"What?" Sarina looks confused and suddenly scared.
I'm frozen just staring dumbly at the woman. She had said there was a faint heartbeat.
The technician see's this and raises her free hand, "Oh gosh sorry. No, I detected the heartbeat but they seem to be hiding behind their sibling. I'm just trying to find them to get a better read on their heartbeat." She takes a deep breath, "I'm so so sorry. I'm not even supposed to say anything until the doctor comes in. Do they normally do this?"
Sarina gives a light chuckle, "We only found out about THEM a month ago."
"Oh okay, do you mind if I do a request for a vaginal ultrasound than? I'll be able to see them both better and I'll be extremely careful. I just need to have it approved first. I do have to warn you though, you could experience some pain and some bleeding."
We both exchange a look and nod for her to go ahead. We both now wanted to make sure the other was alright. She makes the phone call and after a little back and forth she hangs up.
"The doctor is on her way. She wants to be here for the examination." She gives us a tight smile as we give her our nods of comprehension. We wait in tense silence as the nurse fills out some information into the system as a knock is heard at the door before it's opened slightly.
A woman comes in and takes a quick glance at the chart and asks Sarina, "So you were assaulted?" The doctor gives me the side eye which Sarina immediately takes offense to.
"Yes, I was and not by my husband." She says firmly. "I took a hit to my face, broke the guys nose, was pulled to the ground and put the bastard into an arm bar. We just want to make sure my jaw is okay and our babies are okay since I did hit the ground."
The doctor raises her brow, "I didn't say anything."
"You didn't have to, your face did." She bites back and I try to calm her.
"She is just doing her job. You need to understand that domestic violence is something they see more often than not. It's okay baby. I can handle it." I reassure her.
"My apologies, but your husband is correct. So let's see what the problem is..." She turns to the technician who informs her that one of the twins is hiding and we can't get a good lock on the heartbeat or a visual. "Alright then, let's get you in a gown and do this really quick."
A few minutes later we're looking at the screen and seeing two healthy heartbeats. Sarina starts to tear up and I wrap an arm around her, "It's okay baby. Everything is okay. They're fine." I reassure her.
"I know, I was just really worried for a minute." She wraps an arm around me as the doctor hands the wand back to the technician and signs off on paperwork. The technician allows Sarina to get dressed before leading us back to a different room. We wait until another doctor comes in and takes a look at Sarina's jaw.
"You're going to feel some pain for at least a week, but we didn't find any fractures in your jaw. All I can offer you is ice packs to help with the swelling and you can take a low dosage of acetaminophen if you need something for the pain. I do need to advise you though to only take it when absolutely necessary. The less you take the better for your babies." The doctor sighs and fills out some paperwork, "I'm going to suggest you take it easy though for the next week at least. I'm sure your OB/GYN has informed you of the complications that can arise from carrying twins so I won't bore you with that. I highly suggest you take it easy though. Do you work?" The doctor asks.
"I do." Sarina responds.
"I would let your work know that here very soon, you will be needing to take your maternity leave. I also suggest you buy a maternity harness to help your back. My wife had twins and it helps make a difference." The doctor smiles at her. "Congratulations to you both. " He turns to me and holds out his hand, "Dr. Huller, I had heard you got married."
I take the doctors hand and look at his name tag, recognizing the name, Burst, but not sure where from.
"I'm sorry, you'll have to jog my memory. Have we met?" I admit.
He chuckles lightly, "Only once. You were my wife's therapist about ten years ago. Her name was still Williams at that time."
I think back and know of only one Williams I saw when my office had only been open a year.
"Katy?!" I say in recognition. "Katy Williams, that's right! Her last session you came and picked her up. How is she doing?"
Doctor Burst smiles warmly, "She's doing great. Has her hands full with our two little ones, they're toddlers right now. I've really been wanting to say thank you for all that you did for her. She's a completely different woman now, a happier one that I knew was in her all along. I don't know what would have happened if you were not there to help her."
I'm humbled by his words, "I just did my job though. She was the one who had the hard part." I scratch the back of my head recalling her situation.
"Yes, that's true. If you hadn't given her the steps to take to change though, well, I don't like to think about where we would have ended up. So, thank you. You have a gift." He claps his hands together and says, "Well, I'll let you two get out of here. Take care."
"Thank you. Tell Katy I said hello as well."
He nods before exiting the room and turn my attention back to Sarina who's eyes are sparkling. "I'm so proud to call you my husband. You know that right?" Sarina says blinking, a tear escaping her eyes.
I don't know what to say. I am humbled by the thanks from Katy's husband but seeing the pride in Sarina's eyes has me wanting to drop to my knees and tell her I don't deserve her praise.
She walks to me and pulls me close to her hugging me tightly. She's suddenly smaller in my arms and so inviting. I wrap my arms around her and kiss her forehead.
"Let's go home baby." I say as we head out of the room when my phone goes off.
"Hello?"
"Hello, is this Brian Huller?"
"It is."
"This is officer Barlow with Dallas police department. I'm calling in regards to an assault that happened involving your wife. Do you think you both could come to the station so we could get your side of the story or are you still busy at the hospital?"
"We were just about to leave officer. We can head to the station now, should we ask for you, officer Barlow when we get there?"
"Yes, they'll direct you to my offices. Could you bring copies of your hospital information regarding the incident that happened today as well? I was given a copy of the audio and the video from the staff at the Medical Board offices."
"Yes, sir. We will get those for you right now. We shall see you soon."
I hang up with the officer and we head to the nurses station to request the paperwork. When we arrive at the station we are told to wait before officer Barlow comes out to greet us and bring us back to a meeting room.
"So we've watched the video, heard the audio and have received Marcus Wade's statement. Now, can you please give us yours?"
Sarina goes into detail of the incident, what she was doing there and the fact that the hearing with the medical board was all because of Marcus harassing us and then informed the officer of what else he's been doing. The people following us, taking pictures, doctoring photos, and who knows what else just to get back at us.
"And you have proof of all of this?" The officer's raised brows and pinched cheeks are surprised and apprehensive at the same time.
"We do. Our lawyer can make you copies of everything to give to you." I inform him.
"Lawyer? So you both had plans on taking care of this man before all this happened?" The officer looks impressed.
"We did. We needed to know the outcome of the medical board hearing though before we pushed forward with it."
The officer laughs, "You can push forward with it now. The district attorney is going to have a field day with Wade. Let me give him a call and see if we can make sure this man never bothers anyone again."
"That sounds wonderful officer."