“Oh no you don’t!” I sprint after him, grabbing the back of his T-shirt at the bathroom door and spinning him to face me.
“Just teasing, babe. I’d never ruin your surprise.”
He leans in to deliver a kiss that knocks my socks off. And when we come up for air, I’m sure my smile is as bright as his is.
Chapter Seven
Greg
I stare out thewindow at the bare boughs of the trees in the yard and take a deep breath. It’s a dull and gloomy day that seems to suit my mood perfectly. Cam and I have been throwing around the idea of starting a family for over a year, and now we’re finally ready. But it seems like one obstacle after another keeps blocking our path to parenthood. Occasionally—like now—it all seems so impossible, but the longing in my heart refuses to fade. I take a deep breath. I know we’ll find a way, somehow.
With my glass of water in hand, I rejoin Cam at the dining room table where his laptop sits open, the glow of the screen illuminating the worry in his eyes. We’ve been researching surrogacy options here in Wyoming for hours, poring over the websites of different agencies.
“Look at this one, babe,” Cam says, angling his screen towards me as I sit down. “They have pretty high success rates.”
I scan the information and try to maintain a positive outlook, but my attention falls to the printout in front of me. The list of costs is depressing as all hell. “They look good,” I say, aiming forsome positivity, but I’m a realist. After all, financial planning is my forte. “But those agency fees, plus all the medical expenses… I don’t know how we’ll swing it financially right now.”
Cam reaches over and squeezes my hand. “I know it’s expensive, but this is important to us so we can’t give up. We’ll figure something out. Maybe I can open the coffee shop for longer hours, cut back spending at home… Whatever it takes.”
I nod, swallowing against the lump of emotion in my throat. “You’re right. I just… I want this so badly, Cam. To raise a child together. Especially with Christmas coming up, I keep imagining the holidays with our son or daughter.”
“I want that too, more than anything.” Cam’s eyes shine as he grips my hand. “We’re going to make it happen, one way or another. This is only the beginning of our research. Let’s keep looking into all our options, okay?”
“Okay,” I agree, mustering a smile. God, I’ll do whatever it takes to make our dream come true.
He pulls me into a hug. “It’s going to work out. I promise.”
I hold on to him tightly, praying he’s right.
Eventually we pull apart, and he returns to scrolling through websites. I slide my own laptop in front of me, my gaze darting between the astronomical figures on my printout and the spreadsheet where I’ve been tallying up the potential costs. The numbers swim before my eyes, mocking our modest savings account. Surrogacy agency fees, legal contracts, medical expenses, compensation for the surrogate herself… it all adds up to a small fortune we simply don’t have.
I rake a hand through my hair as frustration simmers in my gut. “This is insane, Cam. We’d need to take out a second mortgage just to afford the initial fees, let alone everything else. I want to be positive, but we can’t ignore the reality either.”
Cam sighs, some of the light leaving his eyes. “I know, babe. It’s a lot more than I expected too.” He taps at his keyboard,opening another tab. “But don’t lose heart yet. There have to be other paths to parenthood that won’t break the bank.”
“Like what? Adoption? Fostering?” I can’t keep the defeated edge from my voice. “Those come with their own sets of challenges and expenses.”
“True, but they’re worth exploring.” Cam grabs a fresh sheet of paper and uncaps a pen. “Here, let’s make a list of all our options. We can research the details of each one later.”
I stare at the blank page. “I guess we could start with fostering.”
“Yep. We could also look into fostering to adopt. And then there’s still the surrogacy path.” Cam jots them all down before looking up. “We could even see if any friends or family might be open to surrogacy.”
Friends. Family.We’ve spoken about this before, but it all seems so complicated and emotionally fraught.
“You know, Georgia did offer to help us out however she could when we last talked. I wonder…”
The words kindle a tiny ember of hope in my chest. “You think she’d be willing to be our surrogate?”
Cam shrugs. “To be honest, I’m not sure that’s exactly what she meant. I mean, she hinted… Fuck, I don’t know.”
“Hey,” I say, taking his hand. “It’s okay. Maybe it’s something we could look at as a last resort. We don’t have to raise it with her now.”
He nods. “Have… have you given any more thought to approaching Madi?”
I sit back with a sigh. “It’s a huge thing to ask. Donating an egg, carrying the baby…”
“She’d be ideal,” Cam says. “Can you imagine? A baby that’s a perfect blend of your genes and mine? But we could use a donor and maybe she could carry the baby?”
