James was discharged from the hospital a week later. The cardiac enzymes had come back negative but the heart catheterization showed that he had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy—a thickening of the heart muscles.
"What that means is that you can't exercise as vigorously as before, this thing can kill you if you do. If you do as you're supposed to, and take the meds, you can and will live a long life," Dr. Myers told them. "One other thing, I don't know if you're aware of it but this is hereditary. Someone in your family had or has this condition; it would be wise to have any close family members screened. I also know that you're at the age when you're probably thinking about children, so this may be a concern for you. I can't say whether your children will have this condition; it's entirely possible that they won't. I know a good pediatric cardiologist that you can talk to; his specialty is genetically based heart conditions."
James held onto Toni's hand; in her stubbornness about him coming to the hospital, she really had saved his life. The pressing question that he had right now was about their sex life, they would have to talk about the baby thing again.
"What about making love?" James asked, not in the least bit embarrassed.
"As long as you're not into marathon sessions, you'll be fine. And, if you are, you might die a happy man," the doctor replied.
"Seriously," James agreed. "So making love is okay?"
"Like I said, you'll be fine but if you are into marathon love making sessions, rest an hour or two in between," the Dr. said, giving James a curious look.
Toni already knew what James was thinking. He wanted to work on starting a family as soon as they got home, but first they had to talk about the chances that the baby could be born with the same defect that he had. She was glad that she hadn't stopped taking the birth control pills.
"Can we make love today or is there a waiting period?" he asked.
Dr. Myers laughed. "Today, if you feel up to it but don't overdo it," he admonished. "And I want to see you in my office in two weeks."
Two hours later they were home and, just as Toni suspected, James wasted no time in getting her into bed. She really had missed him in bed with her. She had started coming home after his third night. Well, after he had had enough of her being grouchy.
"Sweetness, go home already!" he'd stated firmly. "You're a mess and you're driving everyone, including me, nuts. If you're worried about Nurse Kim jumping my bones, forget it, these bones belong to one woman only and that's the super grouchy woman sitting on my bed, now go home!" he sighed into her mouth and kissed her.
She had left only because he felt and looked much better, and she hadn't had the feeling that he would die on her.
The first night Toni had slept the sleep of the fully exhausted but was up early to be at the hospital so that she could have breakfast with James.
When she showed up he beamed at her. "There she is!" he said to none other than Kim.
Toni went over to the bed and kissed him, not caring that Kim was watching.
"Feel better?" he asked as he cupped her face with a warm hand.
"Better," she agreed.
That had been four days ago and now he was home and in bed with her already wanting round two.
"Slow down there," she teased, "I just got you home and I'm not ready to take you back to the hospital."
James lay back and pulled her close.
"Did you stop taking the pill?" he asked.
"I...."
"You didn't, did you?" James asked angrily.
"James, I just wanted us to be sure about this and now that we know what you have is hereditary—"
"But we didn't know that until today," he interrupted. "Toni, tell me the truth, do you want a baby or not? Forget about the heart thing for now, do you want a child with me?" he asked.
Toni sat up and looked down at him. "Yes but James, what do I know about being a mother? And you have to admit that, given what we now know, it was just as well that I didn't. And besides, you know as well as I do that it takes time for the pill to work its way out of the system."
James took a deep breath and blew it out. He pulled Toni back into his arms.
"I'm sorry, sweetness, I know but you know how I get once I get a bee in my bonnet. But you know, I don't know anything about being a father either; well, other than the way that I was raised, but we'll learn how to be good parents together," James said confidently.
"But what about the heart condition? We can't just ignore that," Toni insisted.
"No, we can't but we could go see that pediatric cardiologist before we decide. So, I guess, we stay on the pill until we do," James replied.
Toni kissed his chest, closed her eyes and whispered a prayer of thanks that James was home. And then another, hoping that the chances of their children being born with the heart condition was small.
...
It had been a week since Mason went to see Ethan and Katrina. As he knew would happen, the open sore now had a very thin skin and, while still painful, the pain was less and was becoming more manageable. He threw himself into his work, even seeing some of Ethan's male relatives when Eustace couldn't fit them all in. They were truly a fucked up bunch but they were slowly, but surely getting better. Now that Mitchell Sinclaire was dead, they were coming out of the woodwork in droves. He and Eustace had already talked about adding a third therapist as more and more males came forward, seeking help for a variety of issues. It was to the point where they would have to start working weekends to keep up.
He had just mixed himself a drink when his cell phone rang; he checked the ID and answered. "Gretchen! Where are you? Here in Boston? Come on over!"
Mason gave Gretchen his address and waited for her to come. He hadn't thought about her in quite some time. He wondered what she had been up to and what she was doing in Boston, if he recalled correctly, she hated the cold weather.
He went to the kitchen to see what he had to cook for dinner and decided to take her out instead. He logged onto his laptop to see what nice restaurants were nearby and found that he was actually excited to see her. For the first time since he could remember, he wasn't thinking about Katrina.
Gretchen was at his door by seven. Mason thought she was as lovely as ever, a little too thin for his tastes, but lovely none the less. He greeted her with a hug and a kiss on the cheek when he let her in. "Welcome!" he said when he released her from his hug.
"Thank you," she replied. "How do you stand this weather?" she asked shivering.
"One gets used to it; what are you doing here?" he asked.
"Another one of those boring OB conferences and I heard that you were here and decided to play hooky and look you up."
"Who told you that I was here?" he asked.
"I'm still close to Katrina and she told me the last time that I talked to her," she replied.
