Your gynecologist? Yes, James. What? And she prescribed these to help regulate your cycle so we could conceive. Yes.
Rachel was getting agitated now, her fingers drumming against the table. We've been over this a hundred times. My hormones were irregular. The pills were supposed to help, but we were having trouble anyway, which is why we were considering fertility treatments. What does this have to do with anything?
I set the pills down and slid the envelope across to her. Open it. She stared at the envelope like it might explode. What's in here? The truth.
The last piece you don't know that I know. Open it. With shaking hands, she unsealed the envelope and pulled out the contents. Medical records. Pharmacy receipts, email exchanges.
She stared at the first page and I watched understanding dawn slowly across her face. Watched the color drain from her cheeks as she realized what she was looking at. Where did you get these? Her voice was barely a whisper. I requested copies of your medical records.
I'm still listed as your spouse and your emergency contact, which means I have legal access to your healthcare information. HIPPA is complicated that way. You can't hide medical information from a spouse who knows where to look. I leaned back in my chair. Those pills you've been taking, they're not to regulate your cycle, Rachel.
They're standard oral contraceptives. Birth control. The kind that prevents pregnancy. The kind that makes it impossible to conceive. She was shaking her head, papers trembling in her hands.
No, that's Dr. Dr. Morrison said these would help us get pregnant. She said Dr. Morrison prescribed them 5 years ago as birth control.
You told me she prescribed them to regulate your cycle. That was the first lie. I pointed to the next page in the stack. This is an email exchange between you and Dr. Morrison from 3 months ago.
You asked her to continue the prescription. She reminded you that if you were still trying to conceive, you should stop taking them. You told her you'd think about it, but you didn't stop, did you? Rachel was openly crying now, tears streaming down her face, but I felt nothing. No sympathy, no regret, just the cold satisfaction of watching the last lie crumble.