Chapter 10:
The door opens and two doctors enter Freddie's room, Effy's words die in her throat, looks like she won't be telling him the truth anytime soon, and anyway she should be one hundred percent sure before telling him. Freddie looks toward them, they do not look like they're bearing good news, he waits for them to drop the bomb, he can feel it, he won't like it, not one little bit. One of the doctors looks at his chart and he says "Freddie McClair right? Well we have some things we'd like to discuss with you, but we need your family here" Freddie quickly interrupts him "Doctor, my family is home, they weren't allowed to spend the night, I'd rather not call them now but I want to know anyway if it's possible". Effy can't help but wonder if they'll let her stay by his side if they decide to tell them, whatever they want tell him is not going to be pleasant otherwise they'd have already told him by now. The doctor speaks again "Mr McClair, we really want to share this news with your family, it's something you don't wanna hear when you're alone" Freddie is getting all warmed up now "I'm not alone. My girlfriend is here with me, don't you see?", the doctor can see he's getting nervous and tries to calm down by gently explaining "She can't stay here any longer. It's time for her to go, and she couldn't hear the news from us anyway. We're obliged to tell the family, no one else" He can't believe these doctors would leave him wondering all night about what's wrong with him, all alone nevertheless. Effy doesn't give him the time to answer the doctor, she asks him right away "Is it possible for me to spend the night here? He can't be alone! I promise it'll be like I'm not even here", her sad eyes and the messed up situation of the kid convince the doctors to let this one go. "Ok, you can stay here, but we're not discussing Freddie's situation without his family ok?" She simply nods.
As soon as they doctors get out of the room, two nurses get in, they adjust Freddie in the bed, he still can't move after all the surgeries, they pretend they haven't seen Effy and they wish Freddie goodnight. Finally alone they try not to think about the big elephant in the room, they've just go through the night. Freddie is dying to know what Effy was going to tell him before the doctors interrupted them "Eff, you were trying to say something before, what was it about?" She's surprised, she didn't think he'd bring this up, especially when they're trying to not to worry about the possible news. She simply dismisses it "I was just about to say that I took your necklace, and that I love you" , he chuckles "Good thing you've got my necklace, I thought I lost it. It's getting late, we're probably very tired, we should get some sleep", she nods "You sleep, I'll watch over you", he is not accepting this "Eff, come next to me, the bed will be enough for the both of us, we both need to sleep". Freddie was right, as almost as always, she needs some sleep. It's been the longest day ever and so she gets on his bed, crawls next to him, she lays her head on his chest, careful not to hurt him, and he kisses the top of her head.
That night they both dream: Freddie dreams of Effy, she's running in the field and he's chasing her, it's just like before, only there're no demons to fight this time, only them being young and carefree. He feels like their happiness can't be taken away, not even if someone tried. Effy's dreams are quite different, they're full of babies, like twenty of them, of different ages and they all scream and cry. She tries to calm them down but it's pointless. One little girl comes close to her, her eyes are like Freddie's ones, she can't be more than three years old, she's the cutest among all, and she looks a lot like her when she was little. The girl comes even closer and tells her "Mama, why don't you want me? Don't you and papy love me?". Her little eyes are filled with tears and she looks like she'll start to cry any minute, Effy suddenly wakes up. She's sweating, she looks to see if she has woken up her boyfriend too but luckily he's still asleep, one less thing to worry about. Her dreams have shaken her up but also confirmed to her that her heart is conflicted, her subconscious is trying to tell her not shut Freddie out of this, he has a say in this too. She promises herself she would search for a gynecologist first thing in the morning, she has to be sure then she'll tell Freddie. She can't fall asleep anymore, she's afraid that if she closes her eyes she'll see her daughter, or at least what her subconscious thinks is hers, cry and she can't bear it again. She checks the clock, it's morning afterall, she gets up, careful not to wake Freds, and she goes out of the room. She asks one of the nurses, not the ones in charge of her boyfriend, "Excuse me, where can I find a gynecologist?", she answers "Our gynecologist , Doctor Whits, is taking care of risky pregnancy, if you want to talk to her to make an appointment you'll need to go to room 2348 where she's taking care of Mrs Shephard".