A Material Gift (D'Arth Series Book 2)

by Camille Oster

  “It’s the heat, but it’s a nice effect.”

  “You like living here?”

  “It’s an interesting place. Things move fast; they practically shift under your feet. Drop your bag in there,” he said, indicating to a doorway leading off the living room. She gave a nod of thanks and walked into a functional spare room, lacking in personality and use. It was a nice room, large enough, with its own balcony and ensuite. It did feel a little like a hotel, but that wasn’t a bad thing, she supposed. Sitting down on the bed, she took her shoes off and stretched her toes. It was a good thing coming here, taking some time to get perspective. She felt better already.

  Chapter 9

  Sebastian was drunk. He was in someone’s house and there was a girl draped over him—long tanned legs and plastic tits. He’d been drunk just about since the moment Shanna had left. As she wasn’t there, there was nothing to stop him. He let the girl kiss him.

  He knew all the bars, and they had been eager to welcome him back. It had been a while; he’d been a good boy for a long time now, but that was over—there was no reason to be good now. So he was drunk—the party people had come like flies.

  The girl was kissing him deeply, rubbing herself all over him and he couldn’t help but react. She wasn’t normally the kind of girl he went for, but he was hurting, and sex and alcohol made it feel better. If Shanna set him free, then he was free to do anything. He really was too drunk to think about it and as the girl was unzipping him—too distracted as well.

  *

  It was still dark when Sam woke. There was a chill in her room and her skin prickled with goose bumps as she got out of bed. Opening the sliding door to her balcony, she was confronted with a blast of warm air. She sat down on the slate floor of the balcony and just watched as the sleeping city slowly awoke. There were predominantly vans travelling along the streets now, the noise of them echoing through the buildings—landscape vans, delivery vans—the things that ran the city when no-one was looking.

  It was Thursday, she reminded herself. Damon would be going to work soon, she expected. She had no idea what the day would entail. She sighed, turning her thoughts back to Sebastian. What was he thinking ignoring her? Maybe she was just a pawn in some game between persons who treated people like they were completely disposable. She didn’t actually know him well enough to say. Rubbing her forehead again, she asked herself what she’d gotten herself into.

  She heard as someone started moving around the apartment—Damon probably, and listened for a while until the everything went quiet again.

  “Sam?” she heard after a while.

  “Out here,” she called back. Jane appeared in the balcony doorway wearing a t-shirt and thin cotton pants, her blond hair tied up in a messy ponytail.

  “It’s nice in the mornings,” she said and sat down next to her. “It’s around this time you can do some exercise; the rest is just too hot. I sometimes go for a run along the marina in the mornings. What do you want to do today?”

  Sam shrugged.

  “I suppose we could go have lunch somewhere,” Jane continued.

  “I’m up for anything.”

  “We’ll think of something interesting. Anyway, do you want breakfast?”

  “Should we order something?”

  Jane laughed. “If you want to. I normally don’t eat just yet, but you can, the hotel makes some mean pancakes—fluffy like air. They have an awesome Austrian chef. Do you want me to order some for you?”

  “No, I’ll wait till you’re ready. Have we got a paper?”

  “No, but there’s a shop in the lobby. It’s open all night. They have every major paper in the world, even the Sydney Morning Herald if you want news closer to home.”

  After a quick shower, Sam dressed in a pair of shorts and wandered down to the lobby, which was quiet this time of the morning. It didn’t take her long to find the shop which sold papers, magazines, toiletries and lollies. Sam grabbed a packet of gum and unwrapped a piece while she turned to the spinning stand displaying all manner of newspapers and magazines. Her chewing froze when she spotted a picture of Sebastian, looking drunk and arrogant.

  With a frown, she grabbed the gossip rag and unfolded it, revealing a picture of Sebastian, leaving a club with two scantily clad party girls.

  ‘SHANNA LEAVES OVER SEB’S PARTYING WAYS,’ the headline screamed in large, bold print. The article went on to describe how the couple had split after the long-suffering Shanna Maya had tried to reform the recidivist playboy, finally giving up hope and leaving. The article also included a gorgeous photo of Shanna Maya and some photos of Sebastian from years back, one in which he was snorting coke, which she remembered seeing some time ago.

  The photo on the front page was taken recently, probably the day before. Sam surveyed the photo again. Perhaps the reason he wasn’t answering her calls was because he was off his face, partying with random girls. Real class act, she thought bitterly.

  Then she shivered with the thought of the press finding out about her and the true mess behind this breakup. Sam’s hair rose on her arm as she realised the press could be hounding her if the story were to come out just now. She swore loudly, then looked around to see the shocked expression of the Indian man behind the counter. Embarrassed, she smiled and handed over her credit card for the gum and the paper.

  *

  Jane hadn’t lied about the pancakes, they were the best she’d ever had, sweet with sticky maple syrup, tasting like pure decadence. They stayed at the apartment for a while and then decided to catch a taxi to a shopping centre.

  “This is insane,” Sam said, looking down the walkways of the mall as they stood in a junction of three thoroughfares. “Does it end?”

  “Somewhere, apparently. That’s the good thing about not driving here—you don’t have to find your car again. Is there anything you’re looking for?”

  Sam shook her head. For once, she wasn’t really in the mood to actually buy anything. The article in the paper still preyed on her mind, but the surroundings served as a distraction. They started walking.

  “So congratulations on being pregnant,” Jane said. “That must be exciting.”

  Sam’s shoulders sank. Obviously Damon had omitted the true state of her affairs. “It’s just turned into a mess, frankly.”

  “Who’s the father if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “It’s complicated,” Sam said. “His name’s Sebastian Luc.”

  Jane stopped walking. “Sebastian Luc? The Sebastian Luc? Mr Abs and Gorgeousness. I didn’t realise you knew him.”

  “I don’t really.” Sam told Jane the sordid story of how she got pregnant. Jane listened with increasing degree of concern.

  “Maybe we should get a coffee,” Jane finally said. “Can you drink coffee?”

  “I guess. It doesn’t make me sick or anything.”

  “Oh god,” Jane said as they sat down at the nearest cafe. “That really is a bit of a pickle. Well, what does the law say?”

  “I signed a contract that basically says I carry the baby and hand it over.”

  “It doesn’t really matter what the contract says; it matters what the law says. The law supersedes the contract.”

  A sense of dread and unease returned as she realised this thing could turn into a long, drawn-out legal affair, but she dismissed the awful thought. Sam stirred the coffee that had appeared in front of her, trying to focus on the here and now, instead of indulging in the absolute worst case scenarios.

  “It will all work out,” Jane said with a reassuring smile.

  “Of course it will.” Sam tried to sound chirpy. Things had to work out. Actually, what Jane said about understanding the legal position she was in might be a good idea. Sam had read the contract she’d signed a couple of times and it all seemed straight forward, but then it didn’t go over the possibility of the receiving party pulling out of the deal—not that Sebastian had specifically indicated that he’d done so like his... Sam tried to find a word to fit what she t
hought of Shanna Maya at the moment, but struggled to find something that encapsulated her disgust, disappointment and annoyance.

  “Some retail distraction, perhaps?” Jane suggested. “They have just about every shop in the world here and you can just pick your flavour—French, British, American, even Japanese. Should we have a look in one of the Japanese stores? They always tend to have a different perspective to their merchandise.”

  “I don’t think I’ve actually shopped in a Japanese store before.”

  “Well, who needs travel when you have this place? It caters to every taste.”

  Once they’d finished their coffees, they rose to find the department store Jane had in mind.

  “So what’s he like?”

  “Who?”

  “Sebastian Luc.”

  “Gorgeous. A bit stand-offish, I suppose.”

  They walked into a brightly lit store, through the obstacle course of high-end beauty stands, then racks of clothing, wandering around aimlessly for a while, when Jane got distracted by a dress which she went to try on. Sam kept wandering, non-committedly looking at the clothes. She didn’t really need clothes at the moment and her attention was too frazzled to actually look at anything.

  Suddenly, she found herself in the baby section, filled with small little clothes with cute pictures on their bellies. There were little dresses and shoes, tiny little swim suits, with ruffles around their edges. A frown deepened across her face as she looked around the racks. Realisation hit her that there was a real person growing inside her, an adorable little baby who didn’t deserve to be discarded like an unwanted blanket—someone who would wear these clothes and who had their entire life in front of them, depending on a mother to love them and take care of them when they came into the world.

  Tears fill Sam’s eyes as she stared at the little clothes, the adorable little shoes and the tiny hats with bear ears on the top. This baby had been an abstract idea until now, and it deserved to be treated better than this.

  “Sam?” Jane asked, concern lacing her voice. “Are you alright?”

  “Fine,” she said and fiercely wiped the tears away.

  “Perhaps we should go. I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have dragged you out. I just assumed … ”

  “It’s alright; I’m just a bit hormonal. I can’t help it; it overtakes me every now and then.”

  Worriedly, Jane looked around the baby section. “It’s all so damned cute, isn’t it?” She picked up a tiny foot of one of the impossibly soft onesies. Jane sighed. “I’m so sorry you have to go through this.”

  “It’s my fault. I agreed to this.”

  “It isn’t. You had the best intentions.”

  “And now this little person is growing inside of me. What is going to happen to it if he doesn’t step up?”

  “You can’t think like that,” Jane said with sympathy in her voice. “It will all come right. Surely he wouldn’t desert his own child, even if she did.” Sam wondered about telling Jane what she’d seen in the paper, but couldn’t quite bring herself to do it. “Come on, let’s go home.”

  Sam nodded, biting the tip of her thumb. She wasn’t quite ready to reveal her worst suspicions just yet. Anyway, it might just have been a one-off, an unfortunate photo by the press who desperately wanted a story and would make one up. They’d certainly lied in the article, but the photo had looked like he was out partying, back to his old tricks.

  *

  At dusk, Sam followed Jane into the restaurant where they were meeting Damon, which was up on one of the upper floors of a tall building, giving them a view over the marina and all the surrounding buildings. The sunset bathed the landscape in every shade of rose, russet and gold, creating a stunning picture.

  “Damon works over there,” Jane said, pointing to a building as they sat down. He wasn’t there yet.

  “You have everything you need in these few square miles, don’t you?”

  “We don’t really leave this area. Damon has a boat down in the marina and we take that out a bit, early in the mornings, before it gets too hot. There is every kind of restaurant you could want, more stores than you could drag yourself around.”

  “It is beautiful.”

  “Yes, it is,” Jane said with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

  “But?”

  “I miss home, I guess. I miss my mum and my friends. It’s hard to make friends in a place like this, where everything is so transient. People come and go. And as Damon’s work can change so quickly, it’s hard to settle. Not an easy thing to sell when you’re looking for work either.”

  “You tried?”

  “Yes, but I didn’t feel honest about omitting the fact that my situation could change quickly. We could stay quite a while, or just a month, we don’t know.”

  “That must be tough.”

  “It’s hardly tough though, is it? This place is amazing.” Jane smiled and her attention was stolen away. Sam’s guess that Damon was approaching was right. There was no doubt that Jane was in love with him; her eyes softened and her face lit up when she saw him. They kissed when he got to the table, a microsecond longer than a normal greeting kiss, like they longed to be away from the company, somewhere more private.

  Damon sat down and the waiter returned, pouring him a glass of ice water. “How was your day?”

  “We went shopping,” Jane said. “How was work?”

  Damon went on to describe what had happened with some terms they were negotiating. Jane listened intently, but it was over Sam’s head so she tuned out.

  When the waiter returned, they ordered and Sam settled on a pasta dish.

  “So, have you got the contract that you signed with this guy? If you want, I can ask our lawyers to read through it. This isn’t the kind of law they do, but they could tell us if there is anything in there that we need to be aware of,” Damon asked.

  Sam shook her head. “I didn’t think to bring it. It’s back at my apartment in Beausoleil.” Damon nodded and looked at Jane. “I still can’t quite believe this is happening,” Sam said. “I was just trying to do the right thing.”

  “Sometimes, people take advantage.”

  “Well, I suppose I am old enough to take responsibility for my actions if it comes down to it,” Sam said.

  “This baby isn’t your responsibility. You’re not responsible if they don’t live up to their end of the bargain. You are providing a service for them, and if they categorically refuse, I guess the child becomes a ward of the state,” Damon said.

  “I don’t know if I can do that,” Sam said. “I enabled this whole thing; I allowed this to happen. I should take some responsibility in it. This is a baby; I can’t just put up my hands and walk away. If he won’t take responsibility, I don’t feel right abdicating responsibility as well.”

  “I think I’m with Sam on this one,” Jane said. “You can’t just wipe your hands and walk away from a baby. Legally you might, but morally, I agree with Sam. She needs to see that this baby is alright.”

  “It isn’t the job of a surrogate to judge if the conditions are right once the contract is signed. Sebastian Luc has the means to take care of this baby, and if not him, his family. It is his responsibility to see this baby right.”

  “I’m afraid I’m going to have to go against you on this point,” Jane said.

  Sam sighed and looked out the window. She had to watch out for this baby. If no one else was going to stand for its welfare, she would.

  Chapter 10

  Sam spent a day down by the pool reading a paperback she’d picked up at the lobby store. It was hot outside, but sitting in the shade with frequent dips in the shaded pool was really nice. As was the occasional virgin cocktails she indulged herself with. There had been a new story this morning, detailing Sebastian’s escapades around the nightlife of Monte Carlo. Sam hadn’t even been surprised.

  Jane came down to the pool close to midday, after returning from a trip to the supermarket to buy groceries. “Christ, it’s hot, and it’
s actually a cool day,” she said, placing her towel down on the shaded sunbed next to Sam’s. She went straight to the pool and dived in, sending ripples out through the calm water.

  Sam watched her for a while, then stared out toward the marina, feeling the slightly cooler breeze blowing off the water. She wondered if she could live here. She obviously wouldn’t live in a hotel like Damon and Jane; probably some flat with other people her age. Her attention flitted to Carli, wondering how she was getting on. Perhaps it was time to check in on Facebook and see how everyone was.

  When Jane was done with her laps, Sam returned back to the apartment with her. Jane happily lent Sam her laptop and Sam lay down on her bed to check in on the online world. Carli was in Morocco at the moment. There were photos of her with some guy, pulling faces. Sam smiled at them. She used to think that Carli’s life was so messy, but now it seemed relatively simple compared to her own situation.

  There was an update from her brother going on about some soccer game his team had won. Sam pressed the Like button even though she didn’t give a damn about his stupid soccer game. It was just nice to see that the world was carrying on as normal.

  When she was done, she rolled over on her back and surveyed the ceiling for a while, thinking on the things Jane had told her the previous day. Rolling back, she decided that she should search the surrogacy laws for Monaco, and she quickly learnt that there weren’t any. But she wasn’t technically a resident in Monaco, so she searched for the laws in France and got a shock when she discovered it was illegal. A distinct feeling of unease washed over her, cloying like a wet blanket. But she’d signed a contract, drawn by lawyers—surely they would have realised it was illegal. She frantically searched through more pages, until she found one that clearly stated that surrogacy still happened, but that the woman carrying the child gave up her rights to the child to the father, irrespective of whose egg it was. Sam gasped. This was her child, legally. She was the mother of the child and it was her prerogative to give it up—or not.