Chapter 3
Mila rode in Marcus's stretch black limo. She gazed through the tinted windows at the city passing by, but she could think of nothing but last night in her mother's house. Tension and worry hung over the whole family. They went over and over her father's papers. They couldn't believe Mila would find a way to pay off the debt so her mother could stay in the house.
Marcus sat in the seat next to her, but he didn't try to talk to her. He sat as far away from her as he could, against the opposite door, and he gazed out the other window. What was he thinking right now? He would never know she did all this to save her mother. To him, she would never be anything but a baby factory. He would take his baby, and she would disappear out of his life. So much the better.
When this was all over and done with, when she collected her money and paid her mother's debt, she never wanted to see his face again. She couldn't look him in the eye. She was nothing to him but a means to an end. Come to think of it, he was nothing to her but a means to an end, too.
He would never be her baby's father. She wouldn't have a baby. She would go on with her life. She would work and live and meet people. She wouldn't be a mother. She would be a test tube someone used to get what they wanted. He paid her for it. End of story.
The limo moved through the city streets, but it couldn't move fast. Traffic slowed it down, but that didn't bother Mila. Everything about this situation moved in slow motion. She watched herself meet Marcus in the office. She watched him sign the bank transfer order for the first installment of her payment. She watched him escort her down the elevator. She watched herself get into the limo. None of this was really happening.
Marcus broke in on her thoughts by clearing his throat. “Thank you for doing this for me, Mila. This means a lot to me. I wouldn't want anyone but you.”
She shrugged. “Sure, Marcus. I should be thanking you, too. Thank you for giving me this opportunity. It means a lot to me, too.”
He looked over at her, but she kept her eyes trained out the window. “Whatever's bothering you, I want to say you can tell me if you want to. You can trust me. Whatever made you change your mind, whatever it is you need this money for, if you ever need someone to confide in, I'm here for you. We've known each other long enough. If you need help, maybe I can help you.”
She couldn't stop herself facing him then. “I know I can trust you, but I don't need help. I just need this money.” She smacked her lips and chopped the air with her hand. “Aw, what the heck. I might as well tell you. It's nothing shameful or stupid like paying for drugs or gambling debts, if that's what you're thinking.”
“I wasn't thinking anything of the kind. I know you wouldn't get into anything like that. I just can't figure out what grand emergency would crop up that would make you change your mind so fast. You gave me a very definite no, and then a few hours later, you came back practically begging for this contract. If you're in some trouble, I want to help you. I can't stand by and let you flounder on your own.”
“You're not letting me flounder. You're helping me. You're helping me more than I deserve. My father died, okay? That's what happened. My father dropped dead of a massive heart attack and left my mother saddled with a huge mortgage on their house. She can't afford to pay the loan payments. She doesn't have enough income to survive. I need this money to pay off her debt so she can stay in the house. That's the big mystery. That's all there is to it.”
He turned to the window. “I see.”
Mila went back to looking the other way. “Please don't thank me for this or appreciate what I'm doing. I'm just as much a mercenary as you are. I'm worse than a mercenary.”
He didn't say anything. Mila wallowed in her misery all the way to the clinic, but when the limo pulled into the underground parking garage and stopped, Mila's hand shot out to stop Marcus getting out. “Listen. Maybe this isn't such a great idea after all. You don't want your baby growing in someone who doesn't really want to do this. Maybe you should find someone else.”
“Like who would I find?”
“I don't know. Maybe you could take out an ad somewhere.”
Marcus sat back in the seat. “Look, Mila. You came clean about your motives, so let me come clean, too. I don't want anybody else. I looked long and hard for someone else, and I always came back to you. You're doing this for your mother. That in itself tells me you're the right woman for the job.”
“What do you mean?”
“The only way I could get someone growing this baby who really wanted to do this is if I got married and knocked up my wife the old fashioned way. That's not going to happen. I'm too busy even to go on a date. I have to use a surrogate, and that means you. You've got all the qualities I want my child to inherit from the mother, and you have that extra je ne sais quoi I could never have hoped to find from anyone answering an ad. You're compassionate. You're family oriented. You're selfless. This situation with your mother proves that.”
Mila shifted in her seat. “Are you sure you want to do this? Are you sure I'm really the one you want?”
“I'm sure.” He took her hand from the seat. “Come on. Let's get in there. If you don't like what you see, you can still change your mind.”
His words lifted her spirits, and she let him hand her out of the limo. He led her to an elevator, and they whizzed up into the building. Somewhere on the upper floor, the doors opened on a normal-looking office tastefully decorated with couches and a table full of ordinary magazines. Mila sat down across from a couple. The man read a hunting/fishing magazine while the woman did the crossword puzzle.
Mila picked up a Woman's Weekly, but she only pretended to read while she studied the couple over the top. Were they married, trying everything under the sun in the desperate hope of bringing a child into their shattered marriage? Were they already parents of one child having trouble with the second?
The woman glanced up and caught Mila looking. The woman cast a sidelong glance at Marcus. He tapped the glass of an aquarium in the corner and smiled at Mila. That woman would never know Marcus and Mila weren't another random couple like her and her husband. She would never guess Marcus was Mila's boss—or ex-boss—paying her a pile of cash to have his baby.
At that moment, a well-dressed older woman stuck her head in. “Mila?”
Mila followed her into the nicest doctor's office she ever saw. Plush carpet lined the halls, and cushy chairs sat in front of desks. The woman opened another door and motioned Mila into the seat. The woman sat down behind the desk and pulled the keyboard toward her. “So, you're here for your initial exam. You're doing standard artificial insemination with ovulation tracking. Is that correct?”
Mila turned bright red. “Yes, that's correct.”
The woman smiled. “Don't worry. It's normal to have some jitters and anxiety going into fertility treatment. We offer counseling before and after the procedure to help you process any issues you face during your treatment. Here's the counselor's card. Feel free to call her whenever you need support.”
“Thank you.” Mila stuffed the card in her pocket without looking at it. She sure wouldn't be talking to any counselor about this situation. She must be the only woman on the planet getting paid to have her boss's baby.
“Now,” the doctor went on, “I'll just check a few pieces of background information and we can go ahead and get started. What is your date of birth?”
“August 25, 1990.”
The doctor tapped on her keyboard. “Twenty-seven years old. That's perfect. Do you smoke?”
“No.”
“Have you ever smoked?”
“No.”
“Have you ever had children?”
“No.”
“What was the date of your last menstrual cycle?”
Mila's cheeks burned. “A week ago on Wednesday.”
“Great. Now if you'll just jump up on the table, I'll give you a routine pelvic exam. We'll do a quick pap smear, just like all the others you've had, and we'll take a blood sample. Then you'll be all done.”
Mila didn't see any table until the woman walked around behind her. That's when Mila saw a regular doctor's exam table tucked behind the office door. No one would know it was there. The doctor pulled the curtain. “Take off your clothes below the waist, and put this sheet over your hips. I'll wait out here. You call me when you're ready.”
Mila couldn't get over all this. Her head spun. This couldn't be happening. She couldn't be taking off her clothes in an office downtown, getting ready to get knocked up by some guy she worked for. Somehow, she got through the exam. Heaven knew she'd been through enough of them, but she couldn't escape the distinct feeling she was doing something wrong.
The next thing she knew, the doctor chirped, “You can get dressed now. I'll wait for you out here.”
Mila put her clothes back on, but they couldn't hide the sticky feeling all over her skin. When she shot the curtain back, she found the doctor typing at her desk. She smiled up at Mila and pushed a ribbon-wrapped present across the desk. “Here's your treatment package for the next two weeks. You'll find some testing strips and detailed instructions of everything you have to do.”
Mila stared at the beautiful box wrapped in shiny paper. “What?”
To her relief, the woman didn't laugh in her face the way she expected. “We'll track your cycle over the next two weeks to determine the best day to inseminate you. You'll test your own urine, just the way you do when you get a UTI.”
“I've never had a UTI.”
“Well, you'll find detailed instructions inside. When you see the testing window on the strip turn purple, you'll call the clinic and we'll bring you in.”
“Bring me in?”
The woman grinned. “That's just our way of saying you'll come in for your first insemination. You'll have five inseminations, two per day for every ovulation. Once you finish one round of inseminations, we'll set up a schedule of blood tests to see if you're pregnant.”
Mila mumbled down at her shoes. “Oh, right.”
The woman stood up. “You're all done for the day. You can wait out in the reception area for your partner.”
Mila blinked. Partner? She could only mean Marcus.
Mila collected her present and went out to the reception area. Marcus wasn't there, so she picked up the half-finished crossword left by the other.....what could she call that other woman waiting for treatment? Was she a patient? Was she a client?
Before she could figure out a five letter word for 'faint', Marcus came through the same door. He looked all around him and nodded to Mila. “Let's go, if you're ready.”