Missed appointment

Noah had arrived home and was still counting as he was walking towards the door, until that very last step. He took one final deep breath, before he opened the door and walked inside. The moment his feet touched the marble in the hallway, Laila greeted him with a big smile as she met him halfway.

The moment Noah saw her face, his resolve to scold her for what she had done started to falter and was put even more to the test as Laila said, "Hi honey, you are home early.", in a sweet gentle voice. His heart receiving a final tug towards automatic forgiveness when she placed a kiss on his cheek. He truly couldn't understand how Laila could make his body react this strongly to her presence even after all these years. Noah knew he would lose before the conversation even began if he didn't take action, so he looked away and cleared his throat to regain composure.

Putting on his best stern voice and expression he said, "Yes, because we need to talk". Laila looked at him with a look of confusion, truly not knowing what could be wrong, especially something so bad that it would require her doting husband to say such serious words in such a serious tone. In a concerned voice Laila asked, "Oh, a talk? Is something the matter? Something at work? It isn't something about Steve or Maria is it? Or perhaps something to do with Harold and the trial?", as she followed him into the living room and onto the couch, while Noah placed down his briefcase and loosened his tie before taking a seat.

Then Noah shook his head and said, "No, nothing to do with them. They are the least of my worries. This is a matter regarding us". Now, being even more confused what this could be about and having a growing level of concern, Laila anxiously waited for Noah to tell her what was wrong after she replied, "Okay, go ahead", now that the area of the topic had at least been narrowed down. Noah saw how his words and vagueness had affected Laila and he let out another sigh as he grabbed her hand into his own and let his expression soften in part. Then he began addressing the issue that he didn't even know existed until just an hour ago.

"Today Maria and Steve entered my office and they told me something that upset me quite a bit. They told me that today you had your doctor's appointment for your entering the third trimester. An appointment that I, as the dad, should have been present for as well, but was 'uninvited' to by my own wife." Laila want to interject, to explain, to tell him that it wasn't like that, but was stopped before she could get a word in by Noah, raising his hand to indicate he was not done speaking yet.

"Do you have any idea how it made me feel to hear about this from them instead of being consulted about it by you? I get that you might have had your reasons, and that your decision came from a good place, but to know that I couldn't be there for you and our son. To know that I appear to be so unreliable as a husband and a soon-to-be father, that my highly pregnant wife feels the need to 'spare' me having to join her at a thirty minute doctor's appointment in order to not overburden me. What does that say about me? How am I worthy to be called your husband, if I can't even be by your side during moments like this?"

Laila's eyes had grown wide to see how her well-intended actions today had affected Noah to this degree. She knew that he would have come, no questions asked. If she had told him about the appointment, he would have been there, but since everything was going well so far with her pregnancy and today wasn't a critical appointment but just a check-up to see that everything is still going according to plan, she didn't think it was important enough to put him before that decision in the first place. Since it was clear which decision he would make if given one and it wouldn't be a decision he would make using his logic, only his emotions. In the moments he couldn't, she would have to do it for them. Especially if it would benefit them both in the long run.

Besides, like she explained to Maria as well, with today's technology it would be like Noah never missed the appointment at all. The video recording and pictures allows you to take the experience home and relive it however many times you want. That was the main reason she saw no need to make Noah free up time in his schedule in order to be there for the 'initial viewing', but it was now clear that she might have misjudged the situation or at least underestimated the importance it had in Noah's eyes. Which means that she had some explaining to do.