“No, never,” Christine rushed to say. “You didn’t do anything wrong!”
Dr. Davidow seemed not to hear her, walking around his desk and opening his office door. “I’m sure my lawyer would advise me to call my malpractice carrier, right now. I’m sorry, folks, but this conversation is over.”
“So be it.” Marcus rose quickly, walking out the open door.
“Marcus? No!” Christine jumped to her feet, heartsick. She had just lost Michelle and she didn’t want to lose Dr. Davidow, too. She stopped in the threshold, where Dr. Davidow was standing. “We’re not going to sue you, Dr. Davidow.”
“I’m sorry, Christine.” Dr. Davidow edged backwards, and a tech in the hall spotted Christine and started to wave to her, then stopped.
“Dr. Davidow, please. Don’t worry. I’ll talk to him.”
“It’s best for you to go, Christine. And I don’t think you and Marcus should come back.”
Chapter Ten
Christine followed Marcus through the clinic’s waiting room, feeling the curious stares of the staff behind the counter. They must have figured out that something was wrong, especially because Christine always made a point to say good-bye before she left. A young couple waiting to be seen glanced up from their smartphones but quickly averted their eyes. It wasn’t uncommon that couples left Families First unhappy, angry, or even teary, but Christine knew they couldn’t have guessed what was going on. She followed Marcus to the exit door, which he held open for her because he had excellent manners, even if he could be a total jerk.
“My car is closer than yours,” Marcus said, closing the door behind her. “Let’s go to mine. I’ll drive you to yours.”
“Fine.” Christine barely looked at him as she went through the door, which led to a vast, glass-walled entrance hall of the east wing of Pilgrim Point General Hospital, which was the new addition, built only last year. Families and visitors crisscrossed the modern lobby, some carrying balloons and others using walkers or pushing wheelchairs. Christine and Marcus passed the circular reception desk and walked to the exit together, and she could barely wait until they were alone to start the conversation.
“What the hell?” Christine said under her breath. “What were you thinking?”
“I’d ask you the same question. What were you thinking?” Marcus looked down at her stiffly as they walked through the automatic doors, stepping outside into the warm, humid air.
A couple whom Christine recognized from the clinic passed them, and she and Marcus fell silent. The sun was turning a coppery color, low in a cloudless June sky, and out front was a fancy courtyard of Belgian block, where people stood talking in groups or waiting to be picked up. Beyond that was a large outdoor parking lot that had an area designated for Families First, and they both walked in that direction. Usually they held hands, but not today. Christine ignored an acrid cloud of cigarette smoke that wafted their way from someone lighting up on the way to his car. She was much more sensitive to smells since her pregnancy, but she was too angry to let it bother her right now.
“Marcus, you’re the one. You’ve lost your damn mind. I’m so mad at you, I don’t know where to begin.” Christine didn’t raise her voice because she wasn’t a big yeller, even when they fought. They had two ground rules: no yelling and no name-calling. That was why whenever she called Marcus a jerk or a total asshole, she had to do it in her mind.
“How? Why?” Marcus walked along, his pace quicker than usual. “Because I’m trying to get an answer to a question we have every right to know? Because I’m trying to do what’s best for us?”
“How is it best for us if you antagonize all those people who are our friends-or were our friends?”
“They’re not our friends, honey. They’re professionals we hired.”
“They’re more than that. Dr. Davidow is, for sure. So’s Michelle.” Christine felt a wrench in her chest, thinking of how Dr. Davidow’s face had fallen in his office.
“No, they’re not.” Marcus took the lead between the parked cars. “If they were our friends, they’d tell us what we have a right to know. If they were our friends, they wouldn’t withhold information that’s our information.”
“They don’t know it. Homestead knows it.”
“Then they’d find it out. They’d move mountains to find it out. That’s what a friend would do.” Marcus shook his head, as they walked. “Lauren is a friend. Lauren would pick up the phone and call Homestead. Lauren would read them the riot act. She would be outside their building, picketing, until they told you. That’s what a friend would do. They’re not acting like friends, so they’re not friends.”
“Dr. Davidow tried to get the information.” Christine spotted Marcus’s Audi two cars away. He did have a better space. He always got the best space. It drove her crazy. Today, it made her want to kill him.
“He’s not trying hard enough. I’m going to make him try harder.” Marcus’s eyes glittered with suppressed anger.
“I’m not going to sue him, Marcus.”
“Why not? Don’t you want to know who our donor is?”
“Of course I do, but not that way. My God, he practically threw us out of his office. You offended him, Marcus. You hurt him!”
“He hurt me! He hurt us. He’s hurting my family.”
“He made us a family!” Christine blurted out, but she knew it was the wrong thing to say as soon as she’d said it.
“Thanks for the reminder.” Marcus looked away, raising his chin. His jaw clenched.
“Marcus, you know I didn’t mean it that way.” Christine felt suddenly exhausted and raw, unwilling to shore up his ego any longer, not the way he was acting. “We wouldn’t be pregnant without his intervention. I’m grateful to him for that. We owe him.”
“We paid him. That’s all we owe him. You heard him, it’s his practice. He owns it. He does it for the money.”
“No he doesn’t.” Christine knew how much joy Dr. Davidow took in helping couples have children. He’d told her himself, and she had seen the sincerity shining in his eyes. Maybe she identified with him because she did her job for love, too. It was why it had hurt so much today, to walk away from the school building for the last time.
“Oh please. Davidow has more leverage with Homestead than he’s letting on. He’s one of the top REs in the country. If he stops using Homestead, word will get around.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes I do. Gary told me. This is his expertise, his field.”
“Who’s this Gary, by the way? How did you find Gary?”
“I asked Bruce. He knows the top lawyers in town, and he got me in today. Gary’s famous, you heard Davidow.” Marcus arched a light eyebrow, in a newly knowing way. “Sometimes you have to get tough, honey. We’d be suing Davidow for leverage, to force Homestead’s hand. I’m glad we have a lawyer.”
“Now we have a lawyer?” Christine rolled her eyes, and they stopped walking when they reached the Audi.
“Yes, and we need one. You know what your problem is?” Marcus chirped his car unlocked, aiming his fob like a weapon. “You want everybody to like you, and everybody does like you. You’re nice. That’s what makes you a great teacher. But this isn’t elementary school, this is big business.”
“Please don’t condescend to me,” Christine snapped, fuming.
“I’m not. But this is about dollars and cents. We have to sue and we have to sue them both. You have to hit them where it hurts, in their pockets. It’s the only way to get an answer.” Marcus opened the passenger-side door for her, but Christine didn’t move to get inside.