CHAPTER 8

Evangeline woke up with a terrible headache. Her head was a big mass of pain. As she turned stiffly, she hit a warm presence. The warmth drew her in. Sometimes during the night, she had felt chilly.

Then she had been moved from her living room to the bedroom. Turning again, she hit the strong wall. Startled, she sat up straight. Jason Valdez was in her bed. Why was he in her home and on her bed sleeping so soundly? How and when did this happen? She remembered vaguely that he had arrived sometime last night to help them with her door. Tapping her head lightly, she realized she must have made a mess last night. She slipped out of bed, took her phone and stepped into the bathroom quietly.

As she closed the door, Jason who had been awake the instant she had stirred, stood up. He had actually woken up before she did and was watching her sleep. Her stirs had made him close his eyes, scared of being caught doing something he wasn't suppose.

Though he desperately wanted to have this conversation and be done with, he wasn't sure he should do that right now. He fetched his things and looked around for something to write on. Luckily, there was a pen and notepad on her dresser. He scribbled in it and left it where she could find it easily. Then he eased himself out.

Not knowing that Jason already left, Evan voice spoke in whispers as she called Zoe.

"You're dead babe. How could you leave me with a total stranger." She scolded her friend

"Well, in my defence even in your wasted state, you knew him as the man from Miami. So, what gives?"

"Did I make a mess of things?"

"Other than the snoring? No.... wait, you threw up?" Zoe started to laugh.

Evangeline covered her face in shame, recollecting that particular episode, "Oh, God!"

"And why are you whispering?"

"That's because he's sleeping.... On my bed, by the way and I'm in the bathroom trying to find out how much embarrassment I caused." Her friends laugh echoed insanely loudly.

"My head aches." She complained.

"Get some aspirin." Zoe advised, "Say hello to that cute man right there."

Evangeline tiptoed back to the room, only to find Jason gone. Like he was in bed one minute and not there, the other. She shrugged and went about getting ready for work. It wasn't like she expected anything from the annoyingly irritating man.

What had brought him to her place? On her dresser, she found a note stuck on the mirror.

I've a meeting in 20. See you later.

She tore it away and threw it in her waste bin. Whatever man! Something told her he had come in to talk about the surrogacy. She didn't even know what to think of that yet.

*****

Later that day, Logan was being told about where the picture came from. "Mary sent the pictures." Logan's PI informed him. He handed him the chart and proceeded to explain it. "She sent the pictures and somehow changed location."

"VPN." Logan added, getting the concept.

"Yes. Whoever she sent it to however wasn't smart enough to change his location. We traced him using his IP and discovered he's a start-up blogger." He explained, tracing a line in the graph presented.

"But why would she do that?" Logan asked, speaking more to himself than his PI who didn't bother replying him. "I need another thing. Get me the CCTV of that night. I cannot remember what happened. I may have been drugged."

His PI smiled knowingly, "I'm not sure about that. Your team were there."

"I dismissed them when Mary showed up. I was to meet with Evans but she wasn't picking up. Mary came to tell me she was in one of those business meetings. That's all I remember. I had a few drinks."

"Alright. I can have someone send it now."

"That would be nice." Logan leaned back in his chair and rolled towards the other room leaving his PI to work his corner. Why would Mary do this knowing how he felt about her friend? And most importantly, how had he stoop so low to be caught in this web? The pictures had caused quite a stair among the shareholders. He hated having a tainted front. It created perfect entrance for dwindles to wriggle in. His PI came in then to show him the recording.

"A part is missing, but I think you might want to see this."

Logan watched the video were Mary was giving him a drink. It looked like something a friend would do. Nothing out of the ordinary was there to see. He backtracked the video again. "I don't see anything usual."

"At first, yes." He paused the video. "Here, look." Mary had swapped the drink. She was the one who brought in the drink. She had been sipping from it or so and then she swapped it with his. Somehow also, the recording was missing a few clips of where she got the drink and what happened after. If she had played a foul game, she had the resources to pull off the CCTV recording to cover her track.

"Little, slimy..."

The phone rang out cheerily. Annoyed, he picked and groaned, "What?"

His secretary on the other end informed him, "Sir, Mary is here."

"Let her in." He said and dismissed his PI "Let me get to this."

"Hey baby." Mary greeted, eyeing the PI as he walked out of the room. She went to sit down on Logan's lap. The latter pretended not to mind. "How are you?"

"Did you speak to Evans?" He asked.

"No, she wouldn't pick my calls." Mary said, avoiding his eyes, he could tell that she lied.

"I've missed you. How about lunch?" She added.

Logan refused to fall for her gimmicks, "I'm worried. She isn't talking to me either."

"Let her steam a while. She will get over it."

Logan was undone with that statement, "Steam a while? Are you somehow deriving some pleasure from all these? She is your friend for Pete's sake." He yelled.

"And that didn't stop you from having a good time with me."

"The good time you got from drugging me?"

Mary stood up, and gazed at him hard, "Don't play with my emotions." She said getting teary. Logan didn't say a word. The Tablet was still there. He pressed play and pushed it to her. Mary stared at the recording. She was surprised to have left evidence. She had specifically informed the guy to erase this. Watching the clip, she could see nothing that gave her away, she relaxed visibly. "I didn't do anything."

"You swapped my drink." Logan stood up angrily, she cringed back in fear. "What happened May? You were my friend. Did she offend you and you wanted revenge somehow?"

Mary laughed hysterically, "Offend me? You did. Not Evans, you?"

Now he didn't know what she was talking about, when did sleeping with someone who offended you become a thing? "I don't understand."

"How could you? You didn't for years now. Will you ever?" She started crying. Logan moved to her and helped them both to the seat. He gave her some tissue to clean her face. "I love you Logan. I always have but you've never noticed. I watched you jump from one girlfriend to the other and told myself you'd be done soon and let go."

"You didn't tell me. I didn't know." Logan said at loss.

She snickered, "You always were done with the girls after a month or so. Then you met Evangeline and I knew I'd lost you."

"But you introduced us." Logan said, "Why would you when you have feelings for me?"

"Why do you guys keep using that line? I introduced my two friends. Did I say date? No. you guys decided that on your own without consulting me. You didn't even tell me until months later."

She stood up angrily and left his office.

CHAPTER 9

"You're back." Evans said, staring at the man standing in her lounge. Audrey had just let him in her office. "I've closed for the day; you know."

"I'm sorry. I'm in a bind here too." Jason spoke in hushed tone. "We need to talk. Can we do that here or...?"

Recalling last night incidence, she chose her office, "Here."

"Perfect. I brought wine."

"I'll pass." she smiled still thinking of last night. She walked him to the corner where they had good view and sat. "So, how may I help you?"

He opened the wine even though she didn't want to drink so she went to get two glasses and a bottled water for her. He poured himself the wine and filled her glass with water. Then he handed it over to her.

"We needed a surrogate when my wife couldn't give birth." He said, launching into a story that was obviously painful to talk about. "That was before she had three miscarriages and we found out she was having womb cancer."

"Oh my God." Evangeline said, before she could caution herself. Her hands instantly covered her mouth to suppress whatever she had been about to say, knowing he didn't like that.

"It's okay." He smiled painfully and took a sip. "When it was obvious she couldn't give birth, she wanted adoption but I couldn't do that. I didn't want to. So she let me be. Then she came up with surrogacy. We wanted a child of ours. My sperm. Her eggs. It was not to be." He swallowed a gulp again and she reached for her water too suddenly wishing she could have the drink.

He saw her looking at the wine. "Want some now?" He asked. She nodded and he turned the water in the hand wash bowl just a few steps away and filled her glass with wine. She thanked him and sipped slowly.

"Surrogacy become the next option. She was okay with the child being mine. She was going to love her. Or him." He sniffed loudly. "But we agreed to do the selection locally. No strange online egg donors or surrogate mother. It had to be someone we picked."

He drank his whole cup this time. "When she suggested you as our surrogate, I didn't want burden you with such. But she can be quite persistent. She made Doctor Tom and I promise to at least inform you and have you turn us down than not saying anything."

So that's how Doctor Tom became involved in all these, Evans noted mentally.

"She started falling sick right after. There was no time to pick anyone. But she never gave up. It was her dying wish that I let you know soon."

"I'm sorry you lost her. She must have loved you so much." Evans said, reaching out to pat his hands. He watched the hand.

"She loved me, as I loved her." He stood up to leave. "I'll give you time to think about it. It doesn't matter what your answer is. I'll respect your decision." He said.

"Okay, I'll get back to you." She said standing up too.

"Can I take you home?" He offered.

"You can just tail me home. It's pretty late."

"Okay." He said and they both set out. She locked her door and went with him to the park.

The next day, Evans was in Miami to see her sister. "What couldn't we talk about on phone?"

"Surrogacy." Evan blurted out. She had come to Miami to let her sister know about the proposal and to see Doctor Tom about the procedure. Last night, she had deliberated all night about it. She was becoming excited about it really. "What will you say if I tried surrogacy?"

"I'm lost."

"I mean if I became a surrogate mother."

Adriana sighed heavily, "I'd ask if you are alright. Is this some kind of emotional breakdown? Are you not over Logan yet?"

"I'm okay, really." She smiled to sound convincing. "Okay here's the thing." She went into the full story of the Valdez.

"And you're considering doing this?" Adriana asked having listened to the whole story. She didn't know what to make of it.

"It's going to be my child too. His sperm, my eggs." She explained.

"This makes me want to throw up," Adriana teased, "You'd be having a baby. Your baby!" She said excitedly.

"The baby is not entirely... mine. I don't know why you're getting so excited" Evans teased.

"Wow... Mom's going to freak out."

"Please don't tell her. Until it's done, that is."

"Sure," Adriana promised "She's sure will faint. I'll let you do the honours."

CHAPTER 10

Doctor Tom was excited to see the young Swiss lady. "I see you've made up your mind to do it then," he beamed at her. Evangeline smiled and informed him her reason for coming had nothing to do with that.

"I want to know the procedure and..."

"Say no more." The good doctor said and he walked her to the hospital's laboratory. As they walked down the hallway, he pointed out. "There's no hassle to surrogacy. It's like borrowing a womb to keep your child for 8-9months.

Mrs Valdez wanted a gestational carrier where pregnancy is through IVF. But her eggs were not viable. So, they opted for the traditional surrogate and that's you. You are the donor as well as the womb. Mr Valdez' sperm will be introduced to your viable eggs. Should you accept to be the surrogate, we will run several tests. Other than the logical ones; STIs, health screening, genetic disease and physical capability, the couple requires additional tests."

"Such as?" Evan asked having a second thought about it all.

"Oh, just a few mental processing tests." The doctor stuttered slightly and Evan raised her brow, "I mean IQ."

"Really?" She threw her head back and laughed heatedly. "Let me guess, Mr Jason insisted on this, right?"

"Well..." the doctor refused to divulge the information.

"I knew it!" Evan announced proudly. The doctor's silence only confirming her suspicions. The doctor suddenly stopped, and opened a door. "The lab?"

"Yes." He replied. Stepping closer to a particular tool, he explained. "These are the equipment we use."

"This is for the egg extraction from the womb." He noticed her flinch. "Scared of the needle?" He smiled, "Relax, it doesn't take a minute. We'd be in and out before you even realize it."

"Should I choose to do it," She clarified.

"Yes, should you accept to." Then he went on to show her the sperm collecting tube. "This here is where the intending father dumps his sperm for us." He made a jerking motion, his hands lowered to his torso for effect.

Evan laughed getting the drill. "When we run the tests, and certifies both usable, we then create the miracle which is the embryo."

He showed her a big glass like container that looked like an hour glass. "Here's what holds the growing synergy. The egg and the sperm becoming one."

Evan touched the glass and marvelled at the whole procedure. "After a while, we can now transfer the baby to the womb. A successful procedure results in pregnancy."

"Wow." She breathes it in. "How long is all these to take?"

"A few days and then we wait to see if the procedure was successful or not. If it is, good. If not, we try again depending on the mother of course and the agreed contract."

"Well, thanks doctor. This has really helped." She spreads her hands out, pointing at the instruments. "You explaining it all, thank you. I'll think it through a little more and get back to you."

"Great. I'll let Jason know you stopped by." He smiled and they began to go back.

"Does he have to know? I wouldn't want to raise his hope. Should I decide not to.... you know."

The doctor nodded, "I get it. Take your time."

Evan thanked him again and was out of the hospital. She made a quick stop at the lake by their old house. A place she hadn't been in forever. The place looked deserted and serene, exactly why she had come. Needing to clear her head, she sat down and let her legs dangle in the cold water.

There were a lot of questions racing through her mind. Questions she couldn't ask anyone but herself. She wished she could talk about it with someone. Anyone. Nobody came to mind. If she agreed to this, she wouldn't only become a mother, she would have changed the course of her life.

Was it going to be worth it? She was agreeing indirectly to become a baby mama as she intends to be in the child's life too. How would that affect her and Jason? The man was obviously still mourning and doing this only as a death wish. What if he isn't committed to it? Something tells her he would. He does seem like a devoted husband to his dying wife. Would that make him a great dad? And most importantly, what kind of relationship would she have with her child's father. She would deliberate further on it before agreeing to this. That decided, she stood up and called Audrey to let her know she would be spending the weekend with her sister.

Once decided that she would be the surrogate, Evangeline wasted no time in informing Doctor Tom. He had taken the news happily as expected. He told her he would let Jason know and all morning, she had waited to hear from him.