Hired as a Surrogate, Abandoned as a Single Mother

My name is Vanessa Olivia Winsworth. Sounds fancy, right? There's no way you'd hear that name and think anything other than 'this lady must be royalty.' She must be a girl who has spa dates and tanning sessions every weekend. A girl who feeds on only gourmet meals and travels abroad for every vacation. Or one who has all the girls from her high school and college crushing on her and praying she'd notice them. Sorry to disappoint you. I've never been that girl. Not even close. And right now, I'm so broke that two hours ago, I had to return my groceries at the supermart because I've maxed out my credit card. That's why I'm sitting in the waiting room of Evercare Fertility Center in my most expensive dress, ready to lease my womb to keep myself alive long enough to afford my dreams. Or at least my rent. Even though I had promised myself when I did this two years ago that I would never do it again. "Ms. Winsworth?" The receptionist calls, despite the fact that I'm the only person in this room. "Ms. Owen will see you now." I'm already on my feet before she completes the sentence, making my way down the hallway that leads to Maureen Owen's office. The staff may have changed since the last time I was here, but I still knew my way around the building without being handed a map. Maureen receives me at the door of her office, like she's been waiting for me. To be fair, she probably has. She's been calling me nonstop for the past two weeks, trying to get me to come down here to see, what she claims is going to be, my biggest payout ever. If I hadn't been fired from my job last week, I'm certain she'd still be calling. "Thank you so much for coming in, Vanessa," she says gratefully, pulling me into a small hug. "You look very lovely, by the way." "Thanks. You do too," I smile, walking ahead of her into the office while she closes the door. I stop walking when I see a lady on the couch, who's either too engrossed in her phone to notice someone else just walked into the room, or she's too important to acknowledge me first. I'm willing to go with the latter. Most clients who come into Maureen's office sit on the chair opposite her desk. The fact that this one is on her couch says a lot, even without words. "Ms. Rosswell, she's here," Maureen announces, leading me to the couch. "Oh, finally," the lady laughs, looking up at me from her phone as she rises. The red-and-white tweed dress and black block heels I have on pale in comparison to the expensive-looking halter neck white dress that flows in waves to her ankles. On her feet are a pair of gold strappy wedge sandals that expose her red toenails. She looks like she just walked off the cover of a Vogue magazine. I wonder if all the glimmer is natural or if she's had some work done. Most rich people have, and she looks like she's rich enough to afford the best doctors. "Hello, Vanessa. I'm Juliette Rosswell. It's a pleasure to finally meet you," she greets, holding out a perfectly manicured hand. "It's nice to meet you too," I reply, shaking her hand. "Have a seat and let's talk. I have an appointment in the next hour so I promise, I won't take a lot of your time," Juliette says, waving at the couch, before getting seated herself. I settle in beside her, with her bag and phone in between us. But she doesn't start talking until Maureen has dragged a chair to sit on, facing the both of us. "Before we go into anything, I'd like to thank you first, Vanessa, for what you do. What happens here at Evercare, women like you who go the extra mile to make families happy, it's a gift that should always be appreciated," Juliette begins, touching my hand affectionately. "Thank you for your kind words, Ms. Rosswell." "Please, call me Juliette. We're practically about to be family," she laughs. I offer her a small smile. There's really no need for small talk. I already know why I'm here. And neither Maureen nor Juliette needs to convince me to do what they need me to do. Not with the financial mess I'm in. But they don't know that. "My husband and I have been trying, for years now, to have a baby. But unfortunately, it's just never happened," Juliette continues in a more sober tone now. "George and I are great with kids. I mean, we've had practice with nephews and nieces, so I know. But we've come to that stage of our lives where we feel it's time to have one of our own." I nod in understanding. "I'm sorry for your troubles." "Oh, don't be. It's not your fault. The doctors say we should be patient and it'll happen. But if there's one flaw I have, it's impatience," she replies with a light chuckle, laughing at her own joke. Maureen offers a smile. "I was referred to Maureen by one of my acquaintances who've used her services before. Maureen and I have been in communication over the past couple of months since then." I note how she used the word acquaintance. Evercare has built a reputation for itself in the surrogacy industry in the six years it's been in existence. But it certainly wouldn't be the first point of call for someone like Juliette Rosswell, or people she's friends with. Which makes me want to ask her outright why she didn't go with one of the bigger centers. At least there, she wouldn't even need to come in and try to convince anybody to carry her baby for her. "Of course, she's sent me photos of your...colleagues here. Glowing credentials, I must say. But none of them felt right," Juliette sighs, before smiling at me. "But when I saw your photo, I felt a connection. And somehow, I just knew it had to be. Maureen did tell me that you were one and done, which is why I requested that she let me see you. Hopefully, I can talk you into changing your mind?" "Well," I begin, touching my hair nervously. "I respect Maureen a lot. I may have only worked with her once. But she's been persistent in calling, so I just thought I'd come down and see what the fuss is all about." It's my turn to laugh at my own joke. I clear my throat to wave off the awkward moment. "I believe you'd make a wonderful mother," I go on, throwing in a compliment which makes Juliette smile. "And meeting you now, my conscience would not let me be if I denied you this. I was one and done. It was just something I wanted to try out." That's a lie. I was on the waiting list for almost a year before a client picked me to be their surrogate. And I wasn't even their first choice. The lady they wanted backed out because her boyfriend proposed. But Maureen doesn't say anything to dispute me, so I keep talking. "Pregnancy is a very emotional and stressful period in a woman's life." "I know. I mean, I may not have been pregnant before, but I get it. And that's why I'm offering five hundred thousand dollars for..." My brain spaces out once the figures leave her mouth and I don't hear the rest of what she's saying. "Vanessa?" Maureen's voice tilts me back to reality. "Yeah, I'm listening," I murmur. Juliette is still smiling at me like I'm the best thing that's ever happened to her. "As I was saying, in addition to that, I'll be honored to handle your medical care, accommodation, feeding, and any other thing you need during the course of the pregnancy," Juliette says. "I just want you to be happy and healthy because that would affect the baby as well, right? "Yeah, yeah. Definitely. It does," I nod eagerly. I had planned to negotiate, but the figures I had in mind are nowhere close to what Juliette just offered on a platter. So, the meeting comes to a close pretty quickly. Just as she'd said it would before we started. "Thank you so much for agreeing to meet with me once again," Juliette thanks me as we stand. "I did tell Maureen I'm a magician." This time, all of us laugh at her joke. "I'll be in touch, Vanessa. We'll finalize the paperwork before the end of the week. Juliette plans to have the insemination done by next week." "That soon?" I raise my brows in surprise. "I'm hoping to surprise George with the news on his next birthday. And that's in four months time. It'd be nice if the baby is already growing by then so he doesn't have to wait too long to meet him or her," Juliette explains. "Oh, that's cute," I smile. Finally, I'm all set to go with a check in my bag for a thousand dollars that Juliette insisted I have for breaking out of my hiatus on her behalf. There's going to be money for rent and groceries finally. I hope it's enough to convince my boyfriend and best friend to let me do this one last time.