The Surrogate's Secret (2 page)

Scandalized, it took Sheri a few moments to grasp his meaning. The lunatic wanted to buy her babies. “What?” She jumped up and loomed over him, her face turning downright mean. “You can stick your claims where the sun doesn’t shine, mister. Those are my babies. Not only was Mary-Anne like a sister to me, she also used my eggs during the In Vitro process. Therefore, I have a much stronger claim than yours.” The word ‘claim’ coated in venom exploded. “Any judge would grant me custody, particularly if you tried to remove American babies from this country without a birth parent’s permission.”

“
You are their genetic parent?” He choked on the last word.

“Yes.”
Unmistakable pride rang in her tone.

“Please. Sit down.” His voice, steel encased in velvet, ordered, while at the same time soothed. He patted the sofa next to him
in vain. “Even so, correct me if I’m wrong. Weren’t you a surrogate mother for my brother? At the beginning, you had to know you’d be giving the babies away to their rightful parents. Yes?”

“Yes, but—”

“Look. You’re a single woman in acutely reduced circumstances, if the disreputable neighborhood you live in is any indication. Your home is a small apartment...” His chin jutted out as if he’d lost the ability to speak coherently.  “Aye yai yai! Is this all you want for Felipe’s offspring? They deserve their birthright. It’s vital for them to be brought up in the land of their Papá.” He stood and moved in close. This was clearly an intimidation technique.

“
It’s none of your business where I live. I have friends to help me, and when Felipe’s partner buys out his half of their In Vitro clinic, we’ll have enough money to move into a small house. Understand this Miguel Rivera. I will never give up my babies. Never!” As she hissed the last word, her hand slashed in front of his face, coming pretty darn close.

He trapped it between both of his and proceeded to caress her gently. Quivers worked their way up her arms, bypassing
her common sense, and exploded in the pit of her stomach.

Desires, dormant for the last few years,
suddenly awoke and invaded her body. Pleasurable surges overflowed. The kind she hadn’t experienced since she’d been a teenager making out with the horny love of her life. Without forethought, she glanced up and noticed his eyes were glued to hers. The heat she saw shocked her and became too hot for her to handle. Instead, she looked down at their locked fingers.

“Querida, calm yourself. I had no way of knowing you were the true mother of the babies. When Felipe phoned me at the start of the pregnancy to tell me that you had agreed to surrogate for them, he mentioned nothing about this not being their own child.”

Yanking her hands from his, she crossed her arms to hide her trembling and flopped back onto the sofa. “Felipe never knew. Mary-Anne made me swear to keep it a secret. Your brother was determined to have a baby. Even though he knew my friend’s injuries from an accident in her teens would make her chances slim-to-none that she would ever get pregnant, he persuaded her to undertake all the tests. Mary-Anne agreed to go along, but only if we could use a clinic other than the one he owned.”

He frowned.
“Sneaky.”

“No. Protective. She knew how much a baby meant to him, and it was her dearest wish to make him happy.” Tears gathered and a sob broke down
Sheri’s restraint. “Now see what you’ve gone and done. You’ve made me cry. I hate crying.”

His eyes widened. “Please don’t….”

Wails, building in volume and coming from the direction of the bedroom, signalled the babies were in sync with their tearful mother. “You’d better leave. They’re awake, and I have to go to them.” When he hesitated, she added. “Miguel, I can’t handle any more stress right now. Please!”

He left
but not before stating firmly, “I’ll return tomorrow to visit my niece and nephew when you’re more rational. We’ll talk then.”

She
nodded and then looked away until she heard the door close behind him. He could talk all he wanted. There was no way in hell she’d give her babies to him, or anyone for that matter.

She tiptoed into the nursery
then watched as her son and daughter gooed and waved at each other. It still mystified her how she’d ever thought she could give them up. Even to Mary-Anne who’d been her favorite person most of her life. She guessed a woman never truly understood the intensity of maternal love until she held her child close to her heart.

Her daughter, Carrie-Anne, stretched and started to half crawl
, half roll to get closer to her brother, Rafael, who watched her with interest. His motor skills were behind his sister’s, and he had far less energy. As if she sensed his weakness, Carrie-Anne watched over him constantly, and cried when she lost sight of her twin.

As quiet as Sheri had been, Carrie-Anne
nevertheless noticed her mother hovering nearby. With joy filling her pretty baby face, and features that resembled her mother’s, Carrie-Anne’s arms went up.

Rafael, watching his sister’s actions
, looked over and also smiled his welcome. Sheri’s breath caught. Both babies had inherited the smoky gray eyes from their father’s side, but where her daughter looked more like Sheri, her son was the spitting image of his Uncle Miguel. 

Later, after
Sheri had dealt with the needs of the twins, she felt like a zombie. Her thoughts resembled a pinball game, ricocheting between maybes and what ifs. Sleeping seemed to be the only way to shut them off. She tried to nap, but her crazy mind was too wide-awake and full of the man who’d spun her secure world off its axis. The strongest memory, insidious, unshakable, was Miguel soothing her, touching her. The more she tried to stop thinking about him, the more his image returned.

When the doorbell rang, spasms of delight and fear
sparred in her belly. This time she checked the peephole, and unexpected disappointment followed as she spied her friend slouching in the hallway.

“Hi
, Charly. Come on in.” She turned to go into the living room with her friend close on her heels. Seeing Charly scan the area, she grinned. “I just got them settled, hopefully for the night. I’m whacked.” The random disorder of baby trappings were scattered from one end of the place to the other.

Charly,
a slender redhead full of nervous energy, plopped down in the sofa, while Sheri gave up her favorite chair to sit close. “Damn. I wanted to play with them. How’s the little guy? Has his fever gone down?” Charly’s raspy tone revealed such yearning.

Sheri grinned
and reached over to pull on one of her friend’s spiked locks. “What a softie you are. He seems to be better today. This morning, I’d pretty well made up my mind to damn the consequences, take the hit to my budget and make a doctor’s appointment if he woke up still congested.”

Charly
snorted and cut her off. “Hey, you know I’d help out with a loan.” Aware that Charly knew better than to offer money without the loan stipulation, Sheri realized that pride could be her downfall. So far, the sole handout she would accept was the physical labour kind. Babysitting the twins to give her time to shop or go to the gym, watching them while she caught up on her sleep, those favors she’d take in a DC minute. 

Sheri reached across and threw her arms around the muscular shoulders of a
woman who worked out daily. “You’re so good to me, my friend, putting up with me. What would I ever do without you?”

Charly
patted her back, resigned to Sheri’s frequent displays of affection. “Let’s hope we never have to find out. As long as the little one is better, and you’re happy, I’ll leave you to get some sleep.” Charly studied her friend momentarily. “What did I say that put that look in your eyes?”

“What look?”

“Don’t go getting all girly on me. You know what look.” Sheri could see Charly sorting back though their last words to figure what might’ve made her grimace.

“You’re not happy
, Sheri. What happened? You’re not gonna go getting those baby blues again, are you? Please don’t.”

“You mean postpartum depression.”

“Same thing, and quit teasing. You knew what I meant.”

Sheri giggled, and saw the instant relief spill over her friend’s face.  “No, I’m not depressed.
However, I am a bit worried. I had a visitor today from Chile. Felipe’s brother, Miguel, arrived and dropped a bombshell. Seems he wants to claim his brother’s babies, adopt them and take them back to Santiago. He believes they should be raised in their father’s home.”

“Hope you told him to get stuffed.”
The girl didn’t hold back when her protective instincts were challenged.

“Not in quite those words, but yeah, he got the message. I saw the shock hit him hard when I
informed him they were my eggs used in the procedure, not Mary-Anne’s. Therefore, my maternal rights are stronger than even an uncle or a grandmother.”

“
They sure are in my book.”

“Mine too
but, he doesn’t strike me as the kind of man who’ll give up easy. After her honeymoon, Mary-Anne showed me pictures and described the Rivera’s estate in Santiago. It’s rich, vast, and beautiful enough to bring tears. Also, I happen to know Miguel owns and runs the largest security company in Chile, which makes him not only extremely wealthy, but rather intimidating.”

“No match for my girl.”
Charly reached across and swept the mass of curls over Sheri’s shoulders towards the back. “The poor putz doesn’t know who he’s dealing with.”

“I’m not all that tough, not when it comes to what’s best for the babies. Wouldn’t I be a rotten mother if I destroyed their opportunities for such a life, and in their daddy’s birthplace?”

“Hold it. Their daddy lived here, in Washington D.C. and this is exactly where he’d planned to bring up his family. Once you receive the money due to them from Felipe’s business, you can afford a nice house in a much better neighborhood. You have right on your side, Sher. They are your children. Not to say some arrangements can’t be made to share down the road when they’re older. However, at this moment, what those two babies need more than anything else in the world is a mommy who loves them. Agreed?”

“Agreed.
Charly, I love you and your common sense. And when we get that house, I want you to move in there with us and be a part of our family.”

“I love you
guys, too. I’d move anywhere, anytime to be with you. Just a thought Sher, what about your love life? I could be in the way if you met someone and…” The look on her face stopped Charly dead.

Sheri took her time answering.
“I know you’ve never intruded or prodded me to talk about my past, and I appreciate that it would have taken a great deal of control on your part, but really, there’s very little to say.”

“Fine
. I’m not nosy. You can keep it bottled up, festering, your poor soul aching to share. Far be it from me to—”

“Oh for heaven’s sake
.” Sheri couldn’t keep the grin from bursting though. “All right already. My story is the same as hundreds of other silly women who got taken in by a womanizing snake.”

“Scum-sucking toad!
”

“Worse. He played me for a fool and I let him. He wanted
to mold me into being the perfect girlfriend, and I made myself fit the role even when I hated being so vulnerable.  Back then, my father had fallen ill and most days I spent looking after him. When I got the chance to get out, I’d go to the gym. Doug trained at the same facility. He played professional hockey, and let’s just say, the jerk knew how to score, both on the ice and off.”

“Knew how to use his stick, aye?”
Charly chuckled.

“Except he got benched for hooking.”
Sheri played along.

“
That’ll teach the rotten fore-checker to make a pass in the neutral zone.” Charly couldn’t stop laughing.

“Yep, the player went offside and the game ended in a shut-out. Told him to get the puck outta
there and he left.” By this time, the two friends were in near hysterics.

Charly
calmed down first. “It’s obvious you’re well over the bastard so I won’t worry. I’ll see myself out. Don’t forget to lock the chain.”

After she left, Sheri leaned against the soft cushion and let the memories flood. Doug, the
best-looking guy she’d ever met, had chosen her out of all the beautiful girls that used the same gym.

Susceptible and untutored in the ways of men, Sheri had fallen hard for every line
the slimeball came up with, and he had many. Afterwards, she could see what motivated him to settle on her, but at the time, blinded by her innocence and false illusions, she’d idolized him and he sucked it all up as his due.

Months of living in her dream world crashed on the night she’d returned to the complex for her dirty workout clothes
that needed washing. A lit room at the end of the hall drew her. Wails caught her attention, and thinking someone injured, she’d followed the sounds to the dressing room.

Doug, her precious lover, stood with his black spandex shorts pooled at his ankles
. He was screwing the panting, squirming, noisy yoga instructor against the mirrored wall.  Before she’d run, Sheri’s yelp of pain must have caught his attention because he looked up in time to see her shocked face and tear-filled eyes.

Probably e
xpecting his doormat girlfriend to crumble, Doug, dumber than lint, tried to talk to her about forgiveness. He kept sending flowers, showing up at her front door until she had enough of his nonsense. Calling the police about a peeping tom brought them to her house in time to catch him red-handed trying to get her attention through the picture window.  He’d promised to leave her alone if she dropped the charges. She hadn’t seen him since.

Funny thing,
when they’d made love she’d had to fake it, pretend. She’d never once experienced an orgasm with him or any man for that matter. Guess that made her either a great actress, or a total failure as a woman. Oh well, enough with the foolish memories. 

Sometime later, just before sleep claimed her, Sheri replayed the emotions she’d felt when, earlier that day, the most handsome man she’d ever met had held her hands and recharged her faulty libido.

Girlfriend, you’ve got to get laid soon
.
If a man’s touch can spin you around like that, it’s obviously time to give sex another chance and go hunting for a new boyfriend
.  Yeah, and that’s going to happen with two toddlers in tow. She chuckled, sighed and shut down her visions of the South American dazzler.