Page 226 of The Professor's Wife

He was giving me the right responses.

Now I would redirect him.

“I wasn’t going to ruin your night, Oliver. You’ve been so busy lately, and with this student missing…I can tell it has taken a huge toll on you. I wanted you to have a good time with your faculty peers.”

Cue the lecture.

“Daisy, you come first. A baby would come first. You should never do that again.”

His eyes suddenly glistened with unshed tears.

“It’s been years. Don’t you miss the running around? The pitter-patter, the yelling, and the chaos?”

His words should have ignited pain in my chest.

Nothing stirred.

I was always on tenterhooks with this man. He was not welcome to my grief. He didn’t deserve to see that part of me.

I refused to let him in.

But I pretended to choke on my next words.

“I miss it, Oliver. I do.”

“What can I do to make you feel better?”

This was either going to backfire spectacularly or give me exactly what I wanted.

“We can find out. You can buy a test for me.”

He considered it, which meant he was tempted.

“If we’ve caught it too early, it’s more accurate with a doctor. I like to have it done the proper way.”

“Then take me tomorrow, and we can find out straightaway.”

He let out a long sigh.

I knew he couldn’t make it tomorrow. He had to go into work. It was a test day for his students.

“Is there an after-hours doctor?” he wondered.

“There might be. You can look it up.”

When he didn’t answer immediately, I smiled sweetly.

“Oliver, we can wait until the day you can take the morning off work.”

He continued to think as he moved around me and began getting ready for sleep.

I slid into bed while he brushed his teeth in the bathroom. I pressed my knees to my stomach and buried myself beneath the covers, giving him the impression I was in a poor way.

When he returned, he came to my side and brushed the hair away from my face.

He studied me.

I looked up at him groggily and smiled.