Free Claiming Noah by Amanda Ortlepp

face, Diana assumed he was picturing the same thing.
    â€˜I’ve met the couple personally,’ Mrs Olsen continued, ‘and I can tell you they’re mature, responsible and intelligent people. It’s the best you could hope for with a donor couple.’
    â€˜Do they live in Sydney as well?’ Liam asked.
    â€˜I can’t tell you that.’
    â€˜Do they want to know anything about the baby?’ Diana asked.
    â€˜No, they would like this to be an unidentified adoption,’ Mrs Olsen said. ‘Now, that’s all the information I can give you about the donor couple, so please don’t ask me any more questions about them. Let’s move on to issues you will need to consider if you’re successful in having a baby.’ She moved the piece of paper with the details of the couple to the back of the pile and read from a different page. ‘Have you discussed whether you will tell the child how it was conceived?’
    â€˜Sorry, Mrs Olsen, I do have one question before we move on,’ Liam said. Diana looked at him in surprise. ‘What do we do if the donor couple change their mind and want to know about the baby? What if they want to meet the child when it’s older, or they want to be part of its life? Do we have any say over that?’
    The pinched look on Mrs Olsen’s face softened and she set the piece of paper down on her desk before answering Liam. ‘That’s a very good question, Liam, and an important one to ask. Genetically the child will match the donor couple, of course, but they’ve signed a donation consent form and by doing that they have relinquished their legal rights to the embryo. Once the implantation takes place, the embryo is your legal child. The couple can’t revoke their decision at a later date and decide to raise the child themselves.’
    Diana had never considered that. She was surprised Liam hadn’t discussed it with her because obviously it had been on his mind. She had been so focused on the embryo and falling pregnant that she hadn’t stopped to think about the donor couple. She assumed they weren’t emotionally invested in the embryo, because they would likely have at least one child already. If she was in their position she would want to know if the embryo had resulted in a baby, and if it was healthy. But would she want to know more than that? Would they? She shifted in her seat, uneasy with the path on which her mind was taking her. Her stomach lurched at the prospect of the couple turning up on her doorstep one day, demanding to meet their child.
    Diana said little in the remainder of the counselling session. Mrs Olsen and Liam moved on to discuss other issues, but Diana couldn’t articulate any intelligent responses. All she could think of during the session, and later that night as she lay awake in bed with Liam asleep beside her, was what would happen if the donor couple changed their mind and wanted to be involved in the child’s life. When she eventually fell asleep, Diana’s dreams were corrupted by the image of a man with brown hair and brown eyes, and a woman with blonde hair and green eyes, glaring at her and demanding she give them back their child.
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    The implantation took place at the fertility clinic the next day. It was the only embryo available for them, so if they didn’t fall pregnant they would have to go back on the list and wait for another genetic match to come up. The chance of that happening was slim and Diana knew they wouldn’t be able to save up enough money for another implantation. It felt to her like this was their one chance to become parents.
    Diana kept her eyes firmly shut throughout the procedure. ‘Please God,’ she whispered under her breath, over and over again. ‘Please give us a baby. Please let this work. Please God.’
    To Diana and Liam’s delight, her prayers were realised. They received a