Raji canceled her plane reservation first because that was easy.
Then she opened up the video calling app on her computer and called India.
Aarthi answered the video call, her face huge on the screen until she moved back from the webcam. “Raji! Are you leaving for the airport? I am so excited to be seeing you here!”
Raji had propped her tablet up on a bunch of pillows so that the webcam could see just her face. “Aarthi, honey, we need to talk. I’m so sorry.”
Aarthi’s eyes expanded, and Raji heard her gasp. “Are you all right? Is the baby okay?”
“Everybody’s okay. I’m fine, and the baby is fine, too.”
Cardiothoracic surgeons get a lot of practice in breaking bad news to people. Raji fell back on her bedside manner guidelines. Her inner lizard shut off her emotions so that she could speak.
Raji said, “I’m sorry, but there’s been a development.”
Bedside manner guidelines state that doctors should strive to be kind, compassionate, and honest, but they should also be direct, succinct, and without room for bargaining or negotiation.
Rip that bandage right off, even while you’re commiserating that the bandage had to be ripped.
“I’m not going to be able to place the baby for adoption at all,” Raji said, keeping her voice calm. “The father has returned to the picture, and we’re going to be married. We’re going to raise the child as our own. I’m very, very sorry that I got your hopes up, and I know that you’ll make a wonderful mother someday to some other child.”
Aarthi cried but said that she understood.
Luckily, Raji’s aunt Lalitha went over to Aarthi’s house right away to help her through it because that’s what big Indian families do.