Chapter 5
The car picked Ashley up precisely on time and took her to meet with Ms. Stanford and her client, who had not been named. Ashley really had held no desire to discuss any of this further, but after the fiasco of the night before, she decided she had nothing to lose. Perhaps this was the answer to her problems, if she could live with whatever terms they might offer. They got what they wanted, she got what she wanted. Everyone was open and honest about having used one another, for a change.
“Ah, Ashley! It’s so good to see you again,” Ms. Stanford said as she entered the small office. “My client will be here shortly. The flight was exhausting for him, so he was going to rest up a bit and let us get into some of the details before joining us.”
“Where was he flying in from?” Ashley asked.
“Scotland,” Ms. Stanford replied.
“Oh, yes. I suppose that is a very long flight.”
“Absolutely,” Ms. Stanford replied, a strange smile caressing her face. “Anyway, let’s get down to brass tacks here. As I told you in our meeting yesterday, you have a unique blood type. Additionally, you have all the genetic markers this particular client is looking for. He is willing to pay you very well to be a surrogate and to maintain complete privacy in this matter.”
“How much is very well? I’ve read that the top rate is forty thousand. That’s not even a year’s salary, so why would I do this instead of just going out and getting a job?” Ashley replied.
“This isn’t a traditional surrogacy. There are special requirements that negate your fee being solely applied to the surrogacy itself.”
“So, you are essentially getting around the laws that exist by paying a fee for the surrogacy and additional monies for confidentiality agreements?” Ashley countered, not willing to be a part to anything illegal.
“That is one way of looking at it, though not entirely accurate. There are a lot of legal ins and outs to the situation and I’ll be happy to go over them all with you, if you would like, but rest assured, our lawyers have done a great deal of work to make sure everything we do is legal and above board. We’ve arranged many of these surrogacies without issue.”
“Okay, so what is it you are offering me and for what, exactly.”
“Per the agreement, you would act as a surrogate, via artificial insemination. Once pregnant, you would be required to reside with the father in Scotland until after the birth of the baby. All parental rights would be given over to the father from conception.”
“Wait? Did you say Scotland?”
“Yes. Inverness.”
“That’s a long way from my responsibilities here. I’d have to put my life on hold until this is done.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know if I could do that.”
“Well, that is entirely up to you, but you should listen to the rest before you make that decision.”
“Okay. What is the rest?”
“You’ll be paid a full forty thousand, up front, to take care of anything you need to settle before you leave. That’s ten thousand upon acceptance of the contract and the remaining thirty thousand upon conception. After that, you would be provided accommodations, meals, and liberal expenses for the duration of the agreement. Upon delivery, you would be able to return to the States with a final payment of five million dollars per the privacy agreement.”
“I’m sorry. Did you just say five million dollars?”
“Yes. That is correct.”
“What’s the catch? There’s something more that I’m missing,” Ashley replied, astounded.
As if on cue, Ms. Stanford’s phone rang, and she answered, listening for a moment before telling the person on the other end to send someone up.
“That’s the other party,” she said, standing up and walking toward the door.
A moment later, a man’s voice could be heard outside the door, speaking with a notable Scottish accent. Ashley caught her breath as he walked through the frame. She wasn’t in the habit of calling men beautiful, but she could think of no other word to describe this one. He was tall, broad shouldered, and chiseled to perfection. His jet black hair, brown eyes, and tanned skin gave him a smoldering look she’d only ever seen on the covers of racy romance novels, except he was real and she was suddenly speechless.
“Ashley, this is our client, Colin Thomson. Colin, this is Ashley Durham, your potential surrogate. Let’s all have a seat and get to know one another, shall we?” Ms. Stanford replied.
Colin smiled, revealing a set of perfect white teeth and waved his hand toward one of the chairs in front of Ms. Stanford’s desk.
“Please, ladies first,” he replied.
“Thank you,” Ashley replied politely, trying to regain control of her racing heart and lust-struck reaction to him.
“Ashley, I’ve sent your file to Mr. Thomson for review and he’s already agreed to you as a surrogate, pending the outcome of this face to face meeting. It’s just a matter, now, of making a final agreement. There are some special circumstances beyond what we’ve already gone over that need to be discussed before we can make anything formal.”
“What circumstances?” Ashley asked, wondering why she was even letting this play out.
She knew she should already be politely declining, but she found herself actually considering that it might be a viable way out of her current financial predicament and really, how bad could it be to stay with this guy for nine months?
“We’ll get to that, but let’s discuss whether you are prepared to give up your life here and move to Scotland for an extended period, first,” she replied.
“I would want to know a little more about the conditions I would be living in and frankly, I’m curious as to why I couldn’t maintain the pregnancy here in the States and only go there for delivery or have Mr. Thomson come here to retrieve the baby after its birth.”
“Perfectly reasonable questions,” he replied, reaching for his attaché case, and pulling a tablet free.
Ashley watched curiously as he turned the tablet on and touched the screen a few times before handing it to her. She looked down to see an extremely large estate home on the screen. Of course, for all she knew, this could still be a scam of some sort. How was she to know she wasn’t being paid a fee for them to pretend to inseminate her, tell her she’s pregnant and then ship her off to some foreign place into slavery or something even more sinister. Sure, it was a dark thought, perhaps even a bit too farfetched, but things like that did happen, didn’t they?
“That is my home in Scotland. Just swipe the screen to your left. There are more photos,” he told her.
Ashley did as he suggested. She found herself looking at more photos of what was an extremely clean, pristine home that appeared more like a showcased property than where someone actually lived. For all she knew, it was just that. No sooner had she thought that than she arrived at photos that included him inside the home. Okay. Maybe he did live there then. The guy must be filthy rich. She swiped once more and gasped aloud.
“What’s wrong?” Ms. Stanford asked, looking alarmed.
“You own a Nathrach Sgiathich?” Ashley said incredulously.
“Swipe again,” he replied.
Ashley did and continued to swipe, revealing several more of the dragons she had grown to love over the months. They were sculptures made by a rather reclusive artist. The gallery she had worked at had been trying to acquire one, unsuccessfully, for years. A large portion of her job had been trying to track down a source to purchase an existing one or commission a new one and this guy, well, he had at least six of them, according to his photos. She had to admit, she was intrigued.
“You should see them in person,” he told her, flashing his smile once again.
“We shall see,” she replied.
“How are you feeling about things, so far?” Ms. Stanford asked.
“Not bad, but I still don’t understand why I have to go all the way to Scotland for the duration of the pregnancy.”
“Let me answer that for you,” Colin replied.
Ashley turned back to look at him, admiring his perfect features as he spoke quietly to her, his body tilted toward hers. The thing that struck her is that this wasn’t about anything personal for him, it seemed. As his story unfolded, she began to realize that this was strictly about money for him.
“My parents have quite a lot of money. I’m rich by most people’s standards, but they make me look like a street urchin, if we’re comparing wealth. Their one wish in life is to have a grandchild to carry on the family name and I’ve not given them that. Not just that, but they want me to get married. A family would cramp my style. I don’t want to settle down and become someone’s boring father.”
“That’s not really tugging at my heart strings that you want me to have a baby for you to use as a pawn to get what you want from your parents. Children deserve a bit more than that,” she said, feeling disappointed, much to her surprise.
She had been warming to the idea of being able to give someone a son that couldn’t have one otherwise, for whatever reasons, but this didn’t sound like something she would ever want to be a part of. Granted, she didn’t really want kids of her own any time soon, but maybe, one day, and perhaps via insemination so that she never had to deal with some father who bailed out before their kid was out of diapers. When and if that time come, she would want the child with all her heart and love it unconditionally.
“No. You misunderstand me. I do want a child. I want one desperately. It’s just that I don’t want a woman involved in the equation. I can love a child and give him or her everything they ever wanted, including an adoring father. I just have no desire to give up my lifestyle to accommodate the full family picture.”
Ashley was beginning to understand. He wanted to keep playing the field and he didn’t want anyone telling him what he could and could not do with his child. No trading weekends or drawing straws for holidays. He wanted a child that was simply his own. His parents were happy. He was happy. Plus, he would eventually inherit the family fortune. But wait, he had mentioned a wife too.
“You said they want you to get married too.”
“Yes,” he replied.
“That hasn’t been mentioned.”
“It hasn’t been mentioned, because it isn’t on the table. You would present yourself as my wife to my parents until after the birth. Then, you will simply return home and I will tell them you left us. It’s close enough to the truth and they will not question it, neither will they fault me for something I cannot help. They will just be happy I have given them a grandchild, an heir.”
“Don’t you think they will find it sudden that you just show up with a pregnant wife?”
“No. It won’t surprise them at all. Forgive me for being blunt, but I get around. The odds of my getting someone pregnant, given the special requirements for me to do so, are slim but not impossible. They will just view it as a twist of fate.”
“I see. What are these special requirements? I’ve never heard of someone not being able to have a child due to a certain DNA string or whatever.”
“That part is complicated. It is something I will need to show you.”
“Show me?”
“Yes, but it requires the signing of the non-disclosure that Ms. Stanford told you about. If all of this doesn’t sound too strange to you already, then that is the next step.”
Ashley looked at him and then toward Ms. Stanford, who pushed a form across the desk toward her, along with a pen.
“This is just a standard form, Ashley. You are welcome to take your time and read it, but it essentially says you agree not to reveal anything you see or hear in this meeting today. To do so puts you in a position of facing a lawsuit for monetary damages to be determined by the amount of harm caused by your indiscretions. A further agreement will be covered when and if you elect to accept Mr. Thomson’s offer.”
Ashley thought about this, reading through the paper briefly. It didn’t appear to have any clauses beyond what had just been stated and what harm could there be in just hearing it the rest of the way out. She signed it and lay the pen down to one side.
“Very good then. Let’s go across the hall for a moment,” Ms. Stanford said, glancing at the paper, and adding her own to the signature line below.
Ashley stood and followed her out as she passed by the two of them and made her way out the office door. She couldn’t help but think this was a mix of being fascinating and extremely bizarre in some way she couldn’t quite figure out. They walked down the hall a bit and into a large round room with frosted windows. Like the clinical area, it was pristinely clean, but painted a darker beige hue to offset the antiseptic feel of it, she presumed.
“Stand here,” Ms. Stanford told her, pointing to a spot along the interior wall beside where she stood.
Ashley did so, realizing that, for whatever reason, she felt incredibly nervous about whatever was going to come next. She watched as Colin Thomson, brooding godlike creature that he was, walked to the opposite side of the room and began to undress.
“What is this?” Ashley breathed.
“Just watch and stay calm. I will explain once the transition is over,” Ms. Stanford replied.
Transition? Did she say transition? Ashley looked at her, puzzled, but she merely waved her hand toward where he continued to undress in front of the opposite wall. This whole thing was getting strange. It was all she could do not to call it off and bolt, but her curiosity held her in place. She did her best not to stare once he was naked. He was perfect in every way.