Their Miracle Baby

He rushed through the door of the clinic, flowers in hand, face flushed from rushing. Bernice was at the front desk, not the least bit surprised to see him. She’d known that he’d show up here eventually. If she was honest with herself, she had to admit that she couldn’t wait to tell him that Venetia was gone; it would serve him right for the way he’d treated her.

Lewis took a deep breath and approached Bernice, a little worried when he saw the look on her face. “I’m looking for Dr. Bradford. Is she here by any chance?”

“No, Dr. Zeihr, I’m sorry she’d not.” Bernice wasn’t about to make this any easier than she had to.

“Could you tell me when she’ll be back? I really need to talk to her. I need to apologize,” he said, not caring what the woman thought of him. He’d say anything to get Venetia back.

“Well, you’re probably going to want to put those in some water,” she said, gesturing to the flowers he was carrying. “They probably still won’t last six months, but…”

Lewis didn’t let her finish her sentence but interrupted. “Six months? She’s going to be gone for six months?”

“I’m afraid so. She’s somewhere in Brazil with Doctors without Borders. She left a few weeks ago. By now, she’s somewhere in the rainforest in a little village,” Bernice said, enjoying the look of panic that came over Lewis’ face as her words sunk in.

“But that can’t be right,” he said, sinking down into a chair, completely oblivious to the other people in the room who were shooting him dirty looks, since it was clear that he was the reason their favorite doctor had left.

Lewis couldn’t believe what he’d just been told. Venetia had taken off to Brazil, something she’d talked about a lot. With a sinking feeling, he realized just how much he’d suddenly expected her to give up. If someone had asked all that of him, he would have reacted the same way. No wonder she’d left him, he’d been completely selfish, only thinking of himself and what he wanted.

“It probably didn’t help that she saw you with that other woman a few weeks ago. That seemed to be what threw her over the edge,” Bernice said, pleased to see his distress. Too bad she hadn’t thought to record this.

“What? What woman?”

“You were both dressed up, obviously going out,” Bernice said, eliciting a hiss from the people in the waiting room.

“That was my sister. I took her to a benefit a few weeks ago,” Lewis said, then realized what Venetia had thought. “Did she think…Oh, no. That was only my sister.”

That fact made Bernice feel better, but it still didn’t excuse Lewis’ behavior. The man had behaved like a selfish child. He’d hurt Venetia and, as far as she was concerned, lied to her. He’d have a hard time making her feel too bad for him.

This had just gotten worse than he’d ever imagined it could, he had to fix it. He had to talk to Venetia, surely there was some way to get in contact with her. Even in those remote villages, there was always some kind of communication for the doctors.

Lewis jumped up. “I have to talk to her. How can I get a hold of her?” he said, approaching the desk again.

“I don’t know. She calls us,” Bernice said, happily telling him the truth.

“Well, where is she? You must at least know that. I’ll go find her if I have to. Yes, that’s what I’ll do, I’ll go find her. That’s better than talking to her. I have to fix this, I love her. I don’t care about anything but being with her. Baby or no baby, I want Venetia by my side,” he said, talking to himself as much as Bernice.

Bernice wasn’t quite convinced. “What?”

“I was stupid, only thinking about what I wanted. I should have given her more time, I should have listened when she talked, and I should have been more understanding. Bernice, please help me,” he said, feeling like she was his last hope.

Bernice had finally heard enough. “The best I can do is give you the name of the village where she’d stationed. But you know she could be anywhere in the area. If someone needs her in another village, she’d go,” she said, handing him a slip of paper with the name of the village on it.

Lewis looked at the paper in his hand, his only connection to Venetia for the next six months, and he felt a burst of hope for the first time in weeks. “Thank you, I can’t tell you how much this means to me. I know they weren’t for you, but please take these,” he said, shoving the flowers at her. “Someone should enjoy them, they won’t survive all the way to Brazil.” He was out the door so fast, he didn’t hear the cheer that went up in the waiting room.

Lewis soon learned that flying to Brazil and finding Venetia was going to be much harder than he’d imagined standing in the clinic waiting room. It had been no problem booking a flight to Brazil, but no one he talked to had heard of the village nor could they find it on a map. Brazil was a huge country, spanning many hundreds of miles; finding her might be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Finally, he had no choice but to schedule an appointment with Doctors without Borders, they would be able to tell him how to find her. But even there he came up against a brick wall; they refused to give him any information. The woman who he met with was nice enough but of absolute no help.

“I’m sorry, Dr. Zeihr, I just can’t release any personal information. It’s our policy; you have to understand it’s beyond my control.”

This had been Lewis’ last hope. He had nowhere else to turn. Then he was suddenly stuck by an idea. “What if I sign on for a six-month posting, can you send me where she is?”

“Well, we don’t really have enough funds to send another doctor to the village, but I might be able to find you something close,” she said, not sure if that was a good idea.

“I’ll sponsor myself, I know lots of doctors do that,” he said stubbornly.

The woman sighed, knowing when she’d been beaten. It had always been their policy to allow doctors to sponsor themselves if they wanted to get specific postings. Pulling a large envelope out of her desk, she said, “You’ll have to fill this out. It might take as much as a month to get your paper work processed. I can’t do it any faster.”

“Then I’ll have to be happy with that. Thank you, I’ll get these back to you right away,” he said, getting to his feet, a glimmer of hope forming deep in his heart.

The woman hadn’t been kidding about it taking time. Long after Lewis had made arrangements for other doctors to take what patients he still had, almost three weeks in fact, he finally got a call. He’d been approved to take a post in the same village as Venetia. As it turned out, they needed another doctor in the area.

He would still have to wait another week before leaving, but now that he knew it wouldn’t be long until he saw Venetia, he could handle a short wait. He had no idea what he would say to her or how she would react when he showed up. It had been explained to him that communication was tricky as best, there was a satellite phone, but it was used only in an emergency.

On the morning his flight was to leave, he called his sister to tell her thank you for opening his eyes. She’d laughed and made one more excellent suggestion. “If I were you, I’d have a ring in my pocket when I got there. You’re going to have to do a lot of groveling and a ring always sweetens the deal. Good luck, see you in six months, hopefully with Venetia.”

So, before he boarded his flight, he made a quick stop at his favorite jewelry store. Then, ring in his pocket, he was off to Brazil and the love of his life. Praying the entire way that she’d forgive him and take him back, his life was nothing without her in it.