Free Baby, Oh Baby! by Robin Wells

forming a wild white halo, her eyes round and wide behind thick plastic trifocals. She appeared for all the world to be eavesdropping.
    Henry wheeled his chair to face the doorway as well. "Turn down your hearing aid, Pearl." Henry tapped his fingertip against his ear.
    "All right, all right." Pearl fiddled with the gadget, and the screeching noise halted. Madeline kicked her feet against the footrest of the white and blue stroller and smiled gaily at Annie. Annie grinned and waved at her child.
    "If you don't mind, Pearl," Henry continued, "this is a private conversation."
    “Shucks. All the interesting conversations around here are private ones," Pearl grumbled. She looked at Annie. "I couldn't help but overhear you, dear. I know I'm not supposed to meddle in other people's business, but I haven't lived this long without learnin' a few things, and one of the things I've learned is that some old-fashioned ways don't need any improvin'. Makin' babies God's way is at the top of the list. Why, I remember when my husband and I were your age—my goodness, if we hadn't had to work to eat and eat to live, we would have been baby-makin clean around the clock. Why, I remember one afternoon in particular, when—"
    Henry made a choking sound that ended in a fit of coughing,. At length he cleared his throat. "If you don't mind, Pearl, Annie and I are discussing a legal matter."
    "We'll be finished in a few moments," Annie added. "Is Madeline behaving for you?"
    "She's being a perfect angel. We're taking a little stroll down the hallway."
    "I'll catch up with you as soon as Henry and I are finished."
    "Guess that's my cue to leave, eh?"
    Henry nodded.
    The old woman teetered down the hall, leaning on the baby stroller as if it were a walker.
    Henry's mouth curved in an apologetic grin. Annie tried to smile, but her lips refused to cooperate. She placed a hand on her side, where a sharp pain was developing.'
    Henry regarded her, his eyes kind but solemn. "As I was saying, Annie, you need to think of the child's best interests."
    "I am thinking of Madeline's interests. That's why I chose to have her by artificial insemination in the first place."
    Henry's right brow lifted quizzically.
    Annie folded her arms around her stomach. "My parents had a lousy marriage," she explained. "I was married once myself, and that marriage was lousy, too. I'd love to have a marriage like Ben and Helen have or like my grandparents had, but those seem to be awfully rare. I know from personal experience how hard it is on children when their parents don't love each other. Rather than put my child through that, I decided to have my baby without the complications of a man."
    Annie sighed and gazed out the window at the courtyard. Two elderly women in wheelchairs rolled side-by- side across the patio toward a flowerbed of marigolds. "I thought I was making sure my child would never be caught in a tug-of-war between her parents. But now it looks like Madeline's going to be caught in the middle anyway."
    Henry drummed his fingers on the arm of his wheelchair and regarded her solemnly. "I'll help you any way I can, Annie, but you need to give this matter some serious thought. I want you to go home and ask yourself if you really want to deprive your child of the love of a father."
    "He doesn't love her. He doesn't even know her!"
    "From what you told me, that's not his fault, is it?" Annie hated to concede the point, but she had no choice. She glumly shook her head.
    "You need to take that into consideration, Annie," Henry said gently. "And if Mr. Chastaine contacts you again ...”
    "Not if. When," Annie said bitterly.
    "Well, when he contacts you, I advise you to be cordial to him, to talk to him and find out what he wants. Don't give him any reaction—don't agree or disagree or argue about anything. Your goal—your assignment, if you will—is to figure out what he's after. Then give me a call, and we'll work from there."
    "Okay." The word came out on the tail