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Back The Surrogate
Chapters (65)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. Part One
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-One
  26. Twenty-Two
  27. Twenty-Three
  28. Twenty-Four
  29. Twenty-Five
  30. Twenty-Six
  31. Twenty-Seven
  32. Twenty-Eight
  33. Twenty-Nine
  34. Thirty
  35. Thirty-One
  36. Thirty-Two
  37. Thirty-Three
  38. Part Two
  39. Thirty-Four
  40. Thirty-Five
  41. Thirty-Six
  42. Thirty-Seven
  43. Thirty-Eight
  44. Thirty-Nine
  45. Forty
  46. Forty-One
  47. Forty-Two
  48. Forty-Three
  49. Forty-Four
  50. Forty-Five
  51. Forty-Six
  52. Forty-Seven
  53. Forty-Eight
  54. Forty-Nine
  55. Fifty
  56. Fifty-One
  57. Part Three
  58. Fifty-Two
  59. Fifty-Three
  60. Fifty-Four
  61. Fifty-Five
  62. Fifty-Six
  63. Acknowledgments
  64. About the Author
  65. About the Publisher

Hal decided he’d make his goulash for me and Caleb, as we all could use some old-fashioned comfort food. And with a fire in the living room, we’d hunker down and wait. As Hal started the dinner, with the fire crackling, I slipped out and went upstairs to the guest room. There was a phone in there, and it was private.

“Hi, Raymond.” I was sitting on the bed, swinging my dangling feet. “It’s your little sis.” I waited for a reaction. He laughed.

“What’s so funny?” I smoothed out the wrinkles beside me on the bedspread.

“Nothing,” he said. “You’re the only one who calls me Raymond anymore.”

“Ha!” I pulled my legs onto the bed and leaned back against the headboard. The overhead light was too bright, and the walls were bare. It felt oddly like a dorm room. “How’s work?” I was stalling. “Everybody good down at the station?” Even though Raymond was semi-retired, I knew he stayed close with the guys.

“They’re good, but what’s all this about?” he said. “I’m happy to hear from you, but it’s not every day that—”

“I know. I’m sorry. I should call more often.” I curled and uncurled the phone cord in my fingers. I looked out the window to the dark sky. We should put curtains up, I thought. “It’s been a busy year, with the baby coming and everything,” I said, and that was the truth.

“Eh.” Raymond scoffed it off. “So what’s up, Ru? I know there’s something.” He held the phone close to his mouth, and using his deep voice, he said, “I’m a detective, remember?”

“That’s actually why I’m calling you, Raymond.”

“Oh, boy,” he said, and I could feel him smiling through the phone.

I was only able to give him the basics before Hal called, “Dinner’s ready! Come and get it!”

Thirty-One

Cally

OCTOBER 2002

Evening

It had been nice having a friend who was also pregnant. I met Sarah at the Lamaze classes Ruth made me attend on Tuesday nights. Since Ruth planned to be my birth coach, she wanted to learn the breathing and baby basics. Most of the other pregnant women were in their thirties, but Sarah looked closer to my age.

She walked up to me during a break one Tuesday night. “So are you guys, like, a couple?” She pointed to Ruth, who was getting a cookie from a platter by the bulletin board. Before the break, we’d been listening to a lecture about the cervix, and after the break, we’d be changing diapers on baby-sized dolls. “Your birth partner,” said Sarah. “Is she, like, your significant other?”

“No, I’m not a lesbian,” I said, smiling at the thought of me and Ruth.