NotI’ll do it.
NotI accept the terms.
I’m your girl.
Like she was choosing me as much as I was choosing her.
Like this was already more than a contract.
“You sure?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
“I’m sure.”
“Even knowing what I am? What my world looks like?”
“Especially knowing that,” she said. “Because you’re not lying to me about it. You’re not pretending this is something it’s not. You’re giving me the truth—the real truth—and trusting me to handle it. That’s more than anyone else has ever given me.”
Something in my chest cracked completely.
Not broke.
Just… opened.
Like a door I’d kept locked for so long I’d forgotten what was on the other side.
I straightened slowly, putting distance between us before I did something I couldn’t take back.
“Raymond will send the contract within forty-eight hours,” I said, my voice returning to its usual controlled tone. “Read it carefully. If you have questions, call him. If you’re still sure after that, we move forward.”
She stood, smoothing her borrowed dress one last time.
“I’ll be sure,” she said.
And then she walked out of my office, leaving behind the scent of cocoa butter and the weight of her words and the feeling that I’d just made the most dangerous decision of my life.
I stood there for a long moment, staring at the door she’d just walked through.
Then I heard Raymond’s footsteps in the hallway.
He appeared in the doorway, legal pad in hand, expression professionally neutral.
“Well?” he asked.
I turned to face him.
“She’s the one,” I said.
Raymond’s eyebrows rose slightly—the only indication of surprise he ever allowed himself. “You’re certain?”
“Yes.”
“She asked good questions,” he said carefully. “Hard questions.”
“She asked therightquestions,” I corrected. “Nobody else did.”
Raymond studied me for a moment, and I could see him processing what that meant—not just for the surrogacy arrangement, but for everything that would come after.
“I’ll have the final contract drawn up and sent within forty-eight hours,” he said. “Medical appointments will be scheduled once she signs. Dr. Beaumont is already on standby.”
