Chapter6
Jasmine had decided that the best way to start to get over her feelings for Cameron would be to stop seeing him so much, and when she did see him, to keep their conversations strictly to discussions about the baby.
She told herself that she could do it. She told herself that she had to do it. When she got an unexpected call four days after she had gotten back from her weekend with Cameron at the bed and breakfast, she thought that maybe it was the universe listening to her about what she needed.
“Hello?” she asked, answering the phone with a note of concern. The call was from her doctor’s office. At first, she was worried about the baby, and thought that perhaps something had come up that might not be good.
“Jasmine?” she heard the familiar voice speak her name.
“Dr. Clayton?” She closed her eyes and squeezed them shut tight, realizing too late, “I mean, Andrew… what can I do for you? Is everything alright?” she asked, hoping that it was nothing to do with the baby’s health.
“Yes, everything is fine. I just… I know we’ve talked about it when you’ve come in to see me, but I thought that perhaps if I asked you when you aren’t laying on an examination table in front of me, it might seem a little less strange. I was hoping that I could convince you to come have dinner with me, please.” He sounded happy to hear her, and hopeful that she would say yes to him for once.
She blinked in surprise. She hadn’t been expecting his call at all. “Oh!” she tried to think for a moment as he waited for her. Her first instinct was to tell him yet again that she wasn’t interested, and that she wouldn’t go, but then before she could say it, her conversation with Kelly came back into her mind and she realized that Andrew might very well be just what she needed.
He was the hidden answer to her getting over Cameron. If she started seeing him, then she thought that perhaps she might not be so interested in Cameron, and she could also have some sort of justifiable reason to tell Cameron that they couldn’t see each other anymore, at least romantically.
“You know what, Andrew, you’ve really been persistent in this and I think that maybe I might give you the chance that you’ve been after for so long. I know I said I wasn’t ready and that the time wasn’t right, but I think that might be changing, and perhaps the time really is right now to see you the way that you would like to see me.” She took a deep breath. “I will go out to dinner with you.”
She could hear the surprise and delight in his voice as he spoke to her. “When are you free? I can go anytime.”
“Friday night would be best for me.” She said with a little pinch to her heart. Friday night had become kind of a go to night for her and Cameron to go out and spend time together. Friday and Saturday nights, she realized, and taking one of those away from him to spend the time with another man was exactly the kind of thing that might work to put some much-needed space between her and Cameron.
“Friday is great! May I pick you up at your home at five?” he asked with a tone of excitement in his voice.
“Yes, that would be fine, and Andrew, thank you for trying so much and for not giving up on this. It might work out really nicely.” She smiled, hoping that he could tell just how genuine she was being with him.
“I’m so glad that I didn’t give up. You’re worth being with, and that would be obvious to anyone who really cared about you and who had any common sense.” He laughed lightly. “I’ll be looking forward to it until then. See you Friday.”
They said goodbye and she ended the call, wondering how it was going to go, seeing her baby doctor while she was pregnant with another man’s child. She didn’t know too much about Andrew, but she was determined that she was going to find out all that she could about him, and she hoped that it would be enough to sway her attention to him from Cameron. She was certain that he was hoping exactly the same thing.
Friday came and she dressed with great care, taking the extra time to make herself look good. She wore a light lavender colored dress and styled her hair, making sure that the dark curls around her head were shining and framing her face perfectly. She took her time doing her makeup and making sure that it was perfect.
She even added some light perfume, and as she turned in front of the mirror looking at her reflection, she told herself that she was doing the right thing. There could be no confusion about it, she was definitely doing the right thing, no matter how strange it might feel to be doing it. She also told herself that it wasn’t cheating on Cameron, because they weren’t an official couple. They had only been spending time together. They had no other name that could fit them, other than employer and employee, and lovers. There was nothing else, and definitely nothing that could be compromised by her going out with another man.
He helped her to his car and took her to a good Italian restaurant in the city. He had a table reserved, and they were shown to it right away. When they had been seated, he gazed at her with bright and happy eyes.
“I know I said it in the car already, but you really look beautiful tonight. There’s just something about you. It’s wonderful.” He shook his head and looked at her with a slight expression of disbelief on his face. “I was so surprised when you told me that you were finally going to come out with me.
I’ve been waiting so long for a yes from you, and hoping, but I’ve got to tell you, I was beginning to wonder if you were going to keep me waiting a long while, or just finally tell me no once and for all and mean it. I can’t believe that we’re actually sitting here together. This took so long, and I know right now that it doesn’t matter how long it took because you’re he grinned at her.
She felt her cheeks warm and she smiled at him. “Thank you. I know you were determined, but I just had to make sure that it was right for me, and now it’s the right time.” She shrugged a little and gave him a sweet smile. She was forcing herself not to think of Cameron, and every time he came to her mind, she pushed the thought s of him away, concentrating as much as she could on the man sitting before her.
Andrew had dressed very well himself, putting quite a bit of care and time into looking as good as he could for her. She was unused to seeing him without the white doctor’s coat that he always wore, and without it, she was able to see him more as a man than as a person of position in her life.
He was wearing a button up shirt and cloth pants that fit him snugly in the back. He had a sport jacket with him, but he had carried it out of the car and over his shoulder, in case it got cold while they were in the restaurant. His short brown hair was gelled and combed with precision as it always was, his eyes were set on her, and he was smiling as if he couldn’t be happier to be with her.
She might not have wanted to think or talk about Cameron, but Andrew was ready to start talking about him right away, and that was just what he did.
“Have you told Mr. Elliot that you’re having a girl?” Andrew asked, eyeing her closely as he folded his hands together and placed them on the table in front of him.
She shook her head. “No, I guess I haven’t had a chance yet. Or… I have had chances, but I haven’t wanted to tell him because I guess I’m a little afraid of what he will say, and worse, what he will do. I mean… he’s so set on having a son… it makes me nervous to tell him that that’s not happening.”
He nodded. “That is totally understandable. The man is spending a fortune to have a son, and here you are, pregnant with a girl.” He frowned and shook his head. “I’ll be honest, knowing what I know about him, I really do think that you’re up against a wall. He isn’t going to want the baby if it’s a girl. I have a feeling that you’re going to be stuck with the baby, and you’ll wind up raising it on your own.
He might come through with some money for you to help you raise it and defray the cost, but I don’t think he’s going to be around in person taking on any of the responsibility. I wish I could tell you differently, but he’s got his heart and his mind set, and I just don’t think that there’s anything that can change it.”
She sighed and frowned, looking down at her own hands for a moment, wishing that they were talking about anything else, wishing that he didn’t know what he was talking about, and wishing that he was wrong, but as she heard his words spoken, the same words that had been echoing in her mind since she had found out that she was having a girl, it only seemed to confirm her fears and show her that she wasn’t wrong about her worries for her baby’s future.
“That little girl is half yours too, you know. I think you should just take it and go. Leave him out of it. You know he’s not going to want her. If I was you, I’d just take her and leave. Consider raising it on your own. Leave him totally out of the picture since he’s so short sighted. At some point, he’s going to find out that you’re carrying a girl, and when he does he’s not going to want to have anything at all to do with it, and he’s going to leave her to you to raise.
You should start getting ready for that now, so that you’re not caught unaware when the time comes, because it’s coming soon. You should be prepared.” Andrew got a dark look on his face and reached for his wine, sipping it thoughtfully as he spoke.
After a thoughtful moment, he set his wine glass down and leaned closer over the table to her, lowering his voice. “I know I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but I’m so worried about you, and I’m worried about that little baby girl you’re carrying.” He looked around to see if anyone else might be listening in. Seeing that they weren’t and that their conversation was their own to share, he continued. “You aren’t the only woman who is carrying his baby as a surrogate.” He confided in her.
Her mind flashed to Eva. Of course, he would know all about Eva, she would have needed him for every single step that Jasmine had taken, and he would have been the one to work on Cameron’s request with her. She frowned again and lifted her eyes to watch him.
“I did know that there was another woman carrying his baby. I met her in the waiting room at your office. I think her name is Eva Cruz.” She said quietly, wishing so much that it wasn’t true.
He nodded. “That’s her. She is a month behind you in her term, so she’ll be having her baby right around Christmas, while you’re having yours in November.” He pressed his lips together into a thin line and then looked hard at her.
“I don’t want to upset you, and I’m not sure that I should tell you this either, but Eva is having a son. She is going to give Mr. Elliot the son that he’s so hell bent on having. So, knowing that, I think you’re better armed to make decisions about what you want to do. Think of it… he has a son with her, so what does he need a daughter with you for?” He picked up his wine glass again and she stared at him.
One of the questions that had been burning at her mind had finally been answered. Eva was pregnant with a boy, and she was going to give Cameron the son that he was so set on having. She was going to be out of the picture completely.
It felt to her as if her heart was breaking, but she couldn’t tell Andrew that, or even let him see it at all, because it would give too much away to him. “I can’t believe this…” she finally whispered, letting out some of her emotion. “I did know that she was pregnant with his baby, but I didn’t know that she was having a boy.” She felt as if the earth had just dropped out from underneath her.
“What am I going to do?” she asked in a whisper, her eyes staring ahead but not seeing anything. Andrew reached across the table and took her hands into his.
“Listen to me, I told you because I don’t think that it’s fair that you don’t know. You should know. You should have known all along. Did he even tell you that there was another woman or did you just happen to find out by talking with her?” he looked at her curiously.
She gritted her teeth and then tried to relax. “He never told me. I’ve talked with him so many times and he’s never said it once. He hasn’t even hinted at it. Not one word, and here I am more than halfway through my pregnancy with his child.”
“Well, here’ what I think. I think that you should just leave the deal. Leave him behind you. I think that because you know what you know now, you should just take that baby girl of yours and get out of his life forever. He doesn’t want her, and he’s going to leave her with you. Here’s the other thing…”
He hesitated and then leaned close again, his eyes steady on hers. “I want you to think of me. I want you to consider that I want to be with you, whether he takes that baby girl or not, and I’m betting that he doesn’t. I want to be with you, and I would be so honored and so glad to raise that little girl with you. I know it seems sudden and you’ve got a lot going on in your head and heart, but the last thing that you’re going to want to do is try to raise that baby girl on your own. Let me help you, at least… however you want it to be. I can be there as a friend helping you, or I can be there as much more than that helping you. Just let me do it. Let me try with you. Think about it.” he looked at her earnestly and she felt tears stinging the back of her eyes.
What had seemed so perfect in her life just a week before was now becoming twisted and jagged. It was becoming a nightmare that she was in no way prepared to handle. He rubbed his thumbs over the back of her hand and spoke gently. “I want you to know that you’re not alone. You’re so not alone. I’m here for you. I’ll be here for you in time to come. Remember that.”
She nodded mutely as she tried to swallow and think about what she had learned and what they had talked about. It was a total game changer for her. Eva was having a son, and when she did, what use would Jasmine or her daughter be to Cameron, she wondered. She thought of Kelly telling her to look out for herself and her baby. She knew that she had to.
Jasmine turned the topic of the conversation to other things, to anything that didn’t have to do with the baby and with Cameron. Andrew seemed to sense that she wasn’t able to talk about it any longer, and he let the topic go. The tension between them faded, and they talked about everything else but the pregnancy, the baby, and Cameron.
When the meal was done, she told him that she was tired and that she needed to go home. He obliged and drove her there, walking with her to her door.
He gazed down at her and smiled a little, drawing near to her. “I’m so sorry. This isn’t at all what I was thinking when I asked you out. I thought we’d have a great time all night and I didn’t think about the conversation being so difficult, but I care about you and I thought that you should know. It’s important to me to make sure that you’re really aware of what’s actually going on. I don’t want to see you get hurt, and I also want to know that that baby you’re carrying is going to be loved and well looked after.”
She nodded. “I know that. I did enjoy your company tonight. Thank you for asking me, and for asking so many times and keeping at it until I said yes. I am glad that I went.”
He laughed a little. “Maybe next time it will all be more fun, and we can talk about things that make you smile. I like seeing you smile, you have a great smile. It’s so bright and beautiful, just like you.”
Andrew leaned forward and kissed her cheek softly, and she let him. Then he cupped one hand around her cheek and drew his lips to hers, nearing her to kiss her mouth. Something in her snapped and she turned her head away.
“I’m sorry Andrew, I’m not ready for that yet.” She looked back up at him and saw that he understood. “I… I need some time to think about everything.”
“It’s alright, don’t worry about it. You take all the time that you need. I’m not going anywhere, and I want you. Thank you for the evening, I loved getting to spend some time with you, and I’m glad that you know the truth now.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek again, and then gave her a nod and she waved as he stepped down off of her porch and walked to his car.
***
Cameron was sitting at his office desk when the door opened and he looked up to find a surprise visitor. His breath caught in him for a moment and he tried not to stammer as he stood up from his chair and walked around his desk to greet his guest.
“Eva… my god… what a surprise. I wasn’t expecting you.” He walked toward the brown skinned beauty and wrapped his arm around her, kissing her cheek before he stepped backward and looked at her. “You look lovely as always, and how is the baby doing?”
She smiled coyly at him. “The baby is doing very well, and so am I, but I miss you.” She pushed her full lower lip out into a convincing pout. “Give me your hand.”
He held his hand out to her and she reached for it, drawing it to her belly as she smiled again at him. “Do you feel that? That’s your baby moving. That’s our baby moving inside of me. We created that… Cameron, you and me. That is a new life, and we are the parents of it.”
Cameron’s heart began to race as he felt the baby moving beneath his hand. He looked up from her belly and gazed at Eva. “I’m glad to know that you’re both doing well. That means everything to me.”
She covered his hand with hers. “I’m pleased to know that, Cam, because we’ve missed you. I’ve missed you. You know, it was so great when we share our lives together. It was wonderful, wasn’t it? You and me? I miss how great it used to be being with you. I wish so much that we were still together.”
She leaned close to him and lifted her face to his, bringing her lips to his in a sensual kiss.
Cameron reached his hands to her shoulders and pushed her away from him, turning his head from hers as he did so. “Eva, you can’t do that. I appreciate that you’re having my baby,”
“Our baby.” she corrected him with a smile. “This is our baby.”
He sighed. “I appreciate it, but the truth of the matter is that I’m actually seeing someone else.” He said it. He said it out loud to her, and from the displeased expression on her face, he could see that she didn’t like what he had told her at all.
“You’re seeing someone else?” She came close to him again, “Don’t you want to be with the mother of your son? Think of it… we could be a family my darling, you and me, and our little boy. This little boy that’s growing inside of me right now. You could have it all, if you took me back again.”
He shook his head and stepped away from her. “Eva, I’m sorry, but I’m interested in someone else. There’s another woman in my life right now, and I’m focused on her.”
Eva frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. “Who is it?” she demanded with a serious pout.
He didn’t want to tell her; he didn’t think that it was her business at all, but there was no reason to keep it a secret. “Her name is Jasmine. Now, please… let’s just keep things between us good and keep this about the baby. We don’t need to make it about anything else.”
Eva narrowed her eyes and scowled darkly at him. “Well, this Jasmine might have her hooks in you right now, but you are still mine, my lover, and I want you back, and I know that deep in your heart you want me back too, right along with our son. I’m not giving up on you. You’re going to be mine again.” She turned on her heel then and marched out of his office, slamming the door behind him and ignoring the farewell from Jeannie who was sitting at her reception desk.
Cameron sighed and sat back down in the seat behind his desk. He closed his eyes and raked his fingers through his hair, holding his head in his hands and wondering how his life had ever gotten so complicated.
Jasmine was happy to hear from Eva. She knew the truth about her, but Eva didn’t know that Jasmine was carrying Cameron’s child, and she thought that if she talked with her, maybe she could find out more about Cameron and what was really going on with him hiring two different women to carry children for him at the same time.
She was trying to make the best decisions about the tangle of mess in her own life, and she knew that the more facts she had, the better it would be, and the easier it would be for her to make decisions about herself, about Cameron, about Andrew, and about the baby girl she was carrying.
Eva had asked her to meet up for coffee, and Jasmine was more than ready to go do it. They met at a café in town and hugged one another as Jasmine reached the table where they were sitting.
“I’m so glad to see you! Thank you so much for coming.” Eva gushed as she watched Jasmine take her seat. “My goodness, look at you, you look beautiful.” Eva shook her head in amazement and gave Jasmine a big smile.
“You look beautiful too,” Jasmine replied back to her. “You’re practically glowing, but I’ve thought that you were beautiful since the very first time I saw you in Dr. Clayton’s office. It’s something about your whole look; your gorgeous bronze skin, your dark flowing hair… you are just a truly beautiful woman.”
“Thank you!” A wide smile spread over Eva’s face as she listened and watched Jasmine.
“I was curious,” Jasmine asked delicately, “Is your heritage from South America?”
“I’m Venezuelan. You have a good eye.” Eva complimented her.
“So, how are things going with the baby? All is well?” Eva asked curiously, eyeing Jasmine’s large belly.
Jasmine’s hand moved to her stomach automatically, and she rubbed it gently. “Yes, everything is going very well. The baby is healthy and I’m doing good, so everything is just as it should be right now.” She didn’t mean that anything outside of her belly was going well, but Eva didn’t need to know that, she told herself. “What about you? How is your baby doing?”
Eva grinned and rubbed her own belly too. “He’s doing wonderfully. He’s a strong little boy, and he’s determined and good, and a little naughty, just like his daddy. His daddy decided that it would be best if we got back together, so things are going very well that way also.”
Jasmine was certain that she had misheard the words that came from the woman sitting across the table from her. She blinked a few times and leaned forward slightly. “I’m sorry… did you say that the baby’s daddy wants to get back together with you?”
Eva nodded and patted her belly. “Yes, he does.”
“I… I thought that you were having a surrogate baby for someone in the Silicon Valley.” She said in confusion, trying to sort out everything that was going through her mind at that moment. It couldn’t be. There was no way that Eva could be right about what she had just said.
“Oh, well, it was a surrogate pregnancy at first, but it was for my old lover. He said he wanted a son, and so as a great friend, I told him that I would help him, and I would get pregnant through invitro and give him a son, so that’s what I’ve done, and that’s what I’m doing.
The wonderful part is that this pregnancy has really given Cameron some time to think about what we had and what we lost, and now that he’s thought about it, he wants it back. He wants me back, and now the baby with me. He and I will have a family.” Eva was bubbling with joy and happiness.
Jasmine thought that she was going to be sick. She tried to keep herself as still and as calm as she possibly could. “You had a relationship with the baby’s father and now he wants you back again?” She was nothing short of astounded, though she was doing her level best not to show it at all, though it took everything in her.
“Yes, he and I were such hot lovers not so long ago. I did this surrogacy for him as his friend, but now because we are having a son, he is so excited that he wanted to start our affair back up, and so that’s what we’ve done. I stay the night with him now and then, and I’ll tell you a secret. The sex, it’s so good. It’s better than it ever was before I was pregnant!
That’s a good thing, because since he’s so excited about this baby boy, he’s already talking about the babies that we are going to have after this one. I guess that we can keep on practicing and keep on trying until it happens, right?” she laughed and patted her belly.
Jasmine couldn’t sit with Eva much longer. She made herself make it through one cup of tea, trying not to listen too closely as Eva prattled on and on about Cameron, and then she gave Eva a half smile and told her that she had another appointment that she had to get to. She waved goodbye to her and somehow made it to her car, all the while doing everything that she could not to burst into tears and come apart at the seams right there.
She made it home and when she got safely into her house, she collapsed on the sofa in the living room, crying until she could not see anymore, and until there wasn’t another tear in her to cry. She could barely speak when she got on the phone to Kelly, leaving her a message to please come right away, that she was desperately needed.
Kelly came over right away and went to Jasmine where she was laying heartbroken on the sofa. Kelly didn’t even need to ask, she just hugged her and sat beside her, holding on to her.
Through sobs and choked tears, Jasmine was able to tell Kelly what happened when she went to meet Eva. She shared what she had already known, and then what Eva told her that day. Kelly held Jasmine to her neck and hugged her, rubbing her back and comforting her.
“Jas, I have been telling you, and I’ve been right all along, you just need to focus on having this little baby and then handing it off to Cameron when it’s born. After that, and I mean right after that, you leave. You don’t have anything to do with it anymore.” Kelly sounded as if she couldn’t possibly mean it more.
“But…” Jasmine began, looking at her friend, “What if he doesn’t want this baby? I mean, he’s back with Eva now, and they’re having a son. That’s all he wants is a son! Why would he want a daughter with me when he’s having a son with her, and they are a couple now, a family! Why would she want to raise my daughter in her household with him? She was telling me that they are already talking about the other children that they will have.”
She began to week again, and Kelly rubbed her arm. “We talked about this. If he doesn’t want the baby, then we’ll keep it, and we’ll give it a good home. You’ll be the mama and I’ll be the auntie, and life will be good. It’ll still be the greatest blessing that you ever have.”
Jasmine sighed and looked at her. “That’s what my doctor said, too. We… we went out on a date. I thought that going out with him would be a good way for me to try to forget Cameron, and we talked about Cameron and the baby and he’s the one who told me that Eva is having a boy. He thought that he was telling me that she was carrying Cameron’s baby, but I already knew that from where I met her in the lobby at his office. He told me to keep the baby, and he was interested in dating me whether I wind up keeping the baby or not.”
Kelly groaned and shook her head. “Jasmine, you listen to me. You stop dating while you’re pregnant. Seriously. You’re going to drive me crazy. You have hormones going every which direction right now. The last thing that you need to be doing is dating anyone. You need to focus on your store. Now, if this nice doctor man is still interested in you after you have the baby and dust has settled either way, so whether you keep the baby or not, if he still wants to date you when it’s all done, then fine, date him, but not before.”
An almost laugh came from Jasmine as she nodded. “Okay. I know you’re right. I should have been listening to you all along. I wish that I had been. I’d be in a lot less pain right now, and much less of a mess.”
Kelly waved her hand in the air. “Well none of us ever listen when words of wisdom are bestowed upon us. We always think we know better for ourselves. I’m a card-carrying member of that club.” She gave Jasmine a smile, and the two of them talked a long while as they worked out what could go wrong, and what could go right, and both of them hoped for the best.