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“Well, at least you’ve finally told me now.”
“You hate me, don’t you?”
“What?” Kari goggled at her. “That’s stupid. Of course I don’t hate you.”
“But you think I’m a bad person for doing what I did … having this guy’s baby for funding?”
“Of course I don’t.”
“You don’t know
how much it means to me that you don’t think I’m a bad person.”
Kari leaned over and gently hugged her. “Don’t start crying, or you’ll get me going.”
When they’d gotten themselves under control, Kari got straight to the point.
“So,” she said, “where the hell is this guy? You said that the adoptive parents were supposed to be here right when the birth happened. I’m guessing it should have been this man.”
“I don’t know where he is,” Amara said. “He was supposed to be flying in yesterday, but he hasn’t been responding to calls, texts, emails, nothing.”
Amara leaned forward, winced, and leaned back again. “I know he wouldn’t simply run out on the deal. Not after all the trouble he went through and all the time and money he spent to make sure everything went smoothly. It wouldn’t make any sense.”
Kari’s brow jumped suggestively, accompanied by a wide smirk. “So, a rich guy, huh? What’s he like? Is he hot? You have to tell me all about him. Was he a good lay? He better have been, for all this trouble.”
Amara quickly waved a hand, her cheeks hot. “It wasn’t like that. All done artificially. No sex or anything. I mean, he’s hot — really hot — but it’s not like that between us. It almost was once, a long time ago, but that’s in the past. Now, it’s strictly a business relationship.”
“Right. Sure. You are the most tight-lipped —”
“I know that must seem pretty strange, but it’s true. He’s drop-dead gorgeous, too. Icy blue eyes, tall, with dark hair. If we didn’t have our differences, I’d have opted for the more traditional route to pregnancy. But this was a business deal.”
“So you said. How did that happen, anyway?” Kari asked.
“Here’s the thing. And hear me out before you jump to conclusions. He approached me the day I lost all the funding for my research. You remember that day, right?”
“Of course.”
Amara explained how she’d met the man in Dean Wilson’s office, and what had led up to the offer of the business deal. “In short,” she concluded, “he offered to fully fund my research if I would bear his child and relinquish my parental rights.”
Kari laughed. “Good one. Now tell me what the real deal was. He had to know you from somewhere already. I’m thinking you both were already hot for each other, so you did it on the dean’s desk, then fast forward nine months, and here we are.”
“It’s not a joke. It’s all been signed and sealed, complete with an overpriced lawyer and too much complicated legalese.”
Kari was quiet for a long, unnerving moment. “I can see why you did it. Millions of people are depending on you. You would do whatever it took to not let them down. I understand how important your work is, but this must have been a very hard thing to do anyway.”
Amara realized she should have trusted Kari would understand, wouldn’t judge her for what was the most difficult decision she’d ever had to make. “I love you, friend,” she said, a catch in her voice.
“I love you, too,” Kari said. “Have you told Jaslene all this?”
“No.”
“I’m taking it for granted you haven’t told Raneesha.”
“Oh, Lord no. I’ve only told you.”
“I think you’re right not to see the baby,” Kari said. “It would make everything all the harder, maybe even impossible, when the rich guy comes to get his son.”
Amara nodded slowly. “When he comes. I wish I knew what was going on. The waiting is killing me.”
