“Seriously?” Nadine’s heart leapt and she clapped her hands to her face. “How so? Did Dad change his mind?”
“He hasn’t.” Elaine’s closed-mouth smile was smug as she nodded and pointed to her chest. “I’m the one who’s going to give you a two-year contract.”
“Doing what?” Nadine’s mother interjected. There was no love lost between her and Elaine, who resembled her mother Maggie and helped Maggie play dirty tricks on Nadine’s mother through the years.
“Can you leave us alone?” Elaine gave her the cold shoulder. “It’s between me and Nadine, my sister.”
“I’m her mother, so if you don’t mind, I want to know what you’re up to. A two-year contract sounds suspicious.”
“Oh, Mom. Let me hear what she has to say. Maybe she knows someone who needs murals painted or artwork for their business.” Nadine led the way into her bedroom which was crowded with unfinished canvases.
She ushered Elaine onto a comfy wingback chair and took a seat on an old piano bench across from her. Greyheart scampered into the room and hid under the bench, his back hunched as he regarded Elaine with undisguised suspicion.
After Nadine shut the door, Elaine sniffed the air and said, “If you take the contract, you’re going to have to stick to watercolors. I can’t have you inhaling volatile organic compounds for the duration of the contract.”
“Wait? Why?”
Elaine held up her hand in a stop position. “No questions until you hear me out. This is going to be a lucrative offer. All your expenses will be paid. You can live with me in the extra bedroom at my place, or I’ll convince Dad to let you stay here. I’ll pay for your food, Dad’s insurance will cover your health care since you’re still twenty-four, but once you hit twenty-six, if the contract needs to be extended, I will take care of that, too. You’ll also get fifty thousand a year cash, untaxed because the IRS rules it as pain and suffering, but don’t worry, because it’s really easy, especially for a young healthy woman like you.”
“Stop, stop,” Nadine interrupted. “Pain and suffering? What are you asking me to do? I’m not going to be a hooker, am I?”
“That would make Dad ballistic, but I wouldn’t do that to you, my sister.” Elaine patted Nadine’s shoulder. “This is something you’ll do for our family. You’ll be giving our father a grandchild, although you’ll make him worried and upset the entire pregnancy.”
“Oh, that’s right. I’m faking the pregnancy.” Nadine nodded. “But because I’m not really pregnant, we’re going to have to fake some complications, right? Like that high blood pressure thing that leads to miscarriage.”
“Actually, you won’t be faking a pregnancy,” Elaine said. Her eyes gleamed wide and her bright, white teeth were extra pointy at the canines. “You will be pregnant. I’m paying you to be a surrogate mother for me. Think about it. Fifty thousand dollars tax free, living expenses, healthy food, a place to stay, and you won’t even have to work.”
Nadine clapped a palm over her flat belly. “Pregnant for real? But, I was planning on trying out for modeling. I won’t be able to do that.”
“Modeling?” Elaine’s eyes scanned her up and down. “You might be tall and thin, but that’s not the only criteria. You have freckles and your nose is a little long. You’ll need those injections to fatten your lips and eyelid surgery to make your eyes rounder. Hmmm … your hair’s too thin and wispy. Besides, modeling’s not easy and it’s real work. You’ll have to travel and you won’t be able to take your cat with you. You won’t be able to eat. With my plan, you can buy and eat yummy, healthy, nutritious food every day and I’ll hire a personal trainer for you to stay in shape and get you ready for delivery—that’s the only pain and suffering part, but trust me, it’s over with quickly. I wrote in bonuses. For example, if you have to have a C-section or anything goes wrong …”
“Anything goes wrong? Like I die in childbirth?” Nadine shuddered at the thought.
“Very few people die in childbirth these days.” Elaine whipped out a contract and pointed to the extra payments for any unexpected complications including ruptured uterus, loss of a tube or ovary, miscarriage, and necessary surgeries. “But really, since you’re my sister, I won’t call these payments. I’ll just support you as my dependent and take care of you, and if anything really bad happens, I’ll grieve for you.”
“Uh, will Dad grieve for me, too? Are you sure we’re not faking the pregnancy to piss him off?”
“We’re not. I mean, it’ll royally piss him off, because he doesn’t want me to marry the fireman, remember? And if we have an unexpected pregnancy, we’ll have to have a shotgun marriage.”
“You mean me … uh … and the … uh … fireman?” Nadine’s tongue was so tangled she could barely get the words out. “Who … who is … he?”
“Not you, you ninny.” Elaine waved her hand dismissively. “Me and Connor. It’s our baby. See here? You’re signing away all rights to the baby and assigning him or her to me as the legal parent.”
“Con … Connor? Connor who?” Nadine’s head whirled and she blinked hard to keep the darkness from invading her visual field.
“Connor Hart, the Fire Chief, didn’t I tell you?” Elaine wrinkled her eyebrows. “You look like you’re seeing a ghost.”
Nadine rested her head between her knees. “I saw him with his girlfriend. If it’s the same Connor Hart who rescued me from the tree. He has a Dalmatian puppy named Cinder, I think.”
“Yes, that’s my Connor.” Elaine shook Nadine’s shoulder. “What girlfriend? Don’t tell me Connor’s cheating on me. What did she look like?”
Nadine raised herself from her almost swoon and wiped sweat from her face. “Some lady with reddish brown hair. I forgot her name. Started with a ‘K’ or something. I saw her at the Love Bean with Cinder.”
“Reddish-brown hair. Is she pretty? But of course, she is. Connor’s sown his share of wild oats, but when we got engaged he promised me he wouldn’t step out with any other woman.”
“Engaged?” Nadine’s eyes fixated on Elaine’s ring finger. She’d seen the diamond before, but as long as it was an abstract fiancé, she hadn’t paid much attention. But Connor Hart? Engaged to her sister and cheating on her at the same time?
Was her judgment of character so flawed that she believed Connor to be a decent, heroic, and trustworthy man? How could he be a fireman and serve the public but have such an awful personal life?
Her sister, meanwhile, cradled her phone to her ear. “Connor, darling, what are you up to? How’s your day off? I heard you went to The Love Bean.”
Nadine froze. She didn’t want to listen, but she couldn’t help trying to hear what excuse Connor would make about meeting her at The Love Bean. Unfortunately, she couldn’t make out his words. She should leave the room to give her sister privacy, but then, this was her bedroom and it was awfully rude of Elaine to call Connor in the middle of their conversation.
Nadine flipped through the contract, her eyes glazing at all the legal terms. She wasn’t ready to be a mother, hadn’t dated anyone seriously enough to ever wonder whether she’d have children or not. It had always been one of those way-in-the-future type of things that she hadn’t given much thought to, and truthfully, this baby wouldn’t really be hers, even if she was both the egg donor and the surrogate mother.
Besides, Connor was acting like a man-pig right now, and after Elaine got off the phone with him, she might decide to break up with him. It could be a moot point, and she would be back looking for a job and wondering where she would stay.
“Are you saying Cait was the one who brought Cinder to The Love Bean?” Elaine was still on the phone. “Oh, that explains it. My sister didn’t know. She thought Cait was your girlfriend. Yes, I’m here with her right now telling her about the baby deal. I’ll let you know later what she says. Meet me for lunch at Fooking. Mmmmwah. I love you, too.”
Elaine put her phone away with a look of triumph on her face. “That was his sister, Cait. Nothing t
o worry about. So, where were we?”
Nadine was relieved that Cait was only Connor’s sister. It meant he wasn’t a cheater. But at the same time, her heart drooped low in her ribcage. He was also uninterested in her. They had had an intellectual connection over the poetry, and Connor was about to explain to her that he was engaged when he was interrupted by Cait and Cinder.
Chalk it up to another lesson in the school of hard knocks.
Nadine pointed to a line on the contract. “It says here that I’m going to be pregnant by your fiancé, but not how it’ll happen.”
Her cheeks were heating up at the thought of Connor and her, together, although she was sure Elaine would be somehow in the middle of it all.
“I’ll arrange for you to go to a fertility clinic when you’re ovulating and they will do artificial insemination,” Elaine answered. “You didn’t actually think …”
“Of course not.” Nadine’s hands shook as she flipped the page over. Her heartbeat stuttered with embarrassment at how transparent she was, and how Elaine would suspect her of wishing to have sex with Connor.
Not that she’d thought of that. No, she would never entertain those fantasies. Never. But not thinking of something had a way of settling her brain into dwelling on it. Nadine quickly ran her finger down the terms and conditions. “It says here that you want at least two babies and that this is a multi-year contract.”
“Yes, indeed it is. I think this entire surrogacy thing will be just the ticket for you to continue in your creative pursuits.” Elaine swept her hand around the room full of paintings and sketches. “You do realize you’re a very valuable commodity, especially with Chinese couples.”
“What do you mean?”
Elaine walked across the room and stood in front of the portrait of Connor’s eye intertwined in the twisty-turning branches of the ancient oak tree. “You are tall, part Chinese and part Caucasian. Your mother is blond with blue eyes. If you surrogate for a Chinese man, the child will be beautiful but still look Chinese. He or she will be an American citizen with an American birth certificate. Then after the child turns twenty-one, he or she can sponsor his Chinese parents for a green-card. You should google ‘American surrogates for Chinese.’ Also, experienced surrogates who have birthed children get paid more than first timers, and with my two children under your belt, you will be a hot commodity. Wealthy Chinese pay up to a hundred fifty thousand to an agency, but you can be a freelancer and keep the money. I have contacts and you can use me for a reference.”
Nadine’s jaws dropped as she stared, fascinated by her sister who was full of plans and brilliant ideas. No wonder she was summa cum laude at Harvard and graduated with highest honors in her medical school.
“But, it means I’ll never be a model.”
Elaine rolled her eyes and snickered. “Models are a dime a dozen. They’re unhealthy, starved, and as soon as they have a wrinkle, they’re cast off the runway. Meanwhile, you will be creating families for people—blessing them with your genetics. I already had you analyzed. You have no heritable diseases. You have brains from our father, whose I.Q. is 180, and beauty and height from your mother. You have light-colored eyes with a blue allele, which means possible blue-eyed children, but at the same time, tall, handsome Chinese boys and long-legged, willowy Chinese girls if you surrogate for a Chinese couple using your eggs. In fact, I can set up a business for you. With the kind of money you’ll make, you can buy a house near Golden Gate Park and be the artist you’ve always wanted to be.”
“So, let me get this right.” Nadine’s heart thumped excitedly. “I get paid to be pregnant, and I can do whatever I want with my time.”
“Exactly. Well, you obviously can’t take drugs, drink, or catch venereal diseases, but yes, you can sit around and read all day if you want, write stories, paint, play musical instruments or dawdle to your heart’s content. It’s a great life.”
“It is better than the alternative, stuck behind a receptionist’s desk, waiting tables, tending bar, walking dogs, or cleaning toilets.” Nadine tapped her chin, thinking.
“Pays a heck of a lot more. You can even get a bonus for twins and triplets.” Elaine handed Nadine a pen and pointed at the signature line. “So you’ll do it?”
“I should run this by my mother.” Nadine swallowed hard. “It’s a big change.”
“It is, but then, she’s leaving you to fend for yourself,” Elaine said, putting her arm around Nadine’s shoulder. “If you do this for me, Connor and I will be eternally grateful to you. We’ll also let you be auntie to the babies. You’ll be part of our family, forever.”
Part of Connor’s family, forever? Nadine sucked in a greedy breath. Even though she could never mean more to Connor than a surrogate, she would still be invited to Thanksgiving and Christmas with them.
Even better. She would be providing her father with two grandchildren, maybe more, since her brother Michael was gay, and he’d eventually want her to birth him a child or two.
“You think our father will be happy once the babies come out?” Nadine’s hand hovered over the dotted line.
“He will forgive all of us as soon as he sees the babies. Trust me.” Elaine’s smile stretched across her face and her eyes were two happy slits. “Who would have ever thought that you, dear Nadine, are the key to the Woo family happiness? Once he has the grandchild, he’ll no longer need Emmeline Lu Su to birth him any descendants. And it’ll all be because of you.”
Elaine laid a warm kiss on Nadine’s cheek. A secret smile touched Nadine as she signed the surrogacy agreement. She would forever be part of Connor’s life through their child, and she could love him from a distance, knowing she was the one who brought happiness into his heart.
Chapter Twelve
Connor arrived at the General Fooking Hot Pot Restaurant before Elaine.
“Table for two,” he said to the waiter. “A pot of green tea and the Yin-Yang broth to get started.”
Elaine was always in a hurry, so the sooner he got the broth started, the better. A Chinese hot pot restaurant was a place where customers did their own cooking. A pot of broth was set on a gas burner in the center of the table, and selections of raw meats, vegetables, and starches were thrown into the pot for a customized meal.
His phone jingled with a text message as he took a seat. It was Elaine. Got it. She signed! We’re going to be parents.
Connor suppressed a grunt and shoved the phone back into his pocket. This plan had been foisted on him way too quickly, but as he well knew, when Elaine got an idea, she ran with it like a tornado.
A little over a month ago, he’d gotten back together with her after she bid an outrageous amount for him at the Valentine charity bachelor auction. Three weeks ago, he’d given her an engagement ring, and now, she was planning a pregnancy.
Connor rubbed his palms over his eyes, shaking his head. As much as he loved Elaine and all her energy, he had been looking forward to catching up on the ten years they’d been apart—taking vacations, hiking or fishing in the country, taking long drives to the mountains—relaxing and enjoying each other.
He should have known. Elaine was all about rush, rush, rush. Life with her would be lived in the fast lane, multitasking and juggling children, commitments, and frying pans.
Elaine was as hyperactive as Cinder, the sweet Dalmatian puppy she bought him—actually, more. She yapped a mile a minute, scrabbling back and forth, around and around. Living with Elaine would be closer to life with a dozen Chihuahuas on speed.
So different from her sister, Nadine. From what he could tell, she was the floating on an inner tube down a lazy river and sipping root beers through a bendy straw type of girl. She’d lock hands with him and they’d dip their toes up and down in a slow tempo while watching the expanding ripples intersect. They’d float past reeds and cattails and spy on glittery dragonflies mating, accompanied by a bullfrog’s call. They’d drag the tubes ashore under a weeping willow and walk along the river bank among fluttering butterflies an
d flitting birds. As dusk quieted the air, they’d rock in the swing on an old front porch and contemplate the sun setting over a field of daisies—the sky painted with pink cotton candy clouds changing places with the rising moon.
Slap. Slap. Two menus were tossed on the table, and a steaming, divided pot of broth, one side spicy and the other side savory, was set on the burner in front of him.
“You ready to order?” The server broke into Connor’s wistful vision and knocked him out of never-could-be-land.
“I’ll wait for my fiancée to arrive. She knows what she likes.”
“Here’s a checklist. Hand it to us when you’re ready.”
No matter how many times Connor had been to the hot pot restaurant, he always cringed at the more unusual ingredients: tree fungus, tofu skin, squid ball, Spam, beef tendon ball, pig intestine, beef tripe, pork blood, fish roe, and pork kidneys.
A whirlwind rattled through the door and high heels clattered in staccato beat. Elaine swooped into the booth and glanced at the empty broth bubbling on the burner.
“You were supposed to get it started with some vegetables and noodles.” She snapped her fingers at the waiter and said a stream of words in Chinese.
He made a gesture at Connor and shrugged, no doubt telling her he wanted to wait.
“You don’t like it when the noodles get soggy,” Connor reminded her with a kiss on the cheek. “Anyway, I just got seated.”
“Sure, sure, no problem.” Elaine took a pen and checked off her choices of meats, seafood, and weird stuff. After handing the list to the server, she grabbed Connor’s hands and jiggled them. “We’re going to be parents!”
“She agreed?” Connor raised an eyebrow and searched his fiancée’s face for any signs of truth stretching—something she often did in her enthusiasm to get things done.
“Signed, sealed, and delivered,” Elaine said, extracting an envelope from her purse. “Actually, I take that back. It’s signed, but definitely not sealed or delivered, if you get what I mean. She’s excited about it and we can get started as soon as I have her monitoring her basal body temperature for signs of ovulation.”
Spring Fling Kitty: The Hart Family (Have A Hart Book 3) Page 7