“Time for a coffee break,” Susan Walker announced after the final speaker. “Then we’ll have tonight’s guest give her talk. We are honored to have with us Dr. Alice Mortland from Columbia Medical Center in New York. She will be talking to us about the newest aspects of GIFT, or Gamete Intra-Fallopian Transfer.”

Marissa looked at Wendy. “Are you interested in the lecture?” she asked.

“Not in the slightest,” Wendy said. “With both my fallopian tubes stopped up, GIFT can’t help.”

“Holy Toledo!” Marissa exclaimed. “I’ve got the same problem: sealed tubes.”

“My word,” Wendy said with a short laugh of disbelief. “What are we, identical twins? Let’s pretend we’re in medical school and skip the lecture. We could sneak down to that bar with the Cheers flag and catch up.”

“Will we offend the hostess?” Marissa asked.

“Not Susan,” Wendy assured her. “She’ll understand.”

Ten minutes later, Marissa and Wendy were seated opposite each other in low-slung vinyl chairs. They were at a large mullioned window that looked out on busy Beacon Street with the darkened Boston Garden beyond. In the light of the lamps, the grass was just starting to become green, one of the first signs of spring.

Both women ordered mineral water and laughed at each other. “No alcohol! Well, hope springs eternal,” Wendy said.

“I had my fourth embryo transfer about a week ago,” Marissa admitted.

“Another coincidence,” Wendy said. “So did I. Only mine was my second. What program are you involved with?”

“Women’s Clinic in Cambridge,” Marissa said.

“I don’t believe this,” Wendy said. “I’m there as well. Dr. Wingate?”

“Yup!” Marissa said. “Dr. Carpenter is my regular GYN man. I have Dr. Wingate for in-vitro fertilization.”

“I go to Megan Carter,” Wendy said. “I’ve always preferred a woman gynecologist. But I had to go to Wingate since he runs the IVF show.”

“It’s amazing we haven’t run into each other,” Marissa said. “But then again, they are very good about the confidentiality side of things, which is one of the reasons I started using the clinic in the first place.”

“My feelings too,” Wendy said. “I could have gone to someone at the General, but I wasn’t comfortable with that.”

“Was it a shock to you when you discovered your fallopian tubes were sealed?” Marissa asked.

“Completely,” Wendy said. “I’d never expected it. It was ironic, I thought, considering all the birth control precautions I took all through college and med school. Now I can’t remember what it was like not to want a child.”

“I feel the same way,” said Marissa. “But I was even more surprised to learn the cause was TB salpingitis.”

Wendy slammed her mineral water to the table. “These coincidences are getting spooky,” she said. “I had the same diagnosis: granulomatous reaction consistent with tuberculosis. I even had a positive PPD skin test.”