“There is something else.”
I felt my stomach tighten.
“What?”
He looked toward the window.
“The specialist recommended more tests. I never went back.”
I stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“So you still don’t know whether you can father a child?”
He shook his head.
“No. I never completed the evaluation.”
The room fell silent.
All those years, he had spoken with absolute certainty about a medical condition neither of us had properly investigated.
He had never received a complete diagnosis.
He had simply decided that I would carry the blame.
Then he began explaining the real reason he had become so determined to keep me away from doctors.
He feared that if we were evaluated together, the results might reveal that his own fertility was impaired. He feared the questions that would follow. He feared being pitied by relatives and losing the image of himself as the strong, dependable man who could provide everything his family needed.
