The Billionaire's Arranged Twins: An Incredible Billionaire Pregnancy Romance

by Tasha Blue

  There was a gasp at the other end of the phone when Cara spoke the amount of money that was to be paid out. There was silence following the gasp, but Cara knew that she had struck a nerve. The nurse had told her that money had once been the most important factor to Jamaica, and it sounded as if that might still be the case for the young woman.

  “Five hundred….” Jamaica repeated in a breathless whisper.

  “Five hundred thousand. This is the most important thing we will ever do, creating this family, and we truly believe that you are exactly the right person to help us make that happen. I have reviewed your profile at the fertility clinic, and I can promise you that we are confident that no one else would be quite as good a fit for this as you would be. Will you please meet with me tomorrow? I know it’s sudden, but that will give you the night tonight to sleep on it and think about it, and then we can meet tomorrow and talk about the details of what we are looking for, what we expect, and what we can and will give you, and you will have time to think of any questions that you might have. What do you say, will you please meet with me tomorrow? It would only be to talk about it. Keep that in mind.” Cara’s soft voice was reassuring. She gazed into the digital replication of Jamaica’s eyes on her computer monitor and with everything in her, she silently wished that the girl would say yes.

  There was a long sigh that sounded at the other end of the phone. “Okay. You have made some excellent points. It is something that I do want to give some thought to tonight. I realize that I’m still on the list of available potential mothers or carriers, but I have never even been contacted for a proposal for carrying a baby before, and I really thought that it was about to die out and this wasn’t going to ever come up, so I was just going to let it go. I wasn’t really prepared to get this call or this request. So, I do need to think about it tonight as you said, but I can meet with you tomorrow to discuss this. I can come and at least talk it over with you. That shouldn’t be an issue at all.”

  “Wonderful, if you could please give me your contact information, I would be glad to send you a location where we could meet, and you can let me know a time, and we’ll do it,” Cara said, pushing again for the meeting.

  Jamaica agreed and gave Cara her information, telling her that she would see her the next day. Their call ended and Cara heaved a loud sigh and leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes and hoping that Jamaica would in fact do everything that she wanted her to do.

  ***

  The sun was bright in Seattle the next morning, and Jamaica loved the feel of it on her face as she sat near one of the many windows in her classroom at Wentworth Academy. She was smiling at the young girl seated beside her; one of her students, a seven-year-old girl by the name of Annalee Watkins.

  “Miss Franklin,” she asked, looking up at Jamaica with her wide child’s eyes and her bright little smile, “this triptych is the best art I’ve ever done!” She looked back down at her creation and beamed.

  It was a threefold artistic piece comprised of framed watercolor paintings of animals in the wild. There was an elephant, a lion, and a giraffe. The study had been on capturing the essence of life in its most natural habitat, and while Annalee was easily Jamaica’s star student and didn’t need much help, she was always glad to get extra help and spend time working after school or before in order to get her work just right. It was important to her, and Jamaica loved to see such passion in her young students, particularly in a girl who she knew could go far with her art if she ever chose to take that path.

  “I agree completely Annalee, this really is just about the best thing you’ve done. Your work has been getting consistently better, and I’m so proud of you! You learn fast, you adapt what you’ve learned to your imagination, and you just seem to grow so fast and so strong from that, every time you get a chance! This is wonderful. I’m so glad to have you in this class and to get a chance to teach you and share so much wonderful art with you.” Jamaica grinned at the young girl and Annalee seemed to glow under her encouragement.

  “I want to be Just as good an artist as you are someday, when I grow up,” Annalee said admiringly as she looked over at one of the far walls of the classroom and gazed at a few large paintings that Jamaica had hanging on the wall. “You’re one of the best artists in the whole world! Someday, I want to be as good as you are. I’m going to work for it. It’ll happen. You’ll see.”

  Jamaica nodded. “I know it will, but you must remember that artists are always growing as long as they continue to work at their craft; even me. I’m still growing and learning too, and I always will be, all of my life.”

  Annalee frowned a little in confusion. “But you’re a teacher!” she stated in confusion. “How can you learn more?”

  “We always learn, all of our lives. We never reach our full potential if we always have room to grow, and as long as we are alive, we have room to grow. No one is perfect, not even the old masters of art, not anyone dead or alive, or anyone in the whole history of the world. We keep on learning, all of us, every day of our lives, and we become better and better. So one day you won’t be as good as me, you’ll be as good as yourself… the best that you can be at that time of your life. Just like me, I’m the best I’ve ever been right now, but I’m still learning, I’m still growing, and as I learn more, then I’ll be even better then, which is better than now, and still the best I’ve ever been. Does that make sense?” she asked, searching the child’s eyes. She wasn’t sure if that much philosophy would sort itself out in the young girl’s mind.

  Annalee nodded enthusiastically. “I get it! You keep learning, and you keep getting better, and you keep doing it all of your life, over and over, forever!”

  “Well,” Jamaica laughed, “at least as long as I’m alive.” She stood up and smiled down at the girl and the three paintings before her on the table. “You are the best you’ve ever been right now too, and you’re also done with these three, so let’s go set them up in the display case in the hall and then you can head home for the day, okay?” She reached over and picked up two of the pieces, waiting for Annalee to take the third.

  The little girl picked it up carefully and carried it with a gentle strength to the display case in the hallway where the two of them set the watercolor paintings up in a row together, and then shut the glass case door.

  “Do you like how they look?” Jamaica asked her with an encouraging tone.

  Annalee nodded blissfully. “I love it! I think they look great.” She reached her small arms around Jamaica and hugged her tightly, and then took a step back and looked up at her. “Thank you for helping me with them.”

  “You are so welcome. I’m always glad to help you anytime,” Jamaica answered, hugging the small girl back. “Okay, you’re all set. We’ll see you tomorrow. Thank you for all of your hard work today Annalee!”

  Annalee grinned and turned then, picking up her bag from near the classroom door, and then she turned and hurried down the hallway toward the front door. Jamaica watched her disappear down the hall, knowing that her father would be waiting for her outside.

  “She is the cutest kid in your whole class,” came a female voice from just behind Jamaica’s shoulder. She turned then to see one of her close friends standing near her, arms crossed over her chest, smile on her face, her dark eyes bright with joy.

  “Penny, she is also the most talented in the class. Cute yes… she’s adorable, but she’s also really talented. If that little girl decides to take her art seriously, she could really be successful one day. Get her work up in good galleries and things like that.” Jamaica gave one last smile to the empty hall that Annalee had just disappeared down, and then she turned to face her friend fully.

  “She keeps telling me that she wants to be just like me one day. It’s important for me to be a good role model for her. She seems to be like a sponge, soaking up everything I say and do. Today she asked me if I was married, and I told her no, but that I want to be someday, and she said that she is going to grow up to be just like me.
That’s a lot of pressure on me to get everything right and be the best person that I can be in front of her. Part of me hopes that I don’t fail, because I don’t want her to see that, but then the other part of me kind of hopes that someday she will see me fail, because then she’ll realize that I’m human, and that we all make mistakes and grow and learn, and live and die. She won’t have me up on such a high pedestal. I just hope if I do screw up in front of her, that it’s not too bad, and that it doesn’t destroy her faith in me.” Jamaica let out a small sigh and smiled warmly at her friend.

  Penny was another teacher in the school at Wentworth Academy. They had both started at the same time and had become fast friends, relying on each other to learn the ropes and support one another as they settled into their jobs and made their way through each term at the school.

  Penny grinned back at Jamaica. She was short and petite, pretty and an easy going, happy person. She was sometimes called cute, but she had done her best to outgrow that stigma, which was often brought on by the size of her small frame. She had shoulder length curly hair and a slightly rounder face with big brown eyes and a wide and friendly smile.

  Her friend looked at her, and with a slightly raised brow, Penny looked slightly suspicious of the answer to the question that she asked. “How did the topic of marriage come up, Jami? Are you engaged? Is there something that you’re not telling me?”

  Jamaica’s eyes widened a moment and she felt a shiver of shock move through her. “Engaged?! No! No… of course not! I mean, I’d like to be, but Andre hasn’t brought that up at all. We’re just… we’re an official couple as you know, but we’re not talking about marriage yet.”

  “…but you want to talk about marriage with him?” Penny asked with a surprised tone. Jamaica looked around them and saw that they were alone, and waved at Penny to follow her into her classroom. When the door was closed, she let out a soft sigh and sat in one of the chairs at a table in the room.

  “I would like to get married and have a family. Every time it comes up though, Andre changes the subject. I don’t know if it’s going to be him, I don’t know if we’re going to be anything more than what we are or what. It’s just not clear,” she admitted with a frown.

  Penny watched her and nodded. “Okay, so there’s no engagement right now. Well, that’s good, because I need some help.”

  Jamaica tilted her head slightly. “What do you need help with? You know I’m glad to give you a hand whenever I can. What’s up?”

  With a serious look on her face, Penny wrapped her arms around her friends’ shoulders snugly. “I need a good wing-woman. My dating life has taken a seriously sour turn for the worse, and I need to hit the dating pool again. You’re gorgeous. You’ll attract the guys, and then when they find out that you’re taken and they can’t have you, they will go for me, and I can take my pick of them.”

  Jamaica laughed and nodded. “All right, all right. You know, I don’t really think that’s the best way to do it, but I love you and you’re asking for help, so I will be there for you. On one condition…” she trailed off looking back at Penny with her own serious gaze.

  “What? What’s the condition?” Penny asked with slightly narrowed eyes.

  “The condition is that we don’t tell Andre what we’re doing. He would be really jealous of me doing that with you, even if it’s just you that’s guy hunting. He wouldn’t be okay with me going out to help you find a guy.” Jamaica looked at Penny closely.

  Penny frowned deeply. “That’s terrible! What, he doesn’t trust you? You can’t go out and help me find a guy? Does he think that you’re going to wind up with one yourself and that you’re going to cheat on him? What kind of relationship is that? Honey, if he had confidence and trust in you and in himself, then he wouldn’t be jealous and he wouldn’t be worried about you going out with me. I mean, does he think that just because you’re out there and some other guy might hit on you that you’re so weak you’d fall right over there underneath the guy or dump him for someone else? Is he seriously that insecure?” She groaned and rolled her eyes in severe disapproval.

  “Well, it’s just that I’d prefer to skip the whole conversation or argument with him altogether, no matter how he looks at it, and yes, I think he’s afraid I’ll leave him for someone else, or something. I don’t know why he’s so jealous. He shouldn’t be. In any event, the best thing that we can do, and my one condition to help you, is that we go out and call it a girl’s night out, which isn’t really a lie, because it is a girl’s night out, it’s just that it also happens to be a guy hunting night for you, but that really isn’t anything I’m doing, I’m having a girl’s night out. So, if you wouldn’t mind, that’s what we’re going to call it, and that’s where we’re going to leave it, because I don’t want to hear it from him later. Is that okay please?” Jamaica asked, hoping that Penny would be willing to go along with it.

  Penny nodded. “It’s a deal. I think you’re not in a great spot with him if you can’t just be honest with him and tell him right off what you are doing and what you think, but whatever. That’s your business. If I have to glaze over it all and just call it a girl’s night in front of him, then fine. That’s what I’ll do. It’s a girl’s night. But… seriously sister, you need to think about making things honest between you two, or finding someone who isn’t so insecure and jealous. I don’t think he’s worth it.”

  Jamaica sighed. “I’ll have to give that some thought, but in the meantime, let’s just let that go and focus on your fun night out looking for a hot new guy, and we’ll leave it at that. Girl’s night out officially. Right?”

  “Right.” Penny grinned at her and then hugged her around the neck. “I owe you one sister, and I know it. So we’ll go out tomorrow? Can we do that?”

  “Tomorrow works!” Jamaica answered happily.

  “Thanks!” Penny bubbled, and let her go, giving her a quick kiss on her cheek before she turned and headed out of the classroom. Jamaica watched her go and gave a soft laugh after her.

  Andre was waiting for Jamaica when she got home that afternoon, shortly before four o’clock. He was sitting on her front porch on a chair, his feet propped up on a plant table opposite him, with the plant residing on the table pushed slightly aside.

  Jamaica had worked hard to get her own place, and she loved it. It was a sweet little house in a good neighborhood. She had a white picket fence and a green lawn. There were flowers growing all over and there was a row of tall pine trees growing all along one side of the house and across the back fence. The trees kept the wind and very rare snow from her yard. There was a proliferation of growth all through her garden and flower beds because of the heavy amounts of rain that fell all the time, but it all looked good, especially when the sun was shining, as it was when she walked up her sidewalk and sat beside Andre on the porch. It looked like the Garden of Eden then.

  “I got your text, baby, so what’s up? What did you need to talk with me about?” he asked, looking over at her with a dubious expression.

  She reached for his hand and he stayed where he was, watching her, not giving her any kind of romantic greeting. She swallowed and pulled her hand back to her lap and took a deep breath.

  “I had a phone call, an unexpected call, I guess. It’s kind of a big thing, and I wanted to talk with you about it before I take the next step with it.” She knew that it was going to be a big surprise for him.

  “Yeah? So, who was this call from?” he asked, eyeing her intently without shifting at all in his seat.

  “Well, before I tell you that, I guess I should tell you that when I was twenty and in college, and broke and trying to make money to pay my way through school, I did something a little… different.” She cleared her throat. He watched her silently. “I uh… I entered a program through a fertility clinic where they were looking for young women who might want to be surrogate mothers. It was supposed to pay well if you were chosen for a case, and I was going to use the money to pay for school, but I was never chosen
for a case and I was about to be finished with the program next week, I guess, so I never thought I’d hear from them.” She drew in a long slow breath and watched him.

  Andre was a big guy: thick almost everywhere, from his neck to his shoulders and arms, his midsection, and his legs. He seemed to be a massive wall of human man. He had short hair and rounded cheeks, and a usually serious and stoic expression. There were no smile lines on his face anywhere, but neither were there frown lines.

  He frowned slightly. “What is that?” he asked blinking as he peered at her.

  “What is what?” she asked him back.

  “Surro… whatever you said. What is that?” he repeated with slightly more clarification.

  She swallowed again. She didn’t know why she had thought that she might be able to talk to him about possibly taking on the job that Cara had called her for to carry another man’s baby when she knew he wouldn’t even like it if she went out with one of her best friends to help her find a guy. He was jealous and insecure, and carrying another man’s child was at the extreme end of the scale.

  Jamaica cleared her throat and answered him. “It’s surrogate. It means that another couple would hire me to go to a doctor and the doctor would put the couple’s fetus in me, and I would carry their baby for them until I gave birth to it, and then I would give them the baby and they would pay me, and then I would be done with it. I’m also signed up for in-vitro fertilization, and that means that I would have to contribute the egg, and carry the baby, and then when the baby is born I would give it to the couple and be paid.”

  She waited as she sat there in her chair and watched him work out everything she had told him in his own mind. His brow sank lower and lower on his forehead as his eyes narrowed menacingly. “Wait a minute… you said you might have to contribute the egg. Does that mean the kid would be half yours?”