“Feel like a game of chess?” Valerie asked, closing her medical books.
“Sure.” I hadn’t played a game with her since we came back from Colorado and now that both Naomi and I were back in what Valerie dubbed healthy-land, I figured I could go without a night of aimless television and I turned it off.
She retrieved the beautiful carved chess set I had given her for her birthday and sat down on the couch next to me. I took the black marble pieces and set them up opposite her light set. I caught her glancing toward the hallway and cocked my head, sending her a silent question. She shook her head and tapped her watch.
“What’s up?”
“Not yet,” she whispered and picked up the remote for the stereo, turning it on low.
“Okay,” I said and nodded toward the board. “It’s your move.”
She smirked and dropped her gaze to the board. For the first time since we got back, I took a moment to study her. The resemblance to Michael came through in the thick, wavy hair and the perfectly proportioned facial features, both qualities that also resonated in my wife, but unlike Naomi, Valerie didn’t have a hint of Native American in her complexion or raven-black hair.
She made her first move and leaned back into the cushions, meeting my gaze.
“Are you checking me out?”
I chuckled and glanced at the chessboard. “I never noticed just how much you look like Naomi,” I said and countered her move without much thought.
A dimple appeared in her cheek and she pressed her lips into a tight smile.
I crossed my arms and leaned back, challenging her to say what was behind that look. When she said nothing, I smiled. “Wasn’t it a couple of months ago that you were checking me out?”
“So you were checking me out.” Her arms tightened across her chest, closing me off with non-verbal cues.
“No, I was studying you a little closer, noticing similarities and differences between you and Naomi. At least I was looking at your face and not your ass.” I had to add that last point, especially after her not so subtle check of my backside when we first came here.
A rose hue bloomed in each of her cheeks and she looked away. Instead of dignifying me with an answer, she concentrated on the chessboard. After a few moments, a knight moved and she glanced at me expectantly.
“What did you want to talk to me about,” I said, lowering my voice to barely a whisper before focusing on the game in front of me. I sat staring at the chessboard, contemplating my next move when Valerie cleared her throat. Reaching out, I moved one of my rooks and then focused back on her.
“I ran a couple of tests,” she said, shifting on the seat like she suddenly couldn’t find a comfortable position.
“Naomi said you made her do a couple of pregnancy tests.”
When she met my gaze and tilted her head in that puppy dog way, it made my blood freeze in my veins. Valerie wasn’t talking about the pregnancy tests.
“What?” I hissed.
“Besides coming back as undoubtedly pregnant, the results showed a very high level of glucose.”
I shrugged. I had no idea what that meant, but based on the concern written in the crease between her eyes, I knew it couldn’t be good.
“I need her to get tested for diabetes.”
The answer didn’t strike the kinds of alarms it would have if the word had been cancer or something equally as deadly.
“Okay,” I said, stretching the word out.
“Damian, diabetes could kill both her and the child if left unchecked.”
She now had my full attention and a cold dread blanketed me. I tried to swallow, but my mouth had gone dry. Instead of speaking, I nodded for her to go on.
“Whether it’s gestational diabetes, or regular diabetes, there could be complications with the pregnancy. Serious complications.”
I blinked. “You are telling me Naomi could die?”
“Yes, if she does have diabetes, there is a much higher chance of... issues.”
“Issues?”
“Short term, long term, there’s a wide range of problems that can occur for both her and the baby,” she said.
The lack of full disclosure started to grate on my nerves. “Tell me the range,” I demanded, leaning my elbows on my knees and just staring at the floor as she went from the least severe consequences of having to watch her diet for the rest of her life, to the most catastrophic, which made my eyelids draw closed and my head dip against the pressure.
I swallowed and tried to ask the question twice before my voice would pass over the sudden block in my throat. “Are you telling me we might have to make a choice between her and the baby?”