Chapter 3: What They Planned
I read the message three times.
Each time, the words meant the same thing.
Claire was watching me.
"Who is that?"
"No one," I said.
I turned the phone face-down on the blanket.
My hand stayed on top of it.
Evan moved toward the door and looked into the hallway.
He came back with his voice lower than before.
"Marianne, we need to finalize this today.
The paperwork window is narrow.
If we don't move now, it complicates everything."
"What paperwork?" I said.
"She was just born two hours ago."
"The transfer of parental rights.
We had a solicitor prepare it in advance."
I stared at him.
"You had a solicitor prepare documents before she was even born."
"It's standard.
For surrogacy arrangements."
"This wasn't a surrogacy arrangement, Evan.
I'm her biological aunt.
I agreed to carry her as a gift.
I never signed anything that said you could specify what kind of baby you'd accept."
Claire sat down in the chair by the window.
She didn't look at the baby.
"We made certain investments based on certain expectations," she said.
"A boy was part of that plan."
"A boy was part of what plan?" My voice came out harder than I intended.
The baby stirred.
I lowered my voice.
"Claire.
Listen to what you're saying."
"I know what I'm saying."
"You're talking about a child like she's a product that came back wrong."
Claire's jaw tightened.
"That's not fair."
"Then explain it to me fairly.
Because right now you're standing in a hospital room refusing to hold a baby who has your blood in her veins, and you're telling me there are people involved in this arrangement who expected specific results.
So explain it.
All of it."
Evan and Claire exchanged a look.
Something passed between them that I wasn't meant to see.
"There's a family," Evan said finally.
"A very private family.
They were prepared to adopt the child if he was a boy.
It was arranged well before the birth.
They had requirements."
The room tilted slightly.
"You were going to give my baby away," I said.
"To strangers."
"To a wealthy family who could provide—"
"You were going to sell her."
"That word is not—"
"What word would you use, Evan?"
He stopped.
The baby made a small sound, and I pulled her closer without thinking.
She smelled like warmth and new skin and something I had no word for.
My phone buzzed again under my hand.
Same number.
*Room 214.
I'm a nurse here.
Come find me before they make you sign anything.
Please.*
I looked up at Claire.
She was watching my face.
"Whatever you're reading," she said quietly, "don't let it confuse you.
We're your family.
We're the ones who have been here through all of this."
I looked at my sister.
I thought about two years of begging.
Every appointment.
Her hands on my belly.
*That's my miracle.*
Then I looked at the baby.
"I need to use the bathroom," I said.
I stood up carefully, the baby still in my arms.
"Leave her here," Evan said.
"She's eleven days early and she needs to stay warm.
May you like
I'll be two minutes."
I didn't wait for his answer.
