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When I finally spotted her making her way to the table, to me, I felt heat rush over my body and my knees felt weak as I remained seated. She was so damn beautiful, strikingly so. I’d always admired that about her.
She settled in the seat across from mine and gave me a tentative smile. “Thank you for coming,” she said, voice trembling just the slightest bit.
“Um, it was no problem. What did you want to talk—” The words died on my lips as I caught sight of another body making its way to the table.
Isaac.
What the fuck was this?
His destination met, he placed a hand on the back of my mother’s chair and kissed her cheek before sliding into the chair to the right of me. I stared from him to her and back to him. Falling against the back of my chair, I grabbed another chip, dipped it in salsa, and popped it in my mouth.
“Lief, you look lovely. I’m glad you came. Sorry we didn’t let you know I’d be here. We feared you wouldn’t want to talk to both of us at twice,” Isaac said, furthering his systematic butchering of the king’s English. “In case you were wondering, Bailey is at school.”
“As she should be. What exactly did the two of you want to talk about?”
My mother spoke up. “First, I want to let you know this wasn’t planned, Isaac and me getting together, I mean. It just sort of happened, but it’s real.”
I nodded. “Okay...”
“And thank you for making it so easy for Isaac to co-parent Bailey.”
“He’s never given me any reason to make it hard.”
“Yes, thank you,” Isaac chimed in.
I gave him a nod.
“Isaac,” my mother urged. I suppose there was more she expected him to say.
“Yes, Lief—”
“Please, just call me Brooklyn,” I interrupted him.
“Okay, Brooklyn…I know you have faced financial hardships since the divorce, and I want you to know I have prepared a check for you.”
I frowned. “For what?”
“Well, we are seeking a sibling for Bailey. As you know, your mother had a histamine years ago—”
“Hysterectomy,” my mother corrected.
“Yes, that,” Isaac said. “And we were hoping you would be willing to loan us your uterus. You do not have to have sex with me, of course. You would be a…a…”
“A surrogate. We are happy together, and we love when Bailey visits, but we’d love to have a baby in the house full time,” my mother said.
I sat there trying to process their proposition and what feelings it was evoking. So all the calls, the words of regret Isaac said to me, him calling melief, and my mother’s regretful looks had been their way of buttering me up for this shit?
I stared at the tabletop, realizing that a part of me had desired an apology, some type of genuine closure for her betrayal. Yes, I’d cheated, but she was my mother, for god’s sake. But now I got it,reallygot it. I knew we’d never had that type of bond, so it really wasn’t a betrayal after all. It was just some shit that happened. She was my mother in title only, and that was fine. I was good with that. I felt no less loved because of it. I had my Bailey and Nadia and Sharla if she ever forgave me. I had Vann. I had love, so much love.
“No,” I said, voice even.
“No? But I will compensate you for usage of your bodily,” Isaac implored.
“No, Isaac, I will not be lending mybodyto you, but I do wish you two the best in finding a surrogate.”
Before either of them could respond, I left.
CHAPTER27
