Broken by Teona Bell

Chapter One
     
    “I'm sorry, Ciera,” the doctor said, a look of sympathy on her face. “The tests are conclusive. While your husband’s sperm is low, it’s not impossibly low. Therefore we tested you as procedure to get to the bottom of our problem.”
    Our problem, Ciera thought. How was it our when both the doctor and her husband were looking at her?
    “Right now, your uterus is in an abnormal state.”
    “Abnormal?” Ciera croaked. Her body sounded like a science experiment gone wrong.
    The doctor extended a hand to Ciera’s, and Ciera curled her fingers into her palm to resist the urge to smack the touch away. What she really wanted to do was scream and hit something. Tony wasn’t saying anything at all, which worried her.
    “Easy, it’s just a term. To put it simply, you have a few polyps and fibroids that may be causing your issue. Normally, they only provide a slight risk, but they’re removed…”
    Ciera’s mind wandered. They had been down this road a few times. First, the tests started with Tony to check his sperm count. Now they moved on to her. The two of them had been trying to get pregnant for three years, and so far no babies. As each day passed, the strain in the relationship had increased. Sometimes they argued. Too often nothing. Tony would disappear in the second bedroom and shut the door, cutting her off. She had tried everything she could to understand and be supportive when the doctor had thought it was his issue that was why they weren’t getting pregnant. Now it turned to her body, and Tony hadn’t said a word. He hadn’t even looked at her.
    She glanced over to him now as he listened to the doctor. When they walked into the doctor’s office earlier to get the news, he had chosen the chair near the wall. The one beside her sat empty. He might as well have punched her in the face with that move. She wanted to curl up and cry until she had nothing left, but instead she sat there, dry-eyed. Her dad was ex-military, and he had taught her every day of her life—“Keep your emotions to yourself, Ciera. In private. That way nobody can use them against you.”
    Ciera had always felt like she failed at her dad’s directive. She flew off the handle whenever Tony pissed her off, but in the face of this news, she realized she was wrong. Not once in the whole time she was married did she let Tony see how much he hurt her. She cried after he left the house and cleaned herself up before he got back.
    Ciera sighed, watching her husband. She would make a change and do better. “You’re saying we can still get pregnant, right?” she asked the doctor. “If I have the polyps and whatever removed?”
    “I’m saying we’re not sure that is what’s causing the issue, but yes, there’s a strong possibility.”
    “Okay, so—” Ciera began, but Tony popped to his feet.
    “Thanks, Doc. We’ll get back to you.” He walked to the door, and Ciera had no choice but to follow. She offered her doctor a thanks of her own and a promise to call to set up an appointment for when she could have the procedure done and get the insurance information straight. By the time she finished speaking with the woman, Tony was already out in the lobby. She jogged to catch up with him.
    “Hold on, Tony. Damn, what’s the rush?”
    In the hall, she reached him and grabbed for his arm. Muscles that had turned her on from the first day she met him at the gym flexed under her fingers. As always happened too, her heartbeat kicked up. Five years of marriage hadn’t minimized her love for him.
    Tony slowed down and stuffed his hands into his pockets. Somehow the move shook her hand off his arm, and she decided it was coincidence.
    “She thinks we’ll be able to get pregnant after—”
    “No,” he said.
    She frowned. “What?”
    “I said, no, Ciera. I’m done.”
    Ciera put her hands on her hips. “What the hell does that mean?”
    “Don’t start with the attitude.”
    “Wait, you’re telling me you’re