LOVE FOR LIFE AND BEYOND
Chapter Seventeen
Jack and Rose passed several chic boutiques
before stopping in front of a small but friendly looking doctor's office. Rose
looked at the place and nodded.
"This is it," she said, opening the
door. Jack followed behind her.
A receptionist looked up at them and asked if
they had an appointment.
"No. I’m afraid we don’t," said
Jack worriedly.
The receptionist seemed to sense his concern,
as she smiled pleasantly and asked them to sit down. "Dr. Wilkes will be
with you shortly," she said.
Rose sat down and picked up a magazine. She
flipped through it idly, more concerned about her health problems than the
latest spring fashions.
Wilkes, Wilkes, thought Rose. Why did that name seem so familiar?
Just then she heard the receptionist call.
"Yes?" asked Rose.
"Dr. Wilkes will see you now," said
the receptionist. "Come this way." She led them to a small examining
room and then departed.
A middle-aged man looked up at the young
couple and asked them to sit down. "Well, you both seem pretty healthy, so
what’s the problem?" he asked.
Jack gestured to Rose to speak. Rose took a
deep breath and began. "I’ve fainted three times in the past week or so
and I hardly ever faint," she said.
The doctor nodded. "I see. Have you been
ill recently?"
Rose shook her head. "I’m hardly ever
sick."
"Hmm. I think I had better make an
examination," he said. "Would you like your husband to stay?"
Rose nodded immediately. "Yes, of
course." She cast a glance at Jack, whose eyes seemed to tell her
everything would be all right.
The doctor examined her and ten minutes
later, straightened up with a cheerful smile.
"There’s nothing wrong. In fact, it’s
quite the opposite. You’re pregnant," he said to Rose.
Rose stood up in disbelief. "Oh, my
goodness!" she said.
She turned to Jack, who seemed to be in the
same state of shock. Then Jack threw his head back and let out a hearty whoop, grabbing
Rose and waltzing her around the room.
The doctor watched the young couple with
satisfaction. These are the rewards of being a doctor, he thought to
himself.
Jack and Rose stopped their mad fling and
asked the doctor if they needed to do anything in particular.
"No. Nothing special," he said.
"Just make sure you eat well and don’t do anything that’s very
strenuous."
Jack and Rose thanked him, but something
still lingered stubbornly in Rose's mind. She knew she had met Dr. Wilkes
somewhere before. Then it hit her. The doctor on the Carpathia!
"Dr. Wilkes, were you a passenger on the
Carpathia at the time it picked up the survivors from the Titanic
disaster?"
The doctor’s face dissolved into confusion.
"Yes...indeed I was. How did you know?" he asked.
Rose smiled. "You treated Jack and myself.
We were on the Titanic."
The doctor’s face cleared. "Yes...I
remember now. You seem to have come along quite well since the accident."
Rose smiled again. "Yes, we have,"
she said, looking at Jack, who kissed her in return.
She and Jack thanked the doctor and left the
building, happy in the knowledge that they would soon be blessed with a child.