Ivy had just speared a piece of grilled beef when the words caught her off-guard. She froze, eyes wide. “Wait, are you saying she’s really sick?”
Jamison’s expression turned grave, his voice dropping to a murmur. “It’s not confirmed yet. Boyd Ludwig’s been saying she hasn’t left the hotel these past few days. But Micah did get checked at the hospital–they found he’s got both genital warts and syphilis.”
“What?” Ivy’s face twisted with disbelief, her emotions tangled and unreadable.
Just the mention of those diseases sent a wave of goosebumps down her arms, so much so that she lost her appetite for the tripe she’d been chewing.
Jamison went on, “They also screened him for HIV. So far, it’s negative, but that doesn’t mean he’s in the clear; he could still be in the window period, not enough viral load to test positive yet.”
Ivy forced herself to swallow, letting out a weary sigh. “I shouldn’t have run my mouth. God, I hope he’ll be okay. If anything happens to him… your sister only has the one kid–she’d be crushed.”
“Yeah. My sister’s been calling me every day, asking if HIV is even treatable if he gets it.” Jamison gave a short, self-deprecating laugh. “Like I’ve got the answer to one of the world’s biggest medical puzzles.”
Deep down, he was hoping Micah would be all right, too.
Sure, his nephew had never amounted to much–always in trouble and never doing anything useful–but no one deserved this.
If he really did contract HIV, it would be a disaster for the Shepherd family. The sky might as well fall.
“Emma hasn’t even gone to get checked out? How can she be so unconcerned?” Ivy shook her head in disbelief.
“It’s not that she doesn’t care. Maybe she already knows how bad it is and figures it doesn’t matter anymore.”
Ivy fell silent, at a loss for words.
“And there’s something else. I only found out last night. I wonder if Katrina Lester–considering she’s directly involved–has heard from the police yet.”
Ivy’s eyes widened again. “What? Katrina’s caught up in this too? Don’t tell me Sheridan Carter’s out?”
Jamison nodded. “Yeah, released on medical parole.”
“No way. Since when does the Carter family have that much pull? They can even go up against Katrina’s old professor?”
“He’s genuinely ill–meets the requirements for medical parole. It’s not a scam.”
“What’s he got, then?” Ivy wondered if it was the same kind of ‘dirty disease‘ as Micah.
“I asked Boyd to look into it. We should hear something today. My guess is, he’s got something similar to Emma. The real question is, did one infect the other, or did they both pick it up somewhere else?”
Ivy felt her scalp tingle with disgust. She just couldn’t wrap her head around how people’s personal lives could get so messy, how morals could sink so low.
All for a fleeting thrill, and look where it landed them. She wondered if they ever felt the slightest bit of regret.
Jamison kept grilling meat, adding pieces to the small bowl in front of her, but Ivy just held her fork, appetite gone.
Watching her husband dig into his food, she shrank back, frowning. “Doesn’t this gross you out? How can you still eat?”
Jamison only smiled. “Are you questioning my professionalism?”
“Oh–right, you’re a doctor.” Ivy nodded, suddenly sheepish.
“I’ve seen all kinds of gruesome, disgusting things over the years. If just talking about a disease was enough to put me off my dinner, I’d have starved to death long ago.”
Ivy nodded eagerly. “True. I forgot you’re a surgeon. You’re used to guts and gore–this is nothing.”
Come to think of it, if the patient was right in front of him, he’d probably still be calm, just doing his job.
But Ivy couldn’t help it. Just hearing words like syphilis and warts made her skin crawl and her stomach churn.
“Doctors like you–seriously, hats off.”
Jamison shrugged. “You get used to it.”
They sat in silence for a moment, until Ivy suddenly blurted out, “Promise me you’ll be careful. I read in the news that HIV infections are skyrocketing–over a million cases nationwide now. Being a doctor is so risky!”