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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

“All set?” asked Dr. Salovich when he returned with the sperm.

“Yep,” I said, noticing he had mustard on the corner of his lip. He must have just eaten lunch.

“Pregnancy test was negative,” he said, not looking at me.

My stomach growled, and I punched it.

The nurse with the hips walked in with a cart. She stood at attention, waiting. The doctor placed the tools on the tray, ripping open sterile packages and getting everything ready.

The nurse held my wrist to read the ID bracelet they’d given me. “I have to do this, okay, honey?” she asked.

I nodded. I was getting nervous.

“You are Caroline Ruby Scott?”

“Yes,” I replied to this and the other questions. Birth date, address.

“You are here today for an artificial insemination, correct?”

“Correct.”

“The donor is Harold August Olson?”

“He goes by Hal,” I said, “but I never heard his middle name before.”

The room went quiet for a second, as if the hips nurse was deciding whether I should have known that Hal’s middle name was August. Apparently, there were no more questions. The nurse glanced at the doctor, who was busy setting up between my legs. He wasn’t fazed at all by my lack of knowing Hal’s middle name.

“August, hmm? That’d be a good one for the baby, a good boy name, wouldn’t it, darlin’?” said the hips nurse. She winked at me and moved back to her post beside the cart, ready to assist.

I ignored her.

The doctor began, announcing his every move one second before he did it. I felt the heat of the light again, and him, focusing between my legs, his gloved hand on the inside of my thigh. “No second thoughts, right?” he said. Was this another one of his jokes?

I held my breath. His question made me wonder. Maybe this wasn’t as simple as I’d thought. Was this a good idea?

“No second thoughts,” I said, and he plunged in.

Eighteen

Hal

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2002

Morning

Ruth is a remarkable person: talented, tenacious, and bright as can be. But she also tends to get anxious. She certainly got worked up over the birth of this child. I thought if anyone should be worried, it would be Cally. She was the one who would be in labor, after all. And I’d been there before, in the delivery room. I’d seen it. Twice. It is indeed thrilling, but let’s be honest: there’s a lot of waiting involved. So I’d planned to carry on with a normal work schedule until the part when they called the doctor and the baby popped out.