“What if we gave you fifty thousand dollars?” Mark blurted. I whipped my head around to stare at him. Did he just offer her money? Oh my God! This was mortifying. I put my head in my hands. This was a disaster.
“Do you really think money is the issue?” Ethan smirked.
“Well if she can’t work,” Mark said meekly.
“Mark. I don’t want your money,” Cleo said softly. She looked at me with such pity. I needed to leave the room. I stood up and excused myself, shutting the door quietly.
Walking down the hall I saw Tabatha. I raised my arms for her to hand me little baby Blue. She seemed very grateful for the break. I took him to the living room and bounced him lightly on my lap.
He was so adorable. I didn’t know the twins when they were babies, but I assumed they were just as gorgeous as he was. He was of course, named after his bright eyes. The eyes partnered with his pale skin, jet black hair, and of course his parent’s perfect genes made for one attractive child. He was going to be a heartbreaker when he was older. Much like his older siblings.
They were still young, only seven, but they were the full package. Attractive, smart, and talented. I could only imagine what this little one would grow up to be.
Blue coo’d and giggled at me while I made silly faces at him. I felt the tears beginning to well up in my eyes, but I forced myself to keep them there. I couldn’t let it get to me. This was Mark’s idea. I hadn’t wanted it in the first place. I told him she would probably say no. It wasn’t fair of us to ask her to halt her life in order for us to start ours. I can’t believe we really asked.
I realized that they were no longer shouting in the office. I couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up. It just wasn’t in the cards. We could adopt.
Just then the front doors burst open and the twins came running into the house. They came into the living room and shouted at me excitedly. I chuckled. Jimmy was wearing a dark pink princess dress and long cone shaped hat with the long tulle cascading down, while her twin brother Dallas had his face painted to look like a skeleton. I wondered for a moment if he had done it or had someone help him. If he hadn’t, then it was pretty impressive.
I asked him and he beamed. “Tabatha helped a little today, but I did a lot of it by myself. Do you like it?”
“I love it. Maybe you can do my makeup sometime?” I asked and his face turned serious.
“Maybe. I don’t really do girl makeup,” he said.
“I wouldn’t mind looking like a skeleton,” I told him, and he lit up.
“Dal, we need to put our stuff away and go practice. We are way behind on our sight reading,” Jimmy whined. He rolled his eyes and turned back to her.
“Fine. Let’s go.” He started out of the room and then turned back to look at me.
“If you’re still here after dinner I can do your face. We don’t have to practice or do schoolwork after dinner,” he explained. I nodded, not bothering to explain that we probably wouldn’t be here for dinner. Hell, we might not be around for the next few weeks. Coming back after today would be so mortifying. I can’t believe he just shouted it out like that. It was like my worst nightmare come to life.
They had been in that office for well over an hour. Finally, I heard the door click open and the shuffle of a number of people. They weren’t talking, so it was safe to assume that was their answer. They had decided, and that was that. We couldn’t force them into it. Honestly it was wrong for us to have even asked.
The three of them entered the room and stood in front of the door. Setting the baby down, I looked up at all of them. Cleo’s face held no emotion whatsoever. Ethan’s arms were crossed and in a permanent scowl. And then I looked into my husbands face and discovered a new kind of hope. He was smiling. He spoke first.
“Cleo is going to be our surrogate. Under one condition,” he was hesitant at that last part. I stood up and ran to her. Picking her tiny frame up I squeezed her tight and thanked her over and over and over. She laughed and asked me to put her down. When I had a moment to process the news, I looked back at them.
“What’s the condition?” Mark looked away guiltily, and I quickly looked towards Cleo. She was grinning ear to ear.
“I get to name it.”
