Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 47103 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 236(@200wpm)___ 188(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47103 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 236(@200wpm)___ 188(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
I kept quiet. I honestly didn’t know how to respond. Lena’s hippie game was strong, but the “essence” of her speech resonated. She wanted the experience, and she was honest enough to admit she was monetarily motivated too.
Aaron inclined his head. “That’s nice. How about diet, exercise, travel aspirations? What’s your family like? Tell us about your friends, your social life. Do you drink, do drugs? Have you ever had a problem with recreational partying? How do you handle stress or physical pain? How do you feel about Puerto Rican food? ’Cause I have to tell you, if we agree to this and you get pregnant, my mother and sisters will want to feed you. Hell, my mother-in-law will want to feed you and she’s…lovely but challenging. Look who’s talking! Full stop…I’m a lot. All caps. Ask Matty.”
I nodded, impressed that he’d managed to include almost every query on our list without taking a breath. “True, but in a good way.”
“He has to say that. It was in our wedding vows,” Aaron stage-whispered, continuing in a more serious tone. “I don’t mean to overwhelm you, Lena, but I feel like I should warn you that we’ve had a tough year with two failed adoptions. Maybe we should have started here, but we didn’t, and now we’re a little raw and scared, and…this is a significant, life-altering journey. We’d want to be part of it with you from beginning to end, which would basically make you…well…”
“Family,” I finished, setting my hand over Aaron’s and squeezing it.
Lena’s gaze flitted from our joined hands to our faces. “I’d be honored.”
We shared a smile.
“Excellent. Tell us everything,” Aaron urged, wiggling in his seat and crossing his legs. “Don’t leave out a single detail.”
Lena snickered, and to her credit, proceeded to answer our long list of questions. Within the hour, we began to get a sense of who she was.
Long story short: Lena was born and raised in Baltimore, and her parents divorced when she and her older brother were toddlers. She came by her love of mystical pursuits through her mother, a paralegal who read tarot cards in her spare time.
Family was important to her. Lena professed to have a good relationship with her mom and her brother and his husband. She had a few close friends and was more than happy to give references.
Lena loved to cook. She was a pescatarian—loved all fish, especially salmon. She had a sweet tooth, but her idea of being bad was putting extra carob chips on her plain frozen yogurt. I was almost relieved to hear her admit she’d been a hooligan in high school.
“I was a goth girl—raven hair, black lipstick, purple eyeshadow, Doc Martens, and a very questionable wardrobe. The photos still haunt me.” Lena scrunched her nose and shrugged. “I grew out of that phase in college and found yoga. I’ve done retreats all over the world—Costa Rica, Bali, Marrakesh, Kyoto, Ibiza, Sedona. It’s my passion.”
“Love that journey for you, but can you do yoga while pregnant? Is it safe?” Aaron wrinkled his brow. “Seems…squishy.”
According to Lena, not only was yoga safe, but there was something called prenatal yoga that catered specifically to pregnant women. Aaron asked about her studio and their schedule, which was my cue to jump in with the legalese portion…before he set up an appointment and bought us both some kind of package involving stretching naked in the moonlight.
“Would you consider yourself a good communicator? For the record, I’m a lawyer, and writing high-profile contracts is my bread and butter. The contract will be standard, and the gist is…you’re providing a service for money. I just know that there’s a good chance we’ll overwhelm you…all with the best of intentions. It’s not a warning. Should we proceed, it’s a request to know you. And since you’d potentially be dealing with us for an entire year, we insist on frank communication throughout.”
“Understood.”
“Contract or not, it’s still a leap of faith.” I paused to swallow around a lump of emotion, my nostrils flaring. “To us, this is hopefully the start of our family, and that’s something we’ve wanted for a long time. I don’t think it’s possible to put what this means to us into actual words. You don’t have to become our new best friend…you just have to be good to our baby.”
Lena’s eyes glistened suspiciously. “I understand, and I hope I get to be part of your parenthood journey. Whatever you decide, I can already tell that you guys are going to be amazing dads.”
I texted a quick message to my secretary to let her know I’d be in the office within the hour as I walked Aaron to his SUV.
“Tell Colleen I said hi.” He looped his arm through mine and leaned his head on my shoulder almost wistfully.
“You okay?”