Free Mother's Day Babies (Holiday Babies Series) by Mona Risk Page B

Lou’s gut. Ungrateful shit. She
asked a stranger, a woman she’d just met, rather than her father.
    “Your dad and I will do our best
for you and the babies. But we can’t do it without having some information.”
Her tone firm, his wise friend stroked the young mother’s hands. “Who are these
people? What are their names?”
    Lou immediately opened his smart
phone to type the answers.
    “Ian and Sharon Morev. Sharon
spent years trying to be pregnant and was dying to have a baby.”
    “How did you meet them? Who was
your contact?”
    Bless you, Barbara, for shooting
the right questions. All professional now, Lou waited for the information his
lawyer might need.
     “I was looking for a job after
Jennifer’s death and saw this ad in the paper. An agency organizing meetings
between couples who couldn’t have children and women ready to be surrogates.
Honestly, I had no idea what it was, but the pay was so unbelievable, I was
intrigued and called for more explanation.”
    “Why did you need the money,
Monica?” Barbara asked with a gentle tone.
    The young woman shuddered. “I was
all alone with no job, no education, no future. I realized I should go to
college if I wanted to be independent. The sum they promised would certainly
cover the college tuition.”
     Lou took a step forward, ready
to protest. Damn it, he’d paid for that college.
    “I thought your father already
paid for your college.” Barbara arched her eyebrows, but kept rubbing Monica’s
hands. The soothing gesture seemed to work.
    “I had to drop out from college
and withdraw the money to pay for Jennifer’s treatment. She had no insurance.”
    Lou’s gasp echoed Barbara’s. Her
eyes filled with tears. “You spent all of it on your mother, sweetheart? Her
friends couldn’t take care of her?”
    A snort escaped from Monica’s
pursed lips. “What friends? The men who lived with her over the years were a
bunch of sleazeballs. I had enough trouble keeping their hands off me when I
was a teenager.” The young woman lowered her head.
    Barbara threw Lou a frantic look.
“And your mom—”
    Guilt stabbed him. Why hadn’t
Monica said something? How could Jennifer let this abomination happen?
    “Jennifer got upset when I
complained and ordered me to stop enticing her men with miniskirts and tight
tops.” Monica shrugged. “I couldn’t wait to go away to college. But then she
got sick and accused me of letting her die alone. I felt guilty and used the
tuition money to help her.”
    Barbara reached and hugged her.
“You did the right thing, sweetie.”
    “You think so? What was the use,
she died anyway?” Such bitterness blasted from her voice, his knees wobbled. Lou
clasped his phone in a tight grip and leaned on the windowsill, afraid he might
drop it.
    “So you went to this agency. Do
you remember its name and address?”
    Monica spelled them and Lou typed
on his smart phone.
    “Then what happened, Monica?”
Barbara gently continued her interrogation.
    “I met a couple, an engineer and
a teacher in their late thirties. They said I was exactly what they wanted. A
woman at the agency had me signed papers and explained I would be impregnated
with the man...” Monica cast a glance toward the window where Lou stood and her
voice died.
    “We understand,” Barbara
clarified. “So it was his sperm and your ovule producing the fetuses. Not an
unknown donor.”
    Lou exhaled in relief. Better
than he expected, if that awful situation could be called an improvement. At
least the father was what Lou called a normal, sane and healthy man, not an
unknown donor with who knows-what-kind of past or disease, eager to collect a
few bucks to buy drugs.
    “Were they nice to you?”
Barbara’s voice sounded calm and interested, as she held Monica’s gaze. He mentally
thanked her for extracting the full story out of Monica without an outburst of
anger or a torrent of tears as he usually received when he probed the young
woman.
    “Oh yes, very