‘We don’t need one. We love each other. We’ve got a week on a desert island for a honeymoon. We couldn’t be happier, honestly.’
But she’d been wrong.
When they came back from their honeymoon, Anne had a gift waiting for them. A promise.
‘I want to be a surrogate mother for you,’ she said.
Julia’s hand had found Mac’s and they’d sat there, stunned by the incredible offer they were hearing.
‘You’d be doing me a favour, really,’ Anne said in the end. ‘I don’t want motherhood but if I missed the experience of childbirth I might regret it one day. And, hey, this way I’ll be getting nieces and nephews and I can guarantee I’ll always get an invitation to a family Christmas dinner.’
At first, both Julia and Mac had been too blown away to really consider the offer seriously.
And they were busy. Julia had loved her think-tank contract so much she’d accepted another one to set up a training programme in dealing with multi-casualty incidents.
Mac had been persuaded to accept a permanent position on the local specialist emergency response team with invitations to travel and train teams in other centres if he had the time and inclination.
They bought a house together, on a bush-clad hill overlooking a tiny private beach in a secluded harbour bay. They called the property Iona.
Jeannie MacCulloch came to visit them as she toured the country with her friend Doreen.
‘You’re a clever lad,’ she told her son. ‘I knew you’d see sense. But will you ever stop growing?’
Anne reminded them periodically that she wasn’t getting any younger. ‘I’ve got a sabbatical due half way through next year, so if you’re ever going to accept this gift, this is the best possible time.’ She had given them a knowing smile. ‘There’s some fine print you might have missed concerning a “use-by” date.’
They’d talked and talked about it.
Walking on what rapidly came to feel like their own little beach.
Holding each other at night after making love.
During telephone calls when one of them was out of town for a day or two. Separation that was only made tolerable by long, long conversations last thing in the day.
And, finally, they realised they were being offered a gift that was beyond price.
A bonus to their lives that they might not need but which would add to their happiness immeasurably.
Julia underwent treatment to stimulate her ovaries and then Mac held her hand while the egg collection procedure happened.
Mac did his part without a murmur of complaint at any indignities involved.
And here they were, nearly a year after their wedding, and a decision had to be made about how many embryos to implant in Anne’s womb.
‘Two’s good,’ the specialist had advised. ‘If it’s successful, twins are manageable and don’t present too much of a risk of complications to the mother, and if one embryo fails to take, you’ve got back-up. Three is acceptable and gives you more chances for implantation but a riskier pregnancy if they all take.’
They agreed on two.
Mac went to call the doctor back to the room but paused at the door and turned. ‘I can stay in the waiting room for the next bit if you prefer,’ he told Anne.
Anne snorted. ‘You’re the father of these babies, Mac. You won’t be in the waiting room for their birth so you may as well be here for the opening act.’
Mac grinned, clearly delighted. He came back a minute later with the doctor and the lab technician who carried a petri dish. A nurse also came in to uncover the trolley that had the sterile cannula and other equipment needed for this brief procedure.
Julia still held her sister’s hand.
Mac stood just behind her, his hands resting lightly on her hips, holding her so that she was touching his whole body.
‘Here we go then,’ the doctor said cheerfully.
Anne Bennett thought about closing her eyes for this but looked up instead.
Julia was still holding her hand but she had tipped her head back to look up at Mac and he was looking down at her.
She saw the hopes and dreams of a young couple who were born to be parents in that glance.
She saw a love so solid and huge it brought tears to her eyes.
So she did close them.
And she made a silent plea that this part of their story would have a very happy ending.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-6639-5
WISHING FOR A MIRACLE
First North American Publication 2010
Copyright © 2010 by Alison Roberts
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