The Marry-Me Wish Read Free

and a new country. Getting over her. There just hadn’t been a good moment to drop in the ‘I decided to be a surrogate mother for my sister and I’m pregnant with twins’ kind of message.
    â€˜Here, come inside.’ Julia was tugging Anne into the little house she shared with Mac on a bush-covered hillside overlooking the harbour. Into the kitchen with its old wooden cupboards and enamel sink and a wide window with a view to die for with one of the larger harbour islandscentre stage. ‘Sit down. I’m going to make us a cup of tea. Unless you’d like something stronger?’
    Anne shook her head, grabbing a handful of tissues as she passed the box on the end of the bench. She’d been alcohol free for nine months now. They all had, in a kind of supportive pact, and this was no reason to break that pact. No reason to feel like the world had ended.
    This time Anne blew her nose far more effectively. She wiped her eyes with more tissues and took a deep, steadying breath. Then she sat down, buried her face in her hands and groaned.
    â€˜It couldn’t have been worse, you know? There we were with a critically ill child between us and he was looking at my bump and then he looked up and… Oh, God …it was like I’d slapped his face in public or something.’
    â€˜You just need to talk to him. You can tell him it was at least partly his idea all along.’
    â€˜What?’ Startled, Anne raised her head to watch Julia as she busied herself at the bench, making the tea.
    â€˜Remember back when we were first talking about this whole surrogacy thing?’ Julia poured boiling water into the teapot and put the lid on it. ‘When you were trying to persuade me and Mac to accept your incredible wedding gift?’
    â€˜Yeah…I guess. Seems a long time ago.’
    Julia brought the teapot and mugs to the table. ‘You said that Dave had told you over and over again that you could be missing the most amazing experience of your life by not wanting to be a mother. That you would regret it one day.’
    Anne sighed as she nodded slowly. ‘And I told you that part of all that angst had taken root and while it hadn’t changed my mind about trying to juggle a career with being a parent, he could be right about the experience of being pregnant and giving birth.’
    â€˜So there you go.’ Julia’s smile was encouraging, albeit still worried. ‘You said you’d found the perfect compromise. You get the whole experience and get to watch babies growing up but you can be an aunty and not a mum.’ She bit her lip. ‘Do you still feel like that?’
    â€˜Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I?’
    â€˜Because you’ve seen David again and you’re so upset. You still love him, don’t you?’
    â€˜Of course I do,’ Anne repeated, her tone hollow. ‘I’ll always love him but it would never have worked. He’s desperate for a family and I can’t give him that. We both knew it wouldn’t be enough, not having one. He would have ended up resenting me.’
    â€˜I thought that about Mac and look what happened.’
    â€˜Mac adores you.’
    â€˜Maybe David feels the same way about you.’
    â€˜I don’t think so.’ Anne could feel her face settle into grim lines as she picked up the mug of tea Julia had poured. ‘If he did, he wouldn’t have agreed it was time to pull the plug. He wouldn’t have gone off to start a new life on the other side of the globe. He wouldn’t have sent horrible, polite emails that sounded like they were coming from a stranger. And he certainly wouldn’t have been looking at me today as if I’d just stuck a knife in his heart.’
    â€˜Oh, Annie…’ Julia leaned over the corner of thetable to give her sister another hug and, as she did so, a door banged from outside the kitchen.
    â€˜Is that Annie’s car out