Free A Sister’s Gift by Giselle Green Page B

screen.
    ‘That little guy brandishing the venom-tipped spear is José. He’s my best buddy out there. Either him or his dad, the shaman Tunga, are always my guides when we’re out scouting for plants. His mother Lalu is teaching me their dialect and I’m trying to teach her some English…’I trail off because seeing them makes me feel sad. They need me and I need to get back to them.
    ‘Do you know,’ I put my hand over Richard’s now as the screen blanks out all by itself, ‘what it is Hollie has asked me to do for her?’
    Richard looks down and I see that he does indeed know.
    ‘She wants me to have your child,’ I continue and the robin redbreast who’s been singing his heart out on the gate flutters down onto the lawn.
    I flush. That’s not what I meant. Hollie wants me to carry
her
child, of course. Well, using my eggs. And Richard’s um…I clear my throat. His child, yes, that’s it then, isn’t it? She wants me to have
his
child
for her
.
    ‘What do you think about that?’ I murmur.
    He looks up and his blue eyes hold mine for an instant. ‘It would be the greatest act of charity,’ he admits, and his answer throws me into even further confusion. I never thought of it like that. PlanetLove is charity. I consider the work I do for that organisation to be of a charitable nature because I’m doing it for the greater good. I’m doing it for a very small wage.
    But this thing…
he wants me to do it, then?
    I cross my legs in front of me, wrapping my arms around them so as to half-hide my face.
    ‘You want me to do it, Richard?’
    ‘I’d be very happy if you would at least consider it, Scarlett.’
    ‘You would?’
    ‘We both would. It’s not something I’d want you to rush into without considering all the implications first, though.’
    ‘I owe you so much, Richard.’ I jump up off the bench because I can’t stay still any longer. ‘I mean, both of you. You and Hollie.Of course I’d love to give you – both – the chance to have this child. I thought maybe if I donated some eggs that might do it but…’
    ‘I know.’ He picks up my hands for a fleeting instant then drops them. ‘She wants you because she trusts you. We wouldn’t want you to do this thing because you feel that you owe us anything. You don’t owe us a thing.’
    ‘Of course I owe you! Hollie took me under her wing after Flo passed away, didn’t she? I know she’s my sister and all and she sort of had to, but I still owe her – pretty much everything.’
    ‘She did everything she did for you because she loves you, sweetie. Not because she felt she had to. If you decided to go ahead with this for her – and given where you’re at in your life right now, it would be a huge sacrifice, let’s make no bones about that – then you must do it for love, too. Not because you want to please her or,’ he lowers his eyes, ‘me. But because it’s an act of love.’
    I am silent for a while, taking it all in.
    My initial reaction might have been no, but I suppose I
could
do it. Why not? I glance at Richard and I’m aware that my heart has started hammering very fast again. People have babies all the time and it doesn’t slow them down or get in the way of their life.
    ‘Lettie, don’t give us your answer now. Think long and hard about it before you agree. It won’t be a small commitment. Once you make the decision you won’t be able to back out of it easily.’
    ‘Do you think that I would?’ I lean back against the glass walls of the gazebo, challenging him. ‘Do you think that I lack commitment?’
    ‘Lettie, that isn’t what I’m saying. It’s you who I’m thinking of, right now. Thank you for being so…willing. But the more I think about it…’
    ‘You sound a little bit conflicted over it,’ I prompt. I let my hand come to rest on his knee. ‘Are you?’
    ‘If I’m honest, I have my reservations.’
    ‘Because it’s me?’ I ask softly and he looks away. ‘Because I have changed,