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“Fiiine, but you should all see the looks on your faces. Anthony and I were talking about our goals and the things we want for our future. Obviously, children are one of them, but I never really dared to dream about a future with kids because, as you all know, I can’t have any. But Anthony asked about the possibility of adoption or surrogacy, and it got me thinking about the eggs we had frozen before….” She looks over at Grady, who’s practically gnawing on a chicken bone while staring right back at her. Clearly, he’s invested in the conversation even if he has no idea what she’s talking about.
“Before my last surgery in high school,” she finishes cryptically. “Anyway, Anthony started looking into surrogacy when I mentioned it to him, and one thing led to another, and we’re looking for a potential surrogate that we think might be a good fit.”
“What’s a surrogate?” Grady asks before stuffing a fork full of mashed potatoes into his mouth.
“Oh. He’s uh…Owen? Wanna answer that one?” Sway suggests.
Owen clears his throat and sets down his fork. “She’s someone who can carry a baby for a mom and dad who aren’t able to carry it themselves. Then she gives it to the real parents after the baby’s born.”
“So, like what mom was for me?”
“Oh. Uh, not exactly. Your mom was still related to you. In Anthony’s and Sway’s case, the baby would be related to them, but someone else would hold the baby in their stomach until the baby’s old enough to survive outside of it. It’s kind of complicated….” Owen squeezes the back of his neck as his voice trails off, though I don’t blame him. This isn’t exactly what I would consider a normal topic of conversation during dinner.
“May I try?” I offer.
Owen exhales in relief and nods. “Yup. Be my guest.”
With a smile, I turn to Grady. “So, Grady. To make a cake, you need eggs, flour, sugar, and a few other ingredients, right?”
Grady mimics his dad’s earlier movement from a few seconds ago and bobs his head up and down, shocking me with how similar they are.
“Well, it’s the same for making a baby. You need an egg and another…ingredient to make it work. But it won’t turn into a cake without an oven. Basically, Sway and Anthony have all the ingredients to make an amazing cake, but they don’t have an oven to bake it. That’s what a surrogate is. She’s the…oven in the process. Right, guys?”
Anthony and Sway both nod. “Yup.”
“Your mom gave the egg,” I continue, “and your dad, uh, he gave another ingredient, then she held you in her tummy until it was time for you to be born. Does that make sense?”
“Yeah. So, how do you get the ingredients into the oven, though?” he asks with way more curiosity than any six-year-old has a right to have.
“Aaand that’s a topic for another day,” Owen decides, his face reddening as he nudges Grady’s plate closer to him. “Eat your dinner.”
Grady shrugs. “Okay.” Then he dives back into his mashed potatoes.
Satisfied that Grady’s curiosity has been taken care of––for now, anyway––I turn back to Sway. “Anywho, I think this is pretty much the best thing I’ve ever heard. I’m so happy for you guys.”
Her soft smile makes me want to cry. Because it’s filled with a hope that she didn’t dare to have before Anthony came along. Anthony bends toward her and brushes his lips against her cheek. “Thanks, Say. We don’t want to count our chickens before they hatch, but we found an agency that looked over our case and sent us the papers this week.”
“Yup, and then…we had to get the documents notarized, so we went to the courthouse and….” A giddy grin slips out of Sway before she buries her face in her hands and laughs even louder.
“And what, Swayze Girl?” my dad interjects.
“And we did what Sway does best,” Anthony answers. “We did something completely spontaneous and got married while we were there.”
“You didn’t!” my mom gushes.
“We totally did,” Sway returns.
“Congratulations, Sway!”
“I’m so happy for you!”
“That’s awesome, guys!”
“Thanks,” Anthony and Sway return in unison before Sway adds, “We emailed the signed papers back to the agency today, and now, we’re just waiting for the next step. We wanted to wait and tell you guys when Skye was here.” She looks over at Anthony and shrugs. “But
then we kinda figured it might be best to do it face-to-face, and there’s no way I was gonna be able to hold in all that awesomeness until the next Sunday dinner.”
“Skye will be happy for you,” I tell them. “Just like how I’m happy for you. Seriously, this is the greatest news ever.”
