Intimate Deceit

SMASHWORDS EDITION

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PUBLISHED BY:

Melissa M. Carter on Smashwords

Intimate Deceit

Copyright © 2012 by Melissa M. Carter

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

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Dedication

Thank you to everyone that has helped me make this book a reality. You know who you are.

With Love.

Intimate Deceit

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Be careful what you wish for

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Chapter 1

Emma Huff had the life only told in fairytales. Her Prince Charming, Maxwell Andrew Billings, Max for short, had come into her life and swept her off her feet, 6 years ago when they were both 20 years old.  Emma was working at a coffee shop and Max was a regular customer, who one day, finally got the nerve up to ask Emma out after 3 months of flirting.  Max had asked Emma to marry him on the two-year anniversary of their first date.  He took her to their favorite restaurant, Primo, in the small town of Owls Head, Maine.  Emma was still living with her parents in Owls Head and Max had his own apartment in Rockland, a nearby town, which Emma stayed over quite frequently but had never officially moved in to yet.  The wedding was small, even though Max had offered to give her the wedding of her dreams with the money he had saved and invested. Emma did not want to spend a ton of money on a wedding when they could put the money into buying their first home.  They decided on a yellow and white two story modern home with a wraparound porch and a luscious back yard.  The property wasn’t considered waterfront, which helped on the sale price and yearly taxes, but they did have a nice view of the ocean from the front part of the home.  Emma had everything she wanted, an adoring husband who made enough at his investment firm that it allowed Emma the luxury of not having to work, a beautiful home and family close by.  However, the one thing that Emma had dreamed of since she was old enough to know better, was a baby.  She and Max had been trying to conceive since the honeymoon four years earlier.  They had decided to start trying right away.  They both knew these things can take time but after four years and not a single hint she was ever pregnant, she started to worry.

Honey, Max would say to her, Everything happens for a reason and in its own time, when the time is right you will get pregnant.  Worrying about it is only going to cause more stress and the more stressed you are the less likely you will conceive.  Relax, it will all be ok.

Year one and even after year two she would believe what he was telling her but into year three she knew there had to be something wrong.  She had made an appointment with a fertility doctor that told her,

Go on a vacation, get out of the normal routine, don’t focus on having a baby and before you know it you will be decorating a nursery.  All the tests on you and Mr. Billings have come back with no issues.

So Max took some of his vacation time and planned a romantic trip to the Sun Palace in Cancun, Mexico.

It's all inclusive, every suite overlooks the Caribbean Sea.  We won't have to lift a finger to do anything but focus on us, and making a baby.  Max had told her while nuzzling her neck and showing her the brochure.

It is very beautiful.  Emma admitted, But are you sure this is the answer, a trip to Mexico?  She wasn’t 100% convinced this would solve their fertility issues.

Well it can't hurt.  Max assured her.  If all we get out of it is a vacation away where all I have to do is make love to you the whole time, I call it a win win for me.  He said smirking.

All right, you win, I'll go pack our suitcases.  She kissed him softly and headed up stairs.

Don’t pack more than a carry on because I really don’t see us being dressed that often.  He teased her.

Well I am hoping we at least get to go out to dinner or a walk on the beach.  I don’t plan on going naked.  She laughed back as she reached their bedroom.

It wasn’t as if she couldn't go naked if she wanted too.  She had always had a petite frame.  She looked good in just about everything.  Her golden blonde hair shimmered in the low light of her dressing room off the master bathroom.  Her deep blue eyes would sometimes catch the light just right to make them look as though they were a teal green.  She was beautiful, she had always been told so, but she never let it go to her head.  Her parents had made sure of that.

Emma, Her mother would start, Beauty is only skin deep, you could be the most beautiful girl in the room but if no one wants to speak to you because you are conceited and rude than what good is it to have a beautiful face?  You also need a beautiful soul because without that, you have nothing.

Therefore, Emma grew up looking for people's inner beauty first and their physical beauty second.  That is what attracted her to Max.  He was not the most handsome man she had ever met but he was the most beautiful.  He was kind, generous, and sincere and he was attractive to her.  He made her laugh, he never took himself too serious, but he did keep himself impeccably groomed.  He had dark brown eyes and dark brown hair that he kept trimmed so it never touched his ears.  He wore glasses that she thought made him look more attractive.  He reminded her of Josh Hartnet. He didn’t have a moustache or beard.  He was always cleanly shaven, even on the weekends he would shave in the mornings before he got dressed.  His thought behind it he told her once was,

You never know who you are going to meet and when.  I could run into the CEO of the firm and if I look like I just got out of bed how will that reflect on me in the office.  No, you never know when an opportunity is going to come up and if you aren’t ready for it then you will miss it.

This thought process of his also rubbed off on Emma, even though she didn’t work for a Fortune 500 company, she always needed to look her best if and when she might run into one of his business associates.  She needed to represent Max to the best of her ability, and she was proud to do it.  If that was all he would ask of her (which he never actually did), then she had nothing to complain about.

She packed the small suitcase.  She did bring more than what would fit in a carry on but not much more.  She made sure she had the sunscreen, her make-up and the other essentials, his and her deodorants, perfume, Max's razor, shaving cream and after shave, a razor for her legs and under arms and her shaving lotion.  She packed the shampoo and conditioner then went to the closet.  It was November so she had packed away all of the summer clothes weeks ago.  She found the boxes marked Emma's summer and Max's summer" and pulled them off the shelf in the large walk in closet.  She took out two pair of shorts, white and navy, a pair of khaki Capri's and a bathing suit cover-up along with a bikini and a one-piece bathing suit.  She took a red and white tee shirt from her dresser along with a pink and a light blue blouse hanging in the closet.  She packed three negligees although she hadn’t planned to wear them.  Max was easy to pack for, Khaki shorts and short sleeve Oxfords.  She had packed him five outfits and two bathing suits.  She threw in some under garments and closed the suitcase.  Their flight was at 6:00a.m the next morning so they had packed the car that night, so that would be one less thing to worry about in the morning.  Max had retrieved their passports from the safe and put them in lap top case.  He hadn’t planned on working but thought it would be a good idea to have his computer just in case.  They called their families to let them know they would be away for a week and made plans to have a house check while they were gone.  Emma had hoped that by Christmas she would be able to tell her family they were finally expecting a baby.

The trip was everything he had promised.  Days and nights spent making love and when they weren’t making love, they were laying in the sun talking about making love.  It was the best time she had ever spent with Max.  He paid constant attention to her and made sure she was treated like a queen.  He never once complained about anything.  If she wanted to go to the pool, they went to the pool, if she wanted to walk on the beach they walked on the beach.  When Emma suggested they do something he may have been interested in like parasailing or scuba diving, he declined unless it was something she wanted to do.  Emma smiled and looked at him with that twinkle in her eye and they ran from the pool to the room where they once again made love until they were both out of breath and exhausted.

The week they spent to Mexico flew by but when they returned home they were closer and more in love than ever.  Emma felt sure this time they had succeeded in conceiving.  However, when it was her time of the month, like clockwork she started her period.  Emma was devastated.  It took Max four hours to get her to stop crying.  He promised that they would try another fertility doctor and explore other options to help conceive a baby.

Emma spent the following week researching online for the best fertility doctor in Maine and New England.  She had expected that they would have to travel to Boston but she was pleasantly surprised that the best fertility specialist was in Portland at the Boston IVF Center.  Dr. Michelle Demmons joined Boston IVF in 1998.  Emma kept reading her credentials and was excited to learn how qualified she was.  Dr. Demmons is board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

She received her undergraduate and medical degrees from Tufts University where she also completed her residency training.  She then completed her research fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Harvard Medical School in Boston.  This was the doctor Emma wanted to see.  She called the office and got an appointment for a consultation for the following Friday.  In seven days, Emma hoped to meet the person that would change her life forever.

Emma sat in the waiting room, flipping the pages of a magazine that she wasn’t even reading.  She had picked up, flipped through, and put down five different magazines in the ten minutes they had been waiting.

Relax Em, this is just a consultation, I am sure everything will be fine.  Max tried to calm her while holding her hand and rubbing her back.

I know, I know, I am just so nervous, what if they find something is wrong and we can’t have children?  Emma was starting to tear up.

Then we look at plan B, whatever that is, let’s just see what she has to say and go from there.

Mrs. Billings.  A very pretty young woman called to her and held open a door for them.

Emma and Max stood up and followed her though the door.

Welcome, my name is Sarah Nickerson, I am a clinical social worker with expertise in women’s health issues, infertility and pregnancy loss.  I’ll be speaking with you first then we’ll run some tests and then you’ll see Dr. Demmons.

She opened another door that led into her office that looked more like a living room than a clinical office.

I think this setting is more comforting than a stuffy office where I sit behind a desk and rattle off a list of questions.  This way we can have a conversation and get to know each other and how we can help you overcome your fertility issues and have a beautiful health baby.  Please have a seat.  She pointed to the overstuffed couch.

Emma sat down clutching Max’s hand as if her life depended on it.  Sarah reached out and touched Emma on the arm.  Emma, relax, I know this is a very sensitive and important time for you.  We are here to help and fix whatever we need to, to get you pregnant.  This is not a place where you are judged or ridiculed, Ok?

Emma took a deep breath and felt herself relax, Ok, thank you.

Ok, good. Now I have read over your medical charts and I see that you have had the routine tests at your former specialist visit and he recommended you take a vacation, and had that worked I imagine you wouldn’t be here to see us.  She looked up and smiled at them.

No it didn’t.  Emma felt herself tearing up.  Max squeezed her hand reassuringly.

Even though we had an incredible time in Cancun, Emma got her hopes up quite high and was extremely disappointed when it didn’t work out.  Max told her.

I can imagine it was very painful for you Emma, unfortunately when a doctor can’t give you a definitive answer on why you aren’t conceiving when all the test results come back normal, they pin all your hopes on just relax, it will all happen in time" and unfortunately that always isn’t the case.  We will run all the test again, make sure there isn’t a blockage anywhere and make sure all your vitamin levels are where they should be.  We’ll run a series of tests on you as well as Max and have your results within a few weeks.  First, what we’ll do is a procedure that is called a Hysterosalpingogram.  It is an X-ray test that looks at the inside of the uterus and fallopian tubes and the area around them.  A dye is put through a thin tube that is put through the vagina and into the uterus.  Because the uterus and the