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Back The Surrogate Save as PDF
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

I sensed bodies around us, people crowding me. “I need the address,” I said, dizzying. My legs gave way, and I buckled toward the floor. I felt someone catch me and help me stand up.

A male voice said, “Whoa, there, are you okay?”

My eyes flashed black.

Forty-One

Ruth

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2002

Evening

Raymond and I had already pieced together several clues. The cashier remembered a disheveled young woman with a newborn coming into the mini-mart and a man with her in a pickup truck. The cashier and her two women friends, who were keeping her company that night, remembered the evening well and could describe the truck and the baby. It stood out in their minds because it seemed to them that the young couple was in trouble. The women still had a red mitten they believed belonged to the couple, and best of all: these women had written down the license number of the man’s truck.

I immediately memorized the Minnesota plate: NVB381A. I planned to scour the city and the license plate of every truck until I found my baby. But when we got to Duluth, and the Target where Cally had made purchases, we didn’t find the truck or any other useful information. It was late when we checked in to our motel, so we went straight to our rooms.

Early Monday morning, I got a call from Kristin. She’d arranged for me and Hal to meet a surrogacy lawyer that afternoon, which meant I’d have to fly back to Minneapolis as soon as possible.

“Well, that was quick.” Raymond spread syrup on the crusty waffle he’d made in the breakfast nook at the North Family Inn just outside of Duluth.

“Yeah, I hate leaving right now, we’re so close!” I said. “But we need this lawyer, and I don’t trust Hal to accept the guy’s advice. I want to hear it directly from the horse’s mouth.”

“So to speak.” Raymond winked.

I smiled as I took a bite of toast and a sip of dishwater-flavored coffee from a Styrofoam cup. “I’ll fly right back late tonight or first thing Tuesday morning.”

“It’s fine, Ru,” Raymond said as he broke his plastic knife trying to cut the waffle.

“You’ll probably do better up here without me getting in your way,” I said, handing him my knife.

“Maybe,” he said, smiling and cutting the waffle.

“Well, you could have at least pretended you needed me here,” I said.

Raymond’s fork snapped, and he gave up. He grabbed the waffle with his hands and took a bite. “Of course I do!” He winked.

We finished our terrible breakfasts, and Raymond drove me to the airport to catch my flight. The plan was he would continue following his leads without me, starting with the Blue Anchor Grill, and I would return as soon as I could.