Dare Me (A MFM Ménage Romance)

by Vivian Ward

  “Whatever.” I snatched the pen out of his hand and scribbled my signature on the form.

  “I’ll keep in touch,” he began to walk out. “Oh, and one more thing. I’ll advise my client to keep his temper under control. I do realize that you’ve just given birth, and the arguing between the two of you is unnecessary. Have a good day.”

  “Don’t let the door hit you in the ass,” I mumbled as he left the room.

  This was all too much. I don’t know why they expect me to know why the baby’s black. The only reason I signed up for this was for the money.

  I’ve never been in it for the baby. Hell, it was hard enough raising Nikki on my own, much less—Nikki! Shoot, I haven’t checked in on her since yesterday. Picking up the phone next to my bed, I dialed my mom’s number.

  “Hey mom, how’s Nikki doing?”

  “She’s good. Been coloring all afternoon. She keeps wanting me to take her to Buttonwood Park to see the animals, but I’m not feeling up to it. And it’s so cold outside.”

  “Yeah, she likes going to the zoo. She’s not giving you any problems is she?”

  “Oh no, baby. She’s a good girl, just like her momma. How are you doing? Did the birth go okay?”

  “I’m good. A little sore, but good. I have a problem, though.”

  “What’s that baby?”

  “When they took the baby out this morning, he was…black.”

  The phone was silent for a good 30 seconds. “Black? What do you mean black? I thought the baby was supposed to be white?”

  “He was! The man is pissed, like really pissed. His lawyer just left my room. They’re going to subpoena all of my medical records from the doctor.”

  “Why are they going to do that? Can they do that?”

  “I’m not sure what they’re looking for, and yes, they can. I signed a legal form allowing them to do so. I have nothing to hide, momma. I swear!”

  “You better be careful doing that stuff. Do you need me to find an attorney for you?”

  “No, mom, I don’t need an attorney. I didn’t do anything wrong. They can look all they want.”

  “Nikki! No, don’t do that. I got to go Tasha, but you call me later and let me know what’s going on…and when you’re going to get out of there.”

  “Ok, love you, mom.”

  After hanging up with my mom, I started to wonder if maybe I didn’t need my own lawyer. What if somehow this baby is mine?

  Is that even possible?

  No, it can’t be, wasn’t my sperm and wasn’t my egg. Kathryn popped back into my room to check on me.

  “Tasha? The doctor told me that if you can tolerate that food, to go ahead and start you on a solid diet tomorrow so here’s a menu.” She laid it on my table.

  “Thanks. Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “Why do you think Carter is black? Is there some way that my blood changed his race?”

  “No, that wouldn’t matter. If you had a transfusion and received blood from a Caucasian person, it wouldn’t make you Caucasian.”

  “Yeah, guess I didn’t think of it like that. Blake’s attorney was in here and had me sign an affidavit or something to give them access to my medical records. What do you think they want those for?”

  “There’s no telling. My guess would be if there’s some custody or legal issue; they have something to point them in the right direction to ensure he comes out on top. You be careful what you sign.”

  “I didn’t even think of it like that! So you think maybe part of this baby might be mine?”

  “Whoa, I didn’t say that. I’m not sure what’s going on. You asked what my thoughts were, so I’m giving them to you.” She checked my IV. “Do you need anything else? My shift is almost over.”

  “No, I’m good. Thank you. You’re a great nurse.”

  Snuggling in for the night, I thought about what my mom and the nurse said.

  Maybe I should hire a lawyer.

  It couldn’t hurt to have someone representing me. After all, Blake had someone looking out for him throughout this entire pregnancy—and it’s not even his body.

  But that would take up most of the money that I saved from the monthly payments I received for this pregnancy.

  I’ve been saving that money for months so we can get out of the south end.

  If I do have some rights to this baby, Nikki will be stoked!

  I remember when I first told her that we couldn’t keep the baby, she was so sad. When our next door neighbor, DeAndra was pregnant, Nikki was obsessed with her belly and couldn’t wait to see the baby.

  After she had figured out that I was pregnant, she thought she would have a little brother or sister. Tears flooded her eyes when I told her that it wasn’t our baby, and she wouldn’t get to hold it. When Carter started kicking, she wouldn’t even touch my belly to feel it.

  Instead, she pouted and said, “Why should I? It’s not our baby.” If I come home with the baby, she’d be head over heels in love with him.

  You shouldn’t think like this, Tasha. It’ll only cause you more heartache than you’ve already endured.

  On the other hand, if I could keep this baby, I know Mr. Jackass out there has plenty of money to pay me in child support. I’ve never seen one red cent from Troy in child support, but Blake, he’s got some money. I’d make him pay, too.

  My job at the bank doing data entry won’t cut it for two kids. At eleven bucks an hour, I’m not sure how I would support two kids. Nikki’s daycare alone cost me almost six hundred a month—and that’s with the state’s assistance.

  They say I make too much to qualify for free daycare, so I only pay the reduced rate. I’m not even sure how much daycare costs for a newborn. When she was that age, my mom watched her all the time. I wish she could now. It would save me so much money.

  In the morning, I woke up to one of the nurses poking and prodding at me. The soft glow of the light made my eyes squint.

  “What time is it?”

  “It’s…” she checked her watch, “6:45 AM.”

  “You couldn’t wait until I woke up to start messing with me?”

  “Sorry. I have to get this done before shift change in a few minutes. How’s your pain level this morning?”

  “Fine, but I could use another dose before this one wears off.”

  “I’ll tell your daytime nurse to bring it to you.”

  “Who is it today?”

  “Emily, I think.”

  Oh great. She’s just wonderful! Not!

  A little after 8 AM, the short, sassy nurse handed me a medicine cup with two blue pills in it. “Here’s the pain medicine you asked for.” She wrote in my chart. “The lab will be up soon to do a blood draw.”

  “Why? Is something wrong?”

  “I’m not sure why they’re doing it. Dr. Jackson called in the order this morning. If you want, I can page him and ask.”

  “Would you? I hate having more needle pokes than I have to. They drew blood after the baby was born so I’m not sure why they’d need to do it again so soon.”

  She shrugged. “I’ll page your doctor and let him know you’re asking why and I’ll get back to you.”

  I bet you will.

  She has to be one of the worst nurses I’ve met here. Any time I push the call button; it takes her almost an hour to get to me, and if I ask for anything special like water, she takes her sweet time with that too.

  Blake

  After Logan had spoken with Tasha, he told me about how he requested her medical records. I didn’t understand why he would do that, but it all made sense once he explained to me that she may have told the medical providers information that she hadn’t disclosed to the surrogate agency.

  Before I left the hospital for the evening, I went back down to the nursery to see Carter. He was peacefully sleeping in his incubator as I observed him from the glass window. I called my sister once I got home and told her the situation.

  She rubbed it in just like I knew s
he would, saying how she knew it was a mistake from the beginning and the inevitable older sister, “I told ya so!” phrase. I love my sister to death, but sometimes Stephanie can be a wicked pain in the ass. It must have been 2 AM before I finally dozed off.

  Waking up to the sound of my phone ringing, I rolled over in bed, searching for it on my nightstand.

  “Hello?”

  “Mr. Adams, this is Dr. Jackson. How are you this morning?”

  Sitting up in bed, I rubbed my eyes, trying to focus my vision. “Good. How can I help you?”

  “My patient informed me that your attorney paid her a visit yesterday afternoon.” He suddenly grabbed my attention. “I would like to sit down with the three of you this afternoon if that’s possible.”

  “The three of us?”

  “Yes, you, the attorney and Tasha. She’s doing well, so I intend to release her this afternoon. Can you call your attorney and ask him to meet with us around noon?”

  “I can see if he can do that. What’s this about?” Glancing at the alarm clock, it was nearly 9 AM.

  “I’d like to explain everything in person. If he’s unable to meet at that time, give me a call—this is my personal cell phone—and we’ll reschedule.”

  Hanging up with the doctor, I wondered what this was all about. Why would he need to meet with the three of us?

  Scrolling through my contacts, I reached the L’s and clicked on Logan’s name. Still trying to wake up, I got out of bed and stretched as the phone rang.

  “Marquidt Law Office, Logan Marquidt speaking.”

  “Logan, this is Blake Adams. The doctor called and said he’d like to meet with you, Tasha and me today at noon before he releases her to go home.”

  “Is he releasing the baby, too?”

  “To be honest, he didn’t say. When I saw Carter yesterday, he was on oxygen and had tubes coming out of everywhere, so I doubt it, but I’m not sure.”

  “That might buy us some time. I’m still looking into the logistics of what happens in cases like this, but I’m afraid I haven’t found any like yours.”

  “Can you make it at noon or should I call the doctor to reschedule?”

  “Let me look at my calendar.” His heavy breathing grew louder as he cradled the phone with his shoulder. “I can, but I won’t be able to stay long. I have another client coming into the office at three this afternoon.”

  When we hung up, I had just enough time to grab a quick bite to eat and shower before heading to the hospital. Not wanting to cook, I opted for a bowl of cereal.

  God, I’m a shitty father. I don’t even know what all is wrong with my son.

  I was so preoccupied with his skin color that I didn’t even think to ask what all the tubes were for or why he needed oxygen. Maybe the steroids weren’t enough while she was pregnant to open his lungs, which must be why he’s on oxygen. Picturing his tiny body lying under the bulb light made my heart ache.

  I want to make him better. I’d do anything to trade places with him.

  I’ve only held him for five minutes, and I already love him. Darnell was right, I did well with this one—even if he wasn’t biologically mine. I’m no fool, and I have a feeling the doctor’s going to fill us in on what Tasha’s been up to.

  She had to have gotten pregnant around the time of the implant. That’s the only reasonable explanation. No sex for over a year? The only kind of person who would do that…shit, is someone like me, but I have an excuse.

  My wife died, and I’m not going to hop into bed with anyone. It would be a complete disrespect to her.

  On my way to the hospital, I keep imagining what the doctor’s going to say and what my attorney’s going to do about it. He’s a good lawyer, so I have faith in him, but I hope he can win this case if this baby is Tasha’s and another man’s.

  It will crush me if I can’t bring him home with me. A sad feeling crept through me, as I thought about not having the son that I’d been looking forward to so much. If that happens, I might abandon all hope in ever becoming a father ever again. But that’s not going to happen.

  I’ll see to it that my attorney makes things happen—in my favor, of course. Pulling into the hospital parking garage, I paid for my parking ticket and slid into the first available space that I could find.

  The temperature in the weather had significantly dropped, making it wicked cold outside. Grabbing hold of my coat, I pulled it snuggly around me as I crossed the street to the front entrance of the hospital and took the elevator to the fourth floor.

  Logan was already there waiting for me.

  “Blake,” he shook my hand. “Are you ready to find the doctor?”

  “Yeah, I’ll let the nurses know we’re here and that he’s expecting us.”

  Logan trailed behind me as I walked up to the nurse’s station and told the woman behind the desk that we were here to see Dr. Jackson. A few minutes later, the doctor joined us at the counter and asked us to follow him to Tasha’s room.

  Wiping my sweaty palms on the leg of my pants, I followed close behind him with my attorney at my side.

  Either it’s really hot in here, or my nerves are getting the best of me.

  My stomach knotted up as I looked at her door. The doctor opened it and motioned for us to enter. Tasha was reclined on her bed, watching TV.

  “Grab a chair,” Dr. Jackson said as he removed her chart from the foot of her hospital bed.

  Once we were seated, Logan fished through his briefcase for his infamous yellow legal pads that he likes to scribble on. “We’re ready whenever you are, doctor.”

  Tasha wouldn’t even look at me once she realized I was in the room. Her lips turned downward as she looked away from me, paying her complete attention to the doctor.

  “My patient will tell you that I had labs drawn on her yesterday morning.” I looked over at Tasha, who nodded in agreement with the statement. Logan was busy jotting down what the doctor was saying. “Now Tasha,” he turned his attention to her, “you didn’t know what I was doing at the time, but I had a good reason for that. After researching your medical history and the procedure, it made me think.” His head turned, facing me this time. “Mr. Adams, you said that these were your wife’s eggs, correct?”

  “Yes, that’s right.” Logan was scribbling words a mile per minute as the meeting went on.

  “And if memory serves me correctly, Tasha had told me that your wife died of cancer.” He flipped through her medical record, “Cervical cancer?”

  “Yes.”

  He’s starting to piss me off.

  What does my wife have to do with Tasha sleeping with another man and burning me on this deal?

  “Before I continue, I need to ask you a question. Had your wife already started cancer treatment before having her eggs harvested or after?”

  “Um,” let me think back, “she started her cancer treatments right away. I’d have to say her eggs were taken out of her after she started treatment.” Still thinking, “Yeah, yeah. She had them taken after she started her cancer treatments.”

  “That makes perfect sense.” Everyone in the room stared at him.

  What the hell is he talking about?

  “Mr. Adams, Tasha, I’d like to congratulate you on the birth of your baby boy.”

  His pleasant smile made me want to jump out of the chair and punch him in the head.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Tasha asked, obviously annoyed with him as well.

  “The two of you are parents.”

  “Dr. Jackson, if I may,” Logan held his pen up in the air as if to pause the meeting. “What do you mean they are parents? The sperm was his, but I don’t see how Tasha contributed to the baby other than simply being the host and giving birth.”

  “You see, there’s been a few other cases like this—not in Massachusetts,” he laughed, “not even in the U.S. There was one case in France and another in the UK. The gestational surrogate had given birth to a child that was partially hers—biologically, I mean.”
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  “What in the hot funky hell are you talking about?” Tasha sounded aggressive, which surprised me. She was normally laid back and easy going.

  “You see, when I ordered those labs yesterday, I was testing your genetic markers against those of the baby, Carter. We already know that Mr. Adams is the father so—”

  “No, you presume my client is the father. We’ll need additional testing to conclude that presumption.”

  Man, Logan nailed it right on the head!

  He said exactly what I was thinking.

  “I’ll be happy to do a DNA test for Mr. Adams to prove he is the father, but I wondered how it was possible that Tasha and Carter shared the same DNA, which made me do the research I was mentioning. Cancer drugs weaken your body, including your reproductive system. My patient has maintained from day one that she has not been sexually active for more than one year, and I believe her. After digging around, I found that while the combining of the sperm and egg may be viable in a petri dish, the egg can dissolve once it’s placed inside the uterus of the surrogate when the conditions are optimal.”

  “What exactly does that mean?” My mind raced, trying to keep up with the medical genius.

  “It means your wife’s egg dissolved after the embryo was implanted in Tasha’s uterus, leaving your sperm free to swim as they please. Due to a number of hormones she was taking to prepare her body for the pregnancy, she was at her peak ovulation time. Your sperm impregnated one of her eggs.” Tasha’s face lit up as she realized that this baby is hers.

  The room started spinning as sweat beaded on my forehead and the pit of my stomach dropped.

  I just had a bi-racial baby!

  If this is true, that means Tasha is the mother of my child, not my wife.

  Oh God, this means I might never be able to have a baby with my wife!

  What am I going to do? As all these thoughts raced through my mind, I knew one thing for certain. I’m taking this baby home no matter what! Either way, the baby is mine. Legally or biologically—if the DNA test can confirm that.

  “When can you set my client up for a DNA test? I don’t believe this medical miracle tale that you’re spinning. We need concrete proof, and so will the courts.”