The Doctors' Baby Read Free

knew. ‘I’ll go if you like,’ he offered, and half rose, but Anna’s hand came out and caught him. ‘No.’
    Jonas sank again. ‘Then tell us what’s wrong, Anna,’ he said softly. ‘We’re with you all the way. Both of us are. But you have to tell us what’s happening.’
    Anna took a deep breath. She raised her face to Em’s and her eyes were like those of a rabbit caught in headlights—terrified beyond belief.
    â€˜Tell us, Anna,’ Em said gently, and the girl shuddered.
    â€˜I don’t…I don’t know if I can face it. My kids…’
    â€˜Just tell us.’
    â€˜There’s a lump in my breast. I think I have breast cancer.’
    There was, indeed, a lump in Anna’s breast. It was as big as a pea and close to the nipple, and it moved a little as Em gently palpated it.
    â€˜How long have you been able to feel it?’ Em asked,carefully examining the rest of the breast. There was nothing else—just the one tiny, single lump.
    â€˜F-four weeks.’
    â€˜Is that all? That’s great,’ Em said warmly. She had Anna on the examination couch behind the screen. Jonas stayed out of the way, but he was still within earshot. ‘It’s very small and you’ve come early.’
    â€˜Early?’
    â€˜Some women worry about a lump like this for a year or more without having it checked,’ Em told her. ‘You have no idea the kind of trouble that can cause. But you’ve come quickly. And this is small. It’s less than a centimetre across, I’d think,’ she added for the benefit of the listening Jonas.
    But Anna was trembling under her hands, afraid to meet her eyes. ‘So it is cancer?’
    â€˜It might well be a small breast cancer,’ Em admitted. There was no use giving false reassurance when the most important thing was to get Anna to agree to have the necessary tests. ‘But there’s also a very good chance it’s just a harmless cyst. Cysts in breasts are common—much more common than cancer—and they feel very similar. It needs a biopsy to tell the difference.’
    â€˜So…’ The girl’s eyes flew to hers, hope flaring. ‘This may well be just a waste of time. If it’s just a cyst, I can go home and forget it.’
    â€˜Yes, but you can’t go home and forget it yet,’ Em told her. ‘Because you may be right in your first guess. Your age means that you’re in a low-risk group for breast cancer, but we have to exclude that possibility.’
    â€˜But I don’t want to know.’ Anna put her hand to her mouth as if to stifle a sob. ‘If it is…cancer…then I want to be as normal as I can for as long as I can. I have threekids. I want to be there for them. Jonas made me come, but if it’s cancer then it’s better not to know.’
    â€˜Well, that’s exactly where you’re wrong.’ Em handed Anna back her blouse—and a tissue—and waited until she was decent. Then she pushed back the screen so Jonas could join in the conversation. ‘It’s far, far better to know.’
    â€˜Why? So you can cut off my breast?’
    â€˜That hardly ever happens any more,’ Jonas growled. Unable to restrain himself, he rose and moved to give his sister a hug. ‘For heaven’s sake…Stoopid. Why didn’t you tell me? I could have eased your fears.’
    â€˜By agreeing I may have cancer?’ She was looking wildly from one to another. She was very close to the edge, Em thought, and knew this visit was the culmination of weeks without sleeping. ‘No one’s easing my fears now.’
    â€˜I can do that,’ Em said gently, but there was a note of iron in her voice. What Anna didn’t need was false sympathy or reassurance. She needed facts. ‘Sit down, Anna.’
    And Anna sat, still looking like a hunted animal. She was like a tigress