Stiff Penalty (A Mattie Winston Mystery) Read Online Free PDF

I’m gay, Mattie, not stupid. And while I realize that my patients are typically a little riper than most, I am a doctor.”
    I didn’t say anything for several seconds. I just stared out the windshield. For lack of any better comeback I finally said, “What gave me away?”
    “A number of things. Your sudden interest in using all the personal protective equipment was one. I didn’t buy that lame excuse you gave about Jonas for one minute. I figured you either inherited your mother’s germophobia and it was just now manifesting itself, or you had some other reason for the sudden interest in your health. Then there was the vomiting, and having to pee all the time. Not to mention your boobs.”
    “My boobs?”
    “Yeah, your boobs. Hell, they probably qualify for their own zip code by now.”
    “I know, right? They’re freaking huge! No one I’ve talked to has looked me straight in the eye for weeks now, and that includes women. And they ache all the time,” I added, rubbing the side of the right one.
    “Well, they are rather hard to ignore,” Izzy said, and even he was staring at my chest with an expression of awe.
    I sighed and shook my head. “I should have known you’d figure it out.”
    “How far along are you?”
    “About sixteen weeks.”
    “I guess that means you’re keeping it.”
    I nodded.
    “And is it Hurley’s?”
    “It is. It happened when we . . . while . . . it was right after Christmas, when I quit my job,” I added quickly. This was the truth based on the dates the doctor came up with using what a one-time patient of mine, who was pregnant for the eighth time, had dubbed the wheel of misfortune, a little cardboard dial that calculates the date of conception and estimates the date of delivery. I didn’t want to tell Izzy that Hurley and I had rendezvoused several other times after that, and hoped my answer would keep him from asking, since such liaisons were forbidden if I wanted to keep my job. And now that I was on the verge of having two mouths to feed, I needed my job more than ever, not to mention the maternity and child-care benefits that came with it.
    “What does Hurley have to say about it?”
    “He doesn’t know yet.” I admitted, wincing.
    Izzy sighed and shook his head. “When are you planning on telling him?”
    “As soon as he comes back. He said he should be home on Monday.”
    We sat through several seconds of silence, both of us staring straight ahead, both caught up in our own thoughts.
    It was Izzy who finally broke the silence. “So what are your plans?”
    “My plans?”
    “With the baby.”
    “I intend to keep it and raise it. If it means being a single working mom, so be it. I won’t let Hurley marry me just because it’s the right thing to do.”
    “That’s all very heroic and noble,” said Izzy, his tone laced with sarcasm. “But what about what Hurley wants?”
    I shrugged. “I’ll deal with that when I get to it. I’ll have to wait and see what he says when I talk to him.” I turned and faced Izzy then, my expression imploring. “I’m determined to make this work, Izzy, whatever it takes. I promise you I will do whatever I need to in order to keep my job. I not only like it, I need it. I need the income, and I need the benefits.”
    Izzy gave me a solemn look. “We need to discuss this some more, but clearly this isn’t the best time. For now, let’s just keep it business as usual, and we’ll figure out a time to talk later, okay?”
    I nodded, too afraid to say anything.
    “We should get to the hospital.”
    I looked over my shoulder to check for oncoming traffic and waited as a single car passed. Then I eased the hearse back onto the road. Less than five minutes later, we were heading into the hospital. I hoped our case would be a simple, straightforward one that we could finish up within the hour. I forgot that my basket of hopes is overrun with forks.
    The ER was its usual bustling craziness. My good friend Phyllis—aka Syph to