Loving the Surrogate

The truth

Gracie came home from a long day at the office with boxes and boxes of God knows what thrown all over the living room as if a tornado carrying perfectly well-conditioned boxes passed through their living area. For a moment, she tried to figure out if this was their place, since she left in the morning for work with a clean space and nothing like that. Their housekeeper, Ada, must have ideas about all this mess. She would go now and ask her what the hell was happening in their house. Before she could say anything, another box popped in from the door where she stood and a Fedex guy was smiling at her.

"Good day, ma'am." In a heavy American accent.

"Excuse me, not to confuse or anything, but are you certain all these are for this address?" She asked the massive man standing in her doorway. "Because I do not recall ordering anything, you might want to check if you delivered it to the right address."

"Yes, love, they are for us. Thank you, Chad. " James came out of the bedroom wearing only his shorts. He had just been from a bath obviously. He looked smoking hot . I could've joined him if not for all these things. Grace thought bitterly. The fedex guy, handed the receipt to my husband and, after signing it, gave him a hundred dollar tip. The guy was lucky today and my husband was feeling generous. I wonder why.

"What's all this? What is this all about? Do we have a party and all these are props? You don't intend to crowd the living room with your gym things ,don't you?" Giving her a kiss on the lips. He smelled of aftershave and soap.

"No." He opened a small box and in it was a toy ball. I still cannot see what he is up to. They don't look like gym stuff to me. He played with it expertly. I was imagining the things he could do with those expert fingers.

"Mrs. Gracie Curtis ..the smart chief medical examiner who can dissect a dead person blindfolded, and determine its cause of death, but cannot figure out what I am trying to show you. What a shame." Vigorously shaking his head, his locks of hair sending water everywhere. He was just teasing her.

He reached out for a bigger box this time. I am still clueless, maybe because I had a long day and meetings took its toll on me. James pulled out a pillow ,a small pillow with little palm trees embroidered on it and two hotdog pillows all in shades of warm green---it dawned on me. That is baby stuff! Her husband had bought baby stuff! What on earth for???

"I was looking at some things on i********: and some baby ads showed up and I cannot help myself and ta-da! We got these!" He proudly announced. I hugged James closer because I needed that hug more than he thinks that I am grateful for all this. Some hugs are not to comfort the receiver of the hug, it was the other way around. I needed a hug.

"You are so excited, we haven't even confirmed anything, Love, but this is exciting. Thank you loads."

James was over the moon at the idea that they would have a little James or a little Gracie running around destroying all the Avant Garde house decor they had accumulated through frequent global travels all those years. Her husband wouldn't mind as long as the child was happy. She had seen how he was with his nephews and nieces and it shredded her heart to pieces about withholding vital information from James.

Most especially that he is already in love with a baby not yet born and will never be born. She cannot bear him a child. She learned of this a year after their wedding when James bought about the topic of having a child. She then decided to visit an old schoolmate whom she learned was practicing her profession as an obstetrician in New York too. She called her clinic and informed the secretary that she would drop by that day too. She took the afternoon off and headed to New York Presbyterian Hospital on Audubon Avenue.

Sheila Mcartney Crew is an old friend of theirs in college. They were block mates and usually had the same circle of friends, but Shiela was more reserved than her squad, who were loud and extremely popular. Nevertheless , they got along in college well. Sheila never attended class reunions so they concluded that she was out of the country and settled there. Not until she asked her secretary to look for recommendations from the best obstetricians in New York that Sheila's name topped the list.

Gracie is thrilled with the idea of a friend sorting her out and they can squeeze in a bit of catch-ups during her time in the clinic. Like hitting two birds with a single stone. It was half past one when she arrived and Sheila's secretary was typing on her desk top.

"Hi, I have an appointment today." She introduced herself even though the secretary did not look surprised seeing her there.

"Yes, ma'am. Doc cancelled all her patients scheduled today to clear her afternoon for you. We are pretty crowded on a daily basis.''

"Wow, that is great. "

"um, Ma'am? If I may? You are even prettier in person than in the magazines." She said shyly, and opened the door for her.

Gracie could see why she was Sheila's secretary. This woman is cool and friendly and easy on the eyes. Normally, occurrences like this did not surprise Gracie at all, but for an old friend to do this thing for her, she felt privileged and more important than normal. She made a mental note to ask her for dinner later in return for the wonderful gesture.

"She's inside, ma'am. What would you like to have, ma'am?"

Gracie smiled and asked for water and went inside. The room was custom made with subtle pink hues on the walls ,minimal designs really, an examination bed in the far corner with sliding curtains for privacy, and a desk with three chairs, a laptop and note pads, a pen and a comfort room. This room was very un-Shiela, who was wearing very colorful clothes and over accessorized back in college with her overly large eyeglasses with very thick lenses. Her office is very modern and chic now. I guess people do change.

"Oh my God. If it wasn't Gracie Smithson-Curtis. Pinch me. What a surprise! I honestly thought Linda was pranking me when she said you were booking an appointment. I had to double check the email myself. I cannot believe this. Come here, give your old friend a bear hug, just like in our university days." They hugged and kissed each other before taking their seats.

"Yeah, long time."

"Have a seat.''

"How long has it been? I cannot even remember, we are too old now.But look at you, you have changed." Gracie said, praising the glow up she had. Sheila ditched her usual colorful outfit and chose to wear a black dress under her doctor's coat and her hair was done differently. She looked good.

"I hope that I have changed for the better. "

"I won't ask you why you are here. The answer to that is clear as day." Sheila was not much of a talker in college, but she is now. Gracie was impressed at how much change the years had given her.

"We've been married for a year now, no contraceptives and no holding back either. Our s*x life is good, I wanna know why I am still not seeing any baby bump."

"We'll need to draw some blood samples as per protocol and conduct a couple of tests for us to know why James is not shooting at eggs right. You have to be here at least another hour and two more hours after. I hope you canceled prior engagements dear."

"Two more hours after? What for?" She asked Shiela as she instructed her assistant to ask for a medical technologist in her clinic as soon as possible.

"Because you and I are having dinner tonight. I will see your uterus' status and you won't treat me to a good pasta? Not happening, Gracie. Now you lie down while I prep things."

The whole afternoon was a blur. Sheila was fun as a person and as a friend. After her tests and other woman tests, they decided to drive from Ninth Avenue to a well-loved Italian restaurant called Il Punto. Gracie knew the owner and had no problems securing them a reservation. That place requires two weeks' notice to get in. She ordered a pizza, Napoletana , panzanella and white wine for them. All the laughing made them hungry.

" Your results will come in about a week, but because these are so good, I will personally see to it that it comes in in three days. That is common courtesy and good food has perks." She said, stuffing the Panzanella into her mouth. They ate heartily like their university days. She now knew that Shiela had two kids ages seven and five ,divorced and planned to stay single for quite some time.

You know you had a fun time when you did not even realize the time. She did not even bother to check on her phone. Nine missed calls and twenty-two texts. Half of them were from her husband. She sends him a quick text.

"Sorry love, the phone was silent, I'm with Shiela Mcarthy Crew. You remember her? About to finish dinner. Be home soon. Love you. xoxo"

They bid their goodbyes , exchanged cell numbers and went their separate ways.The next clinic schedule will be sent via email. She is due to return to her clinic three days later. Gracie decided it was best to keep her doctor's visit a secret from James . All he knew was that they had dinner and had met accidentally somewhere near the office. She'll tell him after they have the results. What could go wrong? She is fit and healthy and rarely gets sick and her periods are on a regular basis. Nothing is gonna be a problem.

Three days passed and she took the afternoon off again but this time informed James that she's meeting some friends from college. Which, in fact, is true. So he won't get suspicious or anything. She arrived at Shiela's clinic at three and did not wait to be ushered by Linda. Her excitement grew by the minute. Shiela was holding her tests results. There was something in her eyes that told her it was not a good day. But she is Gracie Smithson. She is too brave to let fear get a better footing than her.

" Hi, Gracie, told you I'd get them ready in three days. Please sit down."

"Well, there's an Asian restaurant down third avenue ,we can go there for dinner. I remember we liked Chinese noodles . We ate them four times a week back then." She was glad to be back at her friends clinic and to chat with her again over good food.

"Yeah let us do that.''

"So how's my uterus?"

You can have your heart broken by a man so many times, yet the pain does not even match knowing that you cannot give your husband what he truly desires. Not because you don't want to, but because you cannot. Shiela said that many women are unable to conceive and deliver a healthy baby due to genetic disorders. Sometimes this is due to an inherited chromosome abnormality, other times it is because of a single gene defect passed on from parent to child. Genetic disorders happen when the normal DNA sequence is altered caused by mutation. In other words, she , the esteemed Gracie Smithson-Curtis, is barren.