass and I sure as hell don't have to deal with your over the top highhandedness and rude attitude. You fired me because of your barbie of a girlfriend and you both deserve each other and very soon, you won't have a single employee left to help you with your piece of shit company."

Greg looks stunned.
He scoffed.
"Look at you acting so bold. So you think you can now run your mouth just because you are dating a millionaire?"

Megan got confused, not sure what he was saying. "Me? Dating a millionaire?"

"Oh, come on. Don't pretend now. I saw you with Roman Harrington, that hotshot CEO barely days before you came for work. You were acting all lovey-dovey at a restaurant."

"Barely days before I came into the company?"

"Why do you keep sounding like a broken record? Just before you got fired. I knew you got arrogant at work because you had him on your side."

While Megan couldn't remember the occasion, his statements pissed her off further.

"You are a terrible boss if you define all my years of working for you by that one moment. And guess what, Greg? You are wrong. I have a job. I am a successful manager at my workplace and I will take this job ten times before yours."

With that, she walked out on him, leaving him staring after her. As she had lunch, she realised he hadn't noticed she was pregnant and was grateful for the trench coat she had worn over her dress to the hospital. And for some reason, Sarah seemed to have not told anyone about her missing memories and that made her grateful. She couldn't imagine what Greg would have said if he knew.

But now, she couldn't stop wondering about what Greg had said and kept trying to piece the dates together. If what Greg said was true, and he had no reason to lie, then something was truly amiss.

How could there be a spark like Anthony claimed if she had been lovey-dovey with Roman? Although she could barely picture herself and Roman together, it was obvious that they had truly had something going on so what was really the truth?



*******
Anthony opened the package and stared at the figurine Megan had sent him. It was a beautiful piece that he definitely would have gotten if he had found it himself.

He was glad she remembered something he had told her in passing, it meant she wasn't as uninterested in him as she claimed. She had to feel something for him to have gotten this and he just had to find a way to show her that. He was willing to do whatever it takes.

He was still angry that she hadn't let him go with her to the doctor's appointment and he wondered if she would have said no had it been Roman.

He didn't get her stubbornness and he no longer found it cute. Why wouldn't she just see his efforts? At the same time, he worried about what was happening there.

Had she seen the doctor? Had she found out anything new? What if she had? What did that mean for him?

Shutting off all the noise in his head, he went to the fridge and grabbed a chilled can of beer.