Baby Chase

Erin squirmed. “You were right. It’s none of my business. But you’ve never even seen your little niece…” She let the question trail off.

“I look forward to seeing her,” Nathan replied after a short but loaded silence.

Erin didn’t push further. She stood up. “Well, I should be heading for bed. The boys will have me up at the crack of dawn. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” He smiled up at her, and she clenched her jaw as the sudden transformation of his face from serious to cheerful did wicked things to her insides. “See you tomorrow.”

Tomorrow came all too soon. Predictably, the twins woke her up at seven. Yawning off the dreams she refused to acknowledge she remembered in detail, she got up, fed them as quietly as possible so they wouldn’t disturb Nathan and was off to the indoor swimming pool by eight. As she had suspected, the lure of underwater pictures was enough to cure the twins of their fear of getting water in their faces.

The day passed quickly and they were home at four, just in time for their mother to arrive and pick the boys up.

“Thanks for having them,” her mother said, shooing the twins out to her car.

The boys were out of earshot. “I would appreciate it next time if you’d ask me first, Mom. I could have had other plans.”

“I don’t think it’s too much to ask that you watch your brothers once in a while,” her mother snapped. “After all the sacrifices I made for you kids. You know how important it is for me to keep the shop open on Sundays.”

Inwardly, Erin sighed. “I don’t mind having the boys over, you know that. I would just appreciate it if you’d call first, so I can be prepared. Sally’s brother just came into town yesterday, so I’m not alone in the house.”

“Oh?” Her mother’s interest was piqued. “The photographer? I’ve never met him. Perhaps I should say hello.”

“He’s not here now, but he’ll be staying a while. There will be plenty of time to meet him.”

“Will he be staying for Christmas? Perhaps he would like to come along with you kids.”

Erin’s stomach turned. This was it. The annual Christmas tug of war had begun. They had tried to be fair, to stay with each parent every other Christmas, but neither their mother nor their father could accept that, forcing their children to divide their time equally between the two households, but never making either one of them happy.

“Perhaps Thomas and Sally prefer to stay in their own home this time, as they have a visitor.”

“We’ll see,” her mother replied. “But you will be there, won’t you?”

The twins leaned on the car horn, saving Erin from having to reply. Her mother turned around and made an angry gesture at the car. “We’ll talk about this later, Erin. Thanks again.”

Erin waved to her brothers, then entered the house again. The place seemed so quiet after two days with a couple of noisy little boys. Walking around, she straightened out the mess they had made, then threw herself on the living-room couch. Children were a lot of work, but they were worth every minute. She could hardly wait until she had one of her own.

Tomorrow.

Her stomach clenched in nervous anticipation. Her whole life would change tomorrow.

CHAPTER THREE

HER palms were sweating. Her heart was racing.

And all she was doing was standing outside the clinic.

Resisting the urge to jump back into Sabrina, her faithful red car, drive home and crawl under something, she forced herself to look objectively at the building. It looked cold. All glass and white bricks, but much smaller than she had imagined. She had thought this place would be huge.

Admittedly, storage space in such a facility would not take up much room.

She sighed, breathing out a mushroom of crystallized air, and looked helplessly around. The shops would open in about half an hour, but the streets were still empty. She felt out of place standing there on the corner.

The appointment was half an hour away. She considered driving around, or taking a walk, but decided to go ahead and enter the building. They had to have a waiting room. It would give her a chance to get used to the place.

Squaring her shoulders, she ordered her heart to behave, and pushed open the glass door.

The lobby was silent. White marbled floor, white marbled walls. Large potted plants were the only decoration. Her heels clicking on the hard surface, she walked resolutely to the desk.

“Erin Avery. I have an appointment at ten.”

The receptionist couldn’t be more than twenty, a black-haired beauty with a wide smile.

“Welcome.” She turned to her computer and tapped on the keys. “You’re here for an orienting session, right?” 43

Erin drew her brows together and shrugged. “I suppose so. I’ve never been here before.”

“OK. Well, would you perhaps wait in there?” She pointed to an open door behind her. “I’ll be with you at ten precisely.”

Erin walked briskly to the waiting room, hoping to hide her anxiety. The chamber was small, but very different from the stark lobby. It was painted in soft blues and pink and children’s drawings decorated the walls. She slid into a pastel chair and took a deep calming breath. Her heart was still racing, and showing no signs of slowing down.

To look on the bright side, the waiting room was unoccupied. In her present state, the sight of other clients, or, God forbid, donors, would send her flying out of the nearest exit.

Small tables dotted the floor between the uncomfortable plastic chairs. She picked at random something to read and stared at the text without seeing it. It was difficult to believe that she was actually here. The appointment had been made weeks ago. She had noted it in her diary as “SB”, and then avoided thinking about it.

Why the anxiety? Why the pounding heart and the sinking feeling? This was what she wanted: this was the way to make her dream come true, her dream of an undivided family. Her dream of happiness. A child that would never be torn between bitterly feuding parents the way she and her brother and sister had been torn apart all their lives.

“Miss Avery?” Her eyes suddenly focused on the colorful pamphlet showing pictures of smiling women and couples holding their babies. “Follow me, please.” It was the young receptionist again. Erin followed her down the long corridor and was finally ushered into an office. To her surprise, the girl followed her inside and shut the door before sitting down at the desk.

Erin noticed she was still holding the pamphlet from the waiting room and stuffed it into a pocket before shrugging off her coat and sitting down. “I thought I would be seeing the doctor?”

The young woman smiled. “This is just preliminary work now. My job is to tell you all the facts and explain how you pick a donor, if that is still what you want. After that, we make a new appointment for you with the doctor. She will be able to answer any remaining questions.”

“I see.”

“OK…” The girl cleared her throat and shuffled some papers around the desk, looking almost as nervous as Erin was. With amusement that almost managed to distract her from her nerves, Erin realized that this was probably a first for both of them.

“Is this the first time you’ve done this?” she asked impulsively.

The girl flushed. “Yes. Our regular interviewer is off sick today.”

“I see.”

“But I’ve watched it many times,” she hastened to reassure Erin. “I really know what I’m doing.”

“I’m sure you do.”

“Oh, and my name is Rachel Bond, by the way.” She pointed to the name tag on her blouse.

Rachel got to work, quickly explaining the procedure, but sounding as though she was reading the information aloud. Judging from her lack of eye contact, she probably was. Erin listened patiently. She had already done thorough research using the Internet and there was nothing new in the information presented to her.