“Thank you for seeing me on such short notice,” Nick said to the doctor as he shook his hand firmly.
“You said it was urgent,” the doctor replied, leaving the statement open-ended, giving Nick the room to begin explaining the reason for his visit. To Nick, the matter was urgent, more urgent than anyone could realize; there was so much he wanted to do, so much he had planned, but he needed to know what he was getting into before he went any further.
“Yes, well, to be perfectly blunt and to the point, Dr. Jolie, I need to know the risks of being with someone that has HIV.” Dr. Jolie leaned forward in his chair, his left eyebrow cocked slightly, obviously curious about Nick and his situation.
“By ‘be with’ I’m assuming you mean having sexual relations with that person?” the doctor inquired, looking for more information to go on.
“That and having children. I need to know if I’m going to be able to make love to her when I marry her, if I’m going to be able to kiss her, touch her, treat her as normally as I would anyone else, and if I’ll be able to have a family with her.” Nick cast his eyes down onto the top of Dr. Jolie’s desk, feeling hopeless as soon as the words came out of his mouth. What was the doctor going to tell him? Yes, it’s okay to have sex with a person infected with HIV? Yes, you can have kids? He just wasn’t sure, but he hoped the news would be good.
“First thing Nickolas, studies have shown that the risk of a woman transmitting HIV to a man through vaginal intercourse is quite a bit more unlikely than any other scenario of sexual relations, but there is, of course, still that risk, especially if you don’t use a condom.” Nick listened intently to what the doctor was saying, feeling slightly more optimistic as the doctor kept talking.
“Okay, so if I use a condom…”
“Your chances of contracting the virus are significantly reduced,” Dr. Jolie said, finishing Nick’s sentence. Nick leaned back in the chair, a small sigh of relief escaping from his lungs. “Nickolas, it’s not a guarantee, you know that right?”
“I know, I know,” he said quietly, weighing the options in his head. Dr. Jolie continued discussing the issue for quite a while, preparing quite a pile of information for Nick to read on all different issues regarding HIV, the transmission of it, and dealing with a loved one living with it. Nick knew he would have a lot of reading to do when he got home, but that was just fine with him.
“And Nickolas, as far as having children, my suggestion, in order to protect the child from becoming infected with the disease, is to use a surrogate. It is possible for a woman to give birth without infecting the baby, but again, there’s no guarantee. Surrogacy can guarantee there is no transmission.”
“You mean that I need to get another woman pregnant?” Nick asked, his mouth dropping open at the thought of it. I’m in here because I’m in love with Roslyn, why would he suggest I have sex with someone else to have a baby? I want to be the father of her baby, not someone else’s!
Dr. Jolie chuckled a little at Nick’s question before realizing that many people didn’t really know the true meaning of surrogate pregnancy. “No, Nick, what it means is that we would take Roslyn’s eggs, fertilize them with your sperm and then transplant them into another woman’s uterus. That woman would carry the baby, or babies in some cases, to term, and give birth, but the baby would be 100% yours and Roslyn’s.” He paused for a minute to see if Nick had any other questions at that time, and then he said, “If it is something you two are interested in, just give me a call. I will refer you to Dr. Navarro; he’s the head of the fertility and conception department.”
“Okay,” Nick said quietly, all the information he had just received overloading his brain at that moment.
“It’s a lot to consider Nickolas, I know, but I’m here to help. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do.”
“Thank you Dr. Jolie and I’ll be in touch.” With that, Nick picked up his stack of pamphlets, brochures, and articles and headed out the door. He hurried to his car and raced home; he couldn’t wait to share all of this with Roslyn. He was so excited to tell her they could get married and consummate it, to tell her they could have babies together, to tell her he could give her the most normal life possible under the circumstances.
He pulled into the driveway of the house Roslyn shared with Kaci and AJ and quickly ran into the house. “Hey man, where my girl is?” he asked in a funny voice, as he walked through the foyer into the living and spotted AJ on the couch watching TV.
“She’s outside in the pool with Kaci, catching some rays.” He looked up from the TV and noticed Nick’s arms laden with papers. “Did you rob a stationary store or something?”
“No, funny man, I got this stuff from my doctor; it’s information on HIV.” AJ nodded his head and turned off the TV, giving his full attention to Nick.
“Let me see,” he said, holding his hand out for some of the literature; he wanted to understand and learn as much as he could too.
“I’ll just leave it all here right now and you can look through it,” Nick explained, setting the pile down on the coffee table. “I have to talk to Roslyn; I found out some great news.” He didn’t stay to explicate anymore but he knew AJ would understand, besides, they would all find out in due time anyway.
“Roslyn!” he yelled, pushing the patio door open and walking through it. She was lying on an air mattress in the pool, floating around next to Kaci and when Nick yelled, it startled her, causing her to shift suddenly on the inflatable contraption and lose her balance, making her plunge directly into the cool, refreshing water.
“Shit,” Nick murmured, trying to contain his laughter as Roslyn surfaced with a look of annoyance on her face. “Sorry baby.”
“Thanks a lot Carter,” she squeaked as she swam over to the side of the pool and hoisted herself up onto the edge. “So what’s up?”
He knelt down next to her, his eyes gleaming with animation and the reflection from the pool, and he pushed a few strands of wet hair off her face. “Want to go to Vegas tonight?”
“For what?” she asked, puzzled by his eagerness and spontaneity.
“So I can marry you.” Her jaw dropped as the words came out of his mouth and she must have been silent for almost a minute. “Well?” Nick prodded, amused by her inability to speak.
“What’s going on?” Kaci asked, floating up next to them on her air mattress.
Still finding words hard to come by, she just wrapped her arms around pushed herself against him. He could her head moving and he leaned back from her a little to see if it was shaking yes or no.
“Ros and I are going to Vegas tonight,” he answered Kaci with a smile on his face. Roslyn had been shaking her head yes; she and Nick were going to be married.
Author's Chapter Notes:
here's the next chapter....awwwwww! LOL
