by Robin Wells
I’m sure that group is here for this party. Quinn still gets together with them every month, although hardly anyone is single anymore. Sarah and Mac are living together, Annie is married to a former high school friend she reconnected with at her high school reunion, and Lauren is engaged to the chef at the hospital where she works and is in the process of finalizing the adoption of an adorable special needs child.
As for Quinn and Zack—well, I have to think that searching for Lily’s father was a bit of divine inspiration on my part, because that’s a match that couldn’t have been made anywhere but in heaven.
And now Quinn’s pregnant with another baby. It’s supposed to be a secret, but I’ve noticed her purse is full of crackers again, she’s not drinking wine and sometimes she looks a little green around the gills. I may be old, but I’m not blind.
Brooke must be doing her happy dance up in heaven at how things are going down here. I feel so blessed that I got to see her and my other loved ones when my heart stopped. Some people would say I hallucinated or that my brain misfired or some such, but I know what I know.
And when you think about it, it all makes perfect sense. Everything is basically energy. It’s a scientific fact that energy never disappears; it only changes form. What contains more energy than love? It’s the most powerful force in the world.
Things even turned out well for Zack’s first wife—who, ironically, was responsible for bringing Zack into our lives. He heard through a mutual friend that she’d married a man she knew in high school, and that they’d had a baby together through an IVF procedure. He and Quinn sent them a note of congratulations.
Quinn and I stop at the front door. “All right, Miss Margaret. Forewarned is forearmed.” Quinn smiles at me. “Are you ready?”
I am. I’m ready for whatever comes next. Which, in the immediate future, is sure to be cake, champagne, loving friends, and family.
“Yes, dear.” I tingle with anticipation as she opens the door, eager for the moment when everyone shouts, “Surprise!”
Because it’s all a surprise, every single moment.
Author’s Note
I LOVE TO write about situations that change people, and nothing changes a person’s life like becoming a parent. Everything is re-ordered: your time, your priorities, your hopes, your fears, your goals, your finances, your sleep schedule. (Did I mention your sleep schedule?) As the mom of two daughters, I’ve found parenthood to be heart-warming, messy, hilarious, terrifying, joyful, harrowing, exhilarating, daunting, baffling, and rewarding. Sometimes it can be all those things in a single day! Having a child expands your heart and takes you to a whole new level of love. Parenthood is one of life’s most challenging, meaningful, and beautiful journeys.
What if you yearn to have a child, but you haven’t found the right partner? What if you discover you have a physical problem that makes it difficult or impossible to conceive a child? What if you have no problem, but your partner does—or vice versa? How does that affect a relationship? And what about sperm or egg donors?
I first started thinking about all these things years ago when I used to drive past a fertility center en route to my daughters’ preschool. I’d watch the people going in and out, and I wondered about their stories. When my editor, Kate Seaver, expressed an interest in a novel about a single mother by choice, my imagination was primed and ready. I think I’d been incubating this story for years.
The characters in this novel are fictional, but the issues they face are real. I wanted to portray the procedures accurately, so I did a lot of research into fertility treatments, clinics, and legalities in Louisiana. One of the things I learned is that bioethical and law literature often refer to the field of reproductive technology as “The Wild, Wild West.” Regulations vary by state, and legislation hasn’t kept up with technology, leaving a lot of gray area. Many issues—such as whether or not leftover purchased vials of frozen sperm are transferable or refundable, and if so, what are the requirements and procedures for record-keeping—are addressed in the contracts between the involved parties and the fertility center or cryobank. For the purposes of this story, Brooke’s contract with a fictional fertility center allows her to give the remainder of the frozen sperm she owns to Quinn.
Another gray area is anonymity. I read many articles stating that in this age of genetic testing, anonymity can no longer be guaranteed. Several national and international registries exist to connect donor siblings, recipients, and donors. For the sake of this story, I created a fictional registry. I also created a fictional single parent group, although those, too, are thriving in most cities.
Reproductive technology is changing, but one thing remains the same: the importance and impact of family. All of us are shaped by our families of origin. Pope John XXIII said, “The family is the first essential cell of human society.”
Whether we grew up in a happy family or not, we’re all hard-wired to want one. We ache to belong, to connect, to be part of a tribe. We long to be surrounded by people who will love, support, and accept us no matter what—people who will root for us, pick us up when we fall, forgive our failings, and rejoice in our victories.
The writer Richard Bach said, “The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s lives.”
One of the truths I hope this book illustrates is that there are many different ways to create a family—a band of people whose love for one another transcends bad choices, physical limitations, and differing beliefs. Writing this novel gave me a renewed appreciation for the loved ones in my life. I hope that reading it does the same for you.
Acknowledgments
SPECIAL THANKS TO my amazingly talented editor, Kate Seaver, for giving me the magical four-word idea that spawned this novel: single mother by choice. Kate also has my gratitude for coming up with the title. Thank you, Kate, for all your wisdom, insights, guidance, and hard work!
Questions for Discussion
1. Quinn says that early childhood experiences affect people permanently. Discuss how early family experiences shape the following characters: Zack, Quinn, Brett, Jessica, Margaret, and Lily. How did your childhood affect you?
2. Margaret thinks that every child deserves to know both biological parents. What do you think? Is this always true?
3. Discuss the ways some of the different characters in this book—Margaret, Quinn, Lily, Jessica, Zack, and Brett—had different definitions and expectations of family.
4. Some of the characters in the book decide to be single parents. What unique challenges do they face compared to parents who have a partner to help them? How were these parents able to succeed in the face of these additional demands? What do you think are qualities essential to being a good parent?
5. Discuss how the following characters grew and changed during the course of the book: Quinn, Jessica, Zack, and Margaret.
6. Brett tells Jessica that peace of mind comes only from living out your values. Is he right? Jessica realizes she’d focused on hitting goals and had never given much thought to values. What kind of values matter in life? What are yours?
7. Margaret reflects on how people are constantly affecting and influencing the lives of those close to us, whether we know it or not. What are some ways the characters in the book influenced each other’s lives? Can you think of a trait you possess that you got from a relative or friend?
8. Margaret believes that blood is thicker than water. What do you think? Do genetic connections make the strongest family ties?
Photo by Arden Wells
Robin Wells was an advertising and public relations executive before becoming a full-time writer. She always dreamed of writing novels—a dream inspired by a grandmother who told “hot tales” and parents who were both librarians. Her books have won the RWA Golden Heart, two National Readers’ Choice Awards, the HOLT Medallion, and numerous other awards. She and her
husband now live in Texas and are the parents of two grown daughters.
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