The Greatest Gift

by Rachael Johns

  The nurse indicated the stack of specimen cups on a shelf in one corner. ‘Good luck. I’ll be in the office next door, so let me know when you’re done.’

  Then she left the room and closed the door behind her.

  Claire locked the door, trying not to think about how many other men had wanked in here before them, and when she turned around to face Jasper the look on his face told her he was having similar thoughts.

  ‘This is gonna be fun,’ he said, picking a magazine off the top of the pile. He flicked through a couple of pages and then held a photo up to her. ‘But I’m not sure I want to think about this woman when I’m trying to create our baby.’

  She stepped forward, snatched the magazine from his grasp and dropped it. ‘That is why I’m here,’ she said, slowly undoing the top few buttons of her shirt and looking at him with the come-to-bed expression that never failed to get his attention. Although they’d been told Jasper could do this alone, she’d wanted to help him so that she at least had some involvement in the conception of their child, and now she tried to keep that thought first and foremost in her mind.

  Jasper walked to the side of the room and rapped on one of the walls. ‘I wonder how thin these are? Do you think she can hear us?’

  Claire shuddered, but tried not to let it show on her face. ‘Forget about her. This is about us.’ Slightly panicked that he might not follow through with this, she grabbed his hand and turned him back to face her. Then she slid her hands beneath his t-shirt and smoothed them over his warm, hard torso. His body never failed to turn her on and even in this cold, clinical space, she found her desire gathering strength. But it wasn’t herself she needed to work into a state.

  ‘Remember how much you’ve wanted to touch me this last week?’ she whispered seductively into his ear. ‘Well, touch away, baby. I’m all yours.’

  She saw Jasper’s Adam’s apple move up and down as he swallowed, his arousal clearly starting to fight the discomfort of their situation. ‘Or would you rather I touch you?’

  Without waiting for a reply, she dropped to her knees, yanked open the button of his jeans and then pulled them down his legs. Claire wasn’t sure this was what the nurses meant when they’d told her she could help, but she’d always loved giving Jasper head and he’d never failed to respond to the touch of her tongue. She wanted this moment to be special and memorable for both of them.

  Seconds after she took him into her mouth, his hands found the back of her head and his fingers twisted through her hair as she felt his body begin to respond. She licked up his length, cupping his balls as she swirled her tongue around his delicious cock. It wasn’t long before his breathing grew faster, deeper, and he reached his hand down to halt her efforts.

  ‘Jar!’ He uttered. ‘Now.’

  While he held still, Claire grabbed said jar, unscrewed the lid and handed it to him. As she watched his semen spurt into the little container, she beamed. This was it. They were really doing this and she couldn’t be happier.

  When they had a full jar of sperm, he claimed her mouth in a victorious kiss.

  ‘Careful,’ she said, pulling back and glancing down at their little pot of gold. ‘Don’t spill it.’

  He laughed as she retrieved the lid and screwed it on tight. Neither of them could stop smiling down at it.

  ‘Our baby could be in there,’ she whispered, feeling as if she could burst with love for her husband and the child that was still barely more than a twinkle in his eye.

  They left the room like a couple of teenagers who were sneaking out of the school store cupboard after getting up to no good. Except that everyone in this building knew exactly what they’d been getting up to. But they were too euphoric to be embarrassed.

  ‘How long will Harper be?’ Claire asked their nurse.

  She glanced down at her purple fob watch. ‘She must almost be in recovery. You can take a seat in the waiting room again and you’ll be called up when she’s okay for a visitor.’

  ‘Thank you.’ Jasper smiled, much more relaxed now, as he and Claire went off to wait.

  It wasn’t long before her phone beeped in her bag. She snatched it up and shrieked loudly when she saw it was from Harper. Jasper read over her shoulder:

  We got 15 eggs. Apparently that’s good and it sounds like a lucky number to me!

  ‘Oh my God!’ they exclaimed together like two kids in a candy store.

  ‘What shall I say back?’

  ‘Thank her and ask her how she’s feeling,’ he said.

  That’s wonderful. Thank you. How are you feeling? x

  Aside from a little tenderness I feel fine. They’ve just given me some lovely sandwiches and a nice cup of tea.

  Claire’s own stomach rumbled at the message—until now, she’d been too strung up with nerves to eat anything.

  Enjoy.

  About fifteen minutes later, the nurse who’d taken Harper away came to collect them. ‘Want to come keep Ms Drummond company in recovery?’ she asked. ‘It won’t be long and she’ll be able to go home.’

  They found Harper sitting in a chair, still wearing a surgery gown, and sipping a cup of tea alongside a few other women. She looked up and grinned when Claire and Jasper approached.

  Claire rushed to her side. ‘Are you sure you’re okay? Is there anything I can do or get for you?’

  ‘Honestly I’m fine.’

  Jasper shook his head good-naturedly at Claire. ‘Don’t mind her, she’s a bit of a fusspot.’

  ‘Hey!’

  Harper laughed. ‘I think being a fusspot is requirement number one for being a good mum. And I’m so excited for you. I know you’ll both make fantastic parents.’

  Claire’s eyes prickled with tears at their donor’s words and she tried but failed to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat. Unable to speak, she reached out and squeezed her new friend’s hand.

  At that moment, somewhere else in this building, Harper’s fifteen ova were being placed into a petri dish with Jasper’s sperm. In as little as twenty-four hours they would know whether fertilisation had been a success.

  Chapter Fifteen

  DECEMBER 2016

  The doorbell rang. Harper wiped her hands on the apron she wore once in a blue moon and ran down the hallway to answer it.

  ‘Merry Christmas Eve,’ said Willow as Harper opened the door to find her sister and Miriam standing there in the most ridiculous Christmas t-shirts she’d ever laid eyes on.

  ‘You’re early,’ she blurted.

  ‘And you’re covered in flour,’ Willow said, throwing an arm around her sister in a hug. In the other hand she held a bottle of Baileys Irish Cream.

  ‘Hi Harper. Merry Christmas.’ Miriam smiled from over Willow’s shoulder. She was holding a couple of large bags with presents poking out the top. ‘Sorry we’re so early, but this one said we might as well come over and start drinking the Christmas cheer.’

  Harper laughed as she pulled back from her sister’s embrace and then kissed Miriam on the cheek. ‘That is the best idea I’ve heard all week. Come on. Get yourselves inside.’

  Their early arrival was most welcome—perhaps they’d help take her mind off Claire and Jasper for a while. She’d thought she’d be able to move on after the egg retrieval, but while she didn’t miss the daily injections, she still found herself thinking about her recipient couple frequently. Luckily Afternoons with Harper wrapped up for two weeks over the Christmas and New Year period, so her distracted state didn’t affect her work.

  She’d been trying to keep busy but no matter what she was doing, she found herself wondering about the embryo that had been transferred into Claire’s uterus. Had it taken hold? The clinic had declared her PUPO—pregnant until proven otherwise—but Harper knew the odds were against them. The chances were that this first time wouldn’t work and they’d need to use one of the other embryos that had been frozen. Although she wouldn’t have to go through the process again unless all these embryos failed, she still felt anxious for Clair
e and Jasper who had buried their way into her heart.

  She’d never imagined feeling this invested, but now wherever she went she saw pregnant women and hot air balloons. The oldest of their nieces and nephews were getting remote controlled hot air balloons for Christmas; she’d bought her mother-in-law some hot air balloon print tea towels for her collection; and she’d even bought Samuel a pair of gold hot air balloon cufflinks. Harper didn’t know whether hot air balloons were in fashion this year or she’d simply never noticed how popular they were before now.

  ‘Since when did you bake?’ Willow asked as they entered the kitchen. The bench was covered in shortbread dough which Harper had cut into various shapes.

  ‘Since I finished buying all the presents for Samuel’s nieces and nephews and exhausted all my kind of shows on Netflix. I decided I could start watching them all over again or I could try and garner some festive cheer.’

  Willow snorted. ‘You’re full of surprises lately, sister dear.’ Then she glanced at Miriam. ‘Harper doesn’t like holidays from work. And she married The Grinch.’

  ‘I did not,’ Harper objected, trying not to smile at her sister’s description of Samuel. But it was actually pretty close to the truth. She had her reasons for hating Christmas—as a child it had never been the exciting time it should be. Laura had never forked out for photos on Santa’s lap and the only trees they ever had were the branches Harper and Willow dragged in from outside and decorated with the things they’d made at school. Christmas lunch was the same as any other lunch—generally it consisted of toasted cheese sandwiches that they had to make themselves.

  On the other hand, Samuel’s childhood Christmases were everything Harper imagined a family Christmas should be. Lots of delicious home-cooked food, a tree so big it took up most of the lounge room with presents spilling out from underneath it, carols playing on the stereo in the background and everyone mucking in and helping cook up a storm in the kitchen. Still, they only made the trek to his parents’ place in Parramatta for Christmas every few years. Most Decembers they flew away to somewhere exotic to escape the festivities—somewhere with cocktails on tap—but this year Samuel hadn’t wanted to take too much time off work and as they were in the country, they felt obliged to spend the day with his family.

  ‘Speaking of surprises,’ Willow said, retrieving three glasses from one of the kitchen cupboards, ‘any news from Claire and Jasper yet?’

  Harper glared at her sister as she started to put the trays of biscuits into the oven.

  ‘What?’ Willow exclaimed.

  She sighed. ‘No news. Claire’s got a test scheduled for next week and to be honest, I’m struggling to think about anything else.’

  ‘Think about how much worse it must be for them,’ Miriam said, pulling out a stool at the breakfast bar and sitting herself down.

  Harper nodded—she felt like she was in some kind of weird limbo place and could only imagine how anxious Claire and Jasper must be feeling. ‘I know. We’ve exchanged a couple of text messages over the last week and she’s sounding positive, but I hope she’s not getting her hopes up.’

  ‘I reckon it would be hard not to,’ Miriam said. ‘When my younger sister and her husband were trying to conceive a couple of years ago, she couldn’t talk about anything else.’

  ‘And she didn’t have any fertility issues, did she?’ Willow asked as she found ice in the freezer and proceeded to pour three glasses of Baileys.

  ‘Nope. None. She got pregnant after two months of trying, but for those two months she was unbearable. I’m surprised my brother-in-law didn’t divorce her.’ Miriam chuckled. ‘I must admit my resulting nephew is pretty damn cute though.’

  ‘I’ll toast to that.’ Willow handed Harper and Miriam a glass. ‘Shall we go out onto the deck to drink these?’

  Harper glanced at the oven. ‘Okay. But don’t let me forget to come back in and get these out. I don’t want my only contribution to Samuel’s family Christmas lunch to be burnt biscuits.’

  The others laughed.

  ‘When will he be home?’ Miriam asked as she slid off the stool and followed the sisters to the back door.

  Harper glanced at her watch. ‘I’m guessing anytime. They usually take an early mark and have a few post-work drinks on Christmas Eve, but everyone else will be eager to get home to their families.’

  ‘Won’t Samuel be eager to get home too?’ Miriam asked.

  ‘The Grinch, remember,’ Willow said as they stepped out onto the deck. ‘And he’s a workaholic—he and Harper are perfectly matched. As are you and I.’

  Miriam smiled at Willow with gooey eyes that made Harper smile as well. She was glad her sister finally seemed to have found the perfect woman.

  ‘Oh, I should get some nibblies,’ she exclaimed just as she was about to sit down on the wicker outdoor lounge. ‘I really am a terrible host.’

  Willow waved her hand. ‘Don’t worry about it. We can get some when we refill the drinks.’

  ‘Or when we get your shortbread out of the oven,’ Miriam suggested.

  ‘Good plan.’ Harper leant back in the seat and tried to relax. She looked to Miriam. ‘So what do your family do for Christmas?’

  ‘My folks are sort of beach bums, so our Christmases are usually spent eating seafood, swimming and playing cricket on the sand.’

  ‘Beach bums!’ Willow snorted. ‘They have a mansion practically on Palm Beach.’

  ‘Sounds like bliss,’ Harper said.

  Miriam’s expression turned serious. ‘Willow’s told me a bit about your Christmases growing up, and having met your mum it’s not hard to imagine. I’m sorry your childhood wasn’t ideal. I guess I was lucky—but I just took it all for granted. Can’t wait to take Willow to meet everyone tomorrow. She’s already met Mum and Dad and my sisters of course, but all our extended family will be there for me to show her off. You know, you and Samuel are welcome to come up too if you like.’

  ‘Thanks. We’ll be at his parents’ place for lunch but we’ll think about driving up afterwards.’

  ‘Driving up where?’

  They all turned to see the man in question standing in the doorway, tugging off his tie as he surveyed the scene in front of him.

  ‘Hey honey.’ Harper smiled up at him. ‘Miriam was just telling us about her parents’ place in Palm Beach; she’s invited us to visit tomorrow if we want.’

  ‘Sounds good, but right now I’m going upstairs to get changed and then I’m coming down to join you in a drink. Back in a moment.’

  While Samuel headed upstairs, Harper went inside to check on the biscuits. She saw her laptop closed on the bench and remembered they’d arranged to talk to their mother on Skype. Forgetting the shortbread, she went back outside.

  ‘What time are we supposed to be Skyping Mum?’

  Willow picked up her phone and glanced at the screen. ‘If she got her time differences right, in fifteen minutes.’ She sighed. ‘You know, I’m not really in the mood to talk to her. We’re having fun. Maybe we should be the ones to forget about her for a change?’

  Remembering the number of times Laura had promised to come watch her at school assemblies and hadn’t shown up, Harper was sorely tempted, but she knew she’d spend the rest of the night feeling guilty. ‘I’ll bring the laptop out here,’ she said, heading back inside.

  Five minutes later, Samuel had joined them and they’d refilled their glasses. The laptop was on the outdoor coffee table and Harper and Willow were sitting opposite it on one of the wicker couches.

  ‘Remember, please don’t say anything about what I’m doing for Claire and Jasper,’ Harper said. ‘She’ll somehow find a way to make it about herself and I don’t want to deal with her opinions.’

  ‘Our lips are sealed,’ Miriam said.

  Emphasising the point, Willow pinched her thumb and index finger together and lifted them to her mouth and mimed doing exactly this.

  Samuel didn’t say anything but Harper knew he wouldn’t mention it anyway
. The tension that had come between them while she’d been preparing for the egg retrieval was gone now, but as far as he was concerned, the less said on that subject, the better.

  ‘Thanks,’ she said. ‘Now, who’s supposed to be calling who?’

  ‘Let’s call her and get it out of the way. If she doesn’t answer, too bad; at least then we can say we tried.’

  ‘You guys really don’t like your mother, do you?’ Miriam asked.

  Samuel glanced down at his glass and swished the liquid around.

  ‘It’s not that we don’t like her,’ Willow said.

  ‘Not exactly,’ Harper added, just as Skype started buzzing on the screen.

  ‘Oh my God, it’s her. And on time. What is the world coming to?’ Willow’s finger shot forward to accept the call.

  Seconds later their mother appeared on the screen wearing a knitted Christmas jumper that was ten times as ridiculous as the t-shirts Willow and Miriam had on.

  ‘It’s worked.’ She clapped her hands and grinned at the screen. ‘Mack, come and say Merry Christmas to my daughters.’

  ‘Hi Laura,’ Harper and Willow said at the same time as a tall, bald man in his early sixties appeared on the screen.

  He grinned at them from the other side of the world and Harper noticed the smile lines around his eyes. ‘Well, hello beautiful girls—so great to finally chat with you both. It’s clear that you have your mother’s good looks. Merry Christmas. I’m so sorry I’m keeping her from you this year.’

  ‘We’re just about managing without her,’ Willow said sarcastically.

  Harper elbowed her sister and stifled a smile. ‘It’s great to finally talk to you, Mack. Gorgeous house you have there.’

  It looked like some kind of log cabin, with so much more warmth in the décor than any of the rental houses they’d grown up in. Then again, they’d moved so many times that Harper had lost count, and they’d certainly never stayed anywhere long enough for it to feel like home.