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He shook his head. “I don’t expect you to. It’s not as if I want to pick up where we left off in my hotel room last year. We’ll use artificial insemination, and I’ll provide absolutely everything you could possibly need for the duration of the pregnancy and anything you require after the birth. Every bill will be seen to, and you’ll have the absolute best care that can be provided.”
“I can’t believe we’re having this conversation.”
“But we are. And it’s not as crazy as you think. I have a need that you can fulfill. You have a need that I can fulfill. It’s business,” he said.
Business, she thought. Hardly. “We’d have a child together, Quint. That’s not business.”
“We’ll make it that way. You won’t even have to see me again after today, if you don’t want to, at least, not until the baby is born. And even then, I can simply come to collect my son or daughter and be on my way.”
“Like Rumpelstiltskin.”
“Hardly. As long as you’re cognizant of your choices and their impact on the health of my child, you’ll retain complete autonomy. And, you’ll have everything you need to feed all the people you could ever want. Think about that, Amara. Sure, you had funding, but you never had as much as you truly needed, did you?”
She shrugged. No, there was never enough. It was a constant struggle to get the bare minimum she needed to advance her research. She’d learned how to make do with what she could get. The idea of plenty, of not having to make do anymore, was beyond enticing.
She’d never wanted children, but it was for entirely different reasons than most people who remained childless. She already had a world full of children who needed not only her attention and love, but her help.
She always accepted that she couldn’t abandon them for the selfish purpose of raising one of her own, not when a child of her own would most certainly affect the amount of time she could devote to her research.
Giving Quint what he wanted would enable her to do exactly what she needed to do for the millions of children who depended on her and her research. If she didn’t make a Devil’s bargain with Quint, everyone she
’d gotten to know in Nigeria would continue to suffer. Their children would slowly starve, trying desperately to live on a nutritionally deficient crop — the only one that would grow in their marginal soil.
Nine months of pregnancy? Giving up the rights to a child she knew she would never have had to begin with? Sacrificing one child, her child, for the lives of millions?
No, she wasn’t sacrificing the child. She was giving it to a man who wanted to be a father. Why, though?
“Why now, Quint?” she asked. “Why are you suddenly so interested in being a father? None of this makes any sense. Help me understand.”
Something flashed across his features, but she couldn’t put a finger on what it was. Then it was gone, and he was his usual, confident self.
“I’ve always wanted children,” he said smoothly. “Some months back, I had a health scare that reminded me time is short.”
An unexpected jolt shot through Amara. “You’re okay, though?” It was hard to imagine him being anything but healthy and strong.
“Yes, I’m fine. Turned out to be nothing, but it woke me up to a new understanding. I want a child, and when I heard about your situation this seemed an ideal solution. I’m simply responding to an opportunity that has presented itself, and I’m taking advantage of it for the good of us both. I hope, anyway, that you’ll see the good in it.”
Funny thing, she was beginning to see the good in it.
“I’ll triple your budget,” he said.
She frowned. “I’m not holding out to get you to make a higher bid. You’re making me feel dirty.”
“Not my intention. I already planned to triple your budget. I do believe in what you’re trying to do. Remember that, Amara.”
Her mind whirled. It was a small price to pay, wasn’t it? One egg. Nine months. But it was a child, her child. She began to think it through.
She raised her chin and looked up at him. “I don’t want to see the child after it’s born. You have to come take it away immediately. I don’t think I’d be able to give him or her up if I actually saw —”
“That’s not a problem. I would want to be at the birth anyway.”
“I don’t even want to see the sonograms.”
“Understandable,” he said quickly.
Amara lifted a hand to her cheek and realized there were tears falling down her face.
Quint took a deep breath. “It will be for the good, I promise you. You won’t regret this, ever. I’ll take care of everything, and we’ll both be happy about it. We’ll both get what we want. You can save the children of the world, and I will have a child, my own family to care for. This is a good thing, Amara. It is.”
