CHAPTER14
“WHAT?” BLOOD HAMMEREDthrough my body. I couldn’t take my eyes off my phone.
A few bystanders jerked their heads around to look at me questioningly. My brain finally registered a cold, wet sensation—ice cream in my lap. I’d dropped my cone. I jumped to my feet, grabbed a few napkins and started pawing at my shorts. When I had slopped up most of the damage, I picked my phone back up and gaped at the screen again.
“IT’S A BOY! Max and I are over the moon. We can’t wait to become parents and hold our little boy in our arms. Only two months to go!”
This can’t be true. How could she possibly know the baby is a boy?
Like something in me had finally unlocked, I burst into full-on sobs, falling to my knees on the grass next to my sticky blanket as I rocked back and forth, clutching my belly.How could she do this to me? How could helether do this?
I felt a presence above me. “Miss? Are you alright?” I glanced up through swollen eyes at a middle-aged woman with salt-and-pepper hair, looking down with concern.
I sniffed, sucking air in and out of my lungs as I struggled to speak. “Yes … yes … I’m okay … I just … I’ll be okay, thank you. I just … need to go home.”
The woman helped me struggle to my feet and gather my things. “Thank you.” Then I half-ran, half-walked out of the park toward home.
I could barely see through my tears as I stumbled through the streets. After what felt like an eternity, I finally burst through the door into my apartment and collapsed at the kitchen table, my breathing ragged.This can’t be happening. There’s no way she could know this.
My head snapped up.Wait—there’s only one way she could know this: the clinic. I remembered the sonographer’s words—she’d said they would write the gender in my file, along with a note not to tell me unless I asked.
I wiped the tears from my eyes. Suddenly, I was angry,veryangry. My private medical information had been violated, my trust broken. And somehow, my doctor’s office had allowed it to happen.
Well, they were about to get an earful from me about it.
My Uber pulled up in front of the doctor’s office. I hadn’t trusted myself to drive in the state I was in, trembling with fury. I thanked the driver and slammed the door shut behind me, then took a deep breath, channeling my emotions into what I hoped was more of a cool, confident, focused rage.
I marched through the clear glass doors of the Women’s Care Clinic. My eyes immediately landed on the young nurse with straight brown hair sitting at reception. The second she spotted me, she grabbed the folders she was working on and scurried down a hallway. Another nurse standing nearby watched her run away, then shifted her gaze back to me with a politesmile. She opened her mouth as though she were about to greet me, but I didn’t give her the chance.
“Where is Dr. Quinlan?” I demanded. “I need to see her right now.”
Several others in the waiting room stopped what they were doing and looked up.
“What’s the matter, ma’am?” asked the nurse. “Are you feeling alright?”
“No, I am not. I am furious. Information about my pregnancy was given out without my consent, and I want to knowhowandwhy.” I slammed my hand down on the counter to show I meant business.
“I’m sorry—” She came closer and lowered her voice. “What do you mean, given out?”
“Somehow, my baby’s father’s girlfriend found out the gender of my baby and announced it to the whole world on social media today. I want to know how the hell she got that information!” I screamed that last part, attracting even more attention.
I noticed a door down the hallway open. Out came Tamara, the sonographer who had done my ultrasound.
“You!” I pointed at her. “You said all information about my pregnancy was private, and that no one was allowed to access it without my permission. So how the hell did Madison find out the gender of my baby?”
Tamara’s jaw fell open, but no sound came out.
“Well? How? How did she find out? Did you tell her?”
“No! We would never do that! It’s against the law!” Tamara’s hand flew to her throat.
“Well, it’s the only way she could have possibly found out. So, who told her?” I turned a few steps to the left and right, my accusatory gaze sweeping the gathered employees one by one.
Dr. Quinlan emerged from the back with a frown on her face. “Ms. Mitchell? What is going on? What is all the screaming about?”
“Someone in this clinic gave away information about my baby to someone I did not want to have it, and I want to knowwhoandwhy.” I glared at her.
Dr. Quinlan glanced around at the patients in the waiting room and those popping their heads out of exam rooms up and down the hallway, then took me by the elbow. “I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation. Let’s step into my office and discuss this calmly. Tamara, Rachel, join us, please.” She led me down the hallway to her office.
