The Surrogate's Secret Read Free Page A

belly. This time she checked the peephole, and unexpected disappointment followed as she spied her friend slouching in the hallway.
    “Hi , Charly. Come on in.” She turned to go into the living room with her friend close on her heels. Seeing Charly scan the area, she grinned. “I just got them settled, hopefully for the night. I’m whacked.” The random disorder of baby trappings were scattered from one end of the place to the other.
    Charly, a slender redhead full of nervous energy, plopped down in the sofa, while Sheri gave up her favorite chair to sit close. “Damn. I wanted to play with them. How’s the little guy? Has his fever gone down?” Charly’s raspy tone revealed such yearning.
    Sheri grinned and reached over to pull on one of her friend’s spiked locks. “What a softie you are. He seems to be better today. This morning, I’d pretty well made up my mind to damn the consequences, take the hit to my budget and make a doctor’s appointment if he woke up still congested.”
    Charly snorted and cut her off. “Hey, you know I’d help out with a loan.” Aware that Charly knew better than to offer money without the loan stipulation, Sheri realized that pride could be her downfall. So far, the sole handout she would accept was the physical labour kind. Babysitting the twins to give her time to shop or go to the gym, watching them while she caught up on her sleep, those favors she’d take in a DC minute. 
    Sheri reached across and threw her arms around the muscular shoulders of a woman who worked out daily. “You’re so good to me, my friend, putting up with me. What would I ever do without you?”
    Charly patted her back, resigned to Sheri’s frequent displays of affection. “Let’s hope we never have to find out. As long as the little one is better, and you’re happy, I’ll leave you to get some sleep.” Charly studied her friend momentarily. “What did I say that put that look in your eyes?”
    “What look?”
    “Don’t go getting all girly on me. You know what look.” Sheri could see Charly sorting back though their last words to figure what might’ve made her grimace.
    “You’re not happy , Sheri. What happened? You’re not gonna go getting those baby blues again, are you? Please don’t.”
    “You mean postpartum depression.”
    “Same thing, and quit teasing. You knew what I meant.”
    Sheri giggled, and saw the instant relief spill over her friend’s face.  “No, I’m not depressed. However, I am a bit worried. I had a visitor today from Chile. Felipe’s brother, Miguel, arrived and dropped a bombshell. Seems he wants to claim his brother’s babies, adopt them and take them back to Santiago. He believes they should be raised in their father’s home.”
    “Hope you told him to get stuffed.” The girl didn’t hold back when her protective instincts were challenged.
    “Not in quite those words, but yeah, he got the message. I saw the shock hit him hard when I informed him they were my eggs used in the procedure, not Mary-Anne’s. Therefore, my maternal rights are stronger than even an uncle or a grandmother.”
    “ They sure are in my book.”
    “Mine too but, he doesn’t strike me as the kind of man who’ll give up easy. After her honeymoon, Mary-Anne showed me pictures and described the Rivera’s estate in Santiago. It’s rich, vast, and beautiful enough to bring tears. Also, I happen to know Miguel owns and runs the largest security company in Chile, which makes him not only extremely wealthy, but rather intimidating.”
    “No match for my girl.” Charly reached across and swept the mass of curls over Sheri’s shoulders towards the back. “The poor putz doesn’t know who he’s dealing with.”
    “I’m not all that tough, not when it comes to what’s best for the babies. Wouldn’t I be a rotten mother if I destroyed their opportunities for such a life, and in their daddy’s birthplace?”
    “Hold it. Their daddy lived here, in Washington D.C. and this