The Billionaires Hired Baby Mother: When the wife and surrogate are two different people (2 page)

Outside of the courthouse Andrea approached Henry for his help. When
he said there was nothing he could do, she insisted she would file an
appeal even if she had to pay for a lawyer out of her own pockets.
Henry had never seen a social worker so invested in one of their
cases, if he admitted it to himself, he was impressed. Andrea showed
up to the precinct the next day with a box of files. She cornered
Henry and demanded he listen to her. She showed him Terrence’s
artwork. The next day Henry called in a few favors. Terrence was
released a few weeks later with probation. Andrea was grateful. He
took it a step further and pulled some strings to get Terrence
accepted into an art program at the Smith Institute of Arts. The next
time he saw Andrea at a community meeting he took a chance and
invited her out to coffee. She accepted. Thirty years later and
Terrence Pitman was now the Dean of the art program at the same
school Henry helped him get into and still good friends with Andrea.

Over the next few months, Henry helped Andrea with a few of her
troubled cases. They were always attracted to one another but it
wasn’t love at first sight, after time, respect grew into
friendship which grew into love. A friendship, to the surprise of
everyone, that turned into something much more. Henry Fraser indeed
was Andrea Alexander’s match and one day at McKinney Falls
State Park, he got down on one knee and proposed with a ruby ring,
Andrea’s favorite gemstone. He had barely gotten the words out
before she was screaming yes! Life was perfect. They had a small but
beautiful ceremony and Andrea took Henry’s breath away in her
simple white gown, her hair entwined with flowers. They purchased a
small home with a large yard that Andrea hoped to fill with their
children. But Andrea struggled to get pregnant. It seemed so unfair,
here she was devoting her life to children and couldn’t have
one of her own. Then all their prayers were answered. The pregnancy
was difficult and so Andrea was placed on bed rest for the majority
of her pregnancy. Despite the obstacles, Henry was overjoyed,
insisted that she was having a boy and began calling her belly Henry
Junior. Henry had painted the room blue. After the doctor told them
it was a girl Henry maintained that Andrea was carrying a Henry. When
Henrietta was born Henry fell in love instantly, even if she was a
girl he joked. They decided to name her Henrietta, having been called
Henry Junior for so long. It wasn’t long before Henry nicknamed
her Ettie and the name stuck. In many ways she was his junior. Same
big bright smile, with full lips and high cheekbones. Ettie was her
father’s pride and joy. Even when Andrea tried but failed to
get pregnant again Henry insisted that he was happy with his little
family, that all he needed was his two girls. It should have been a
charmed life.

They were moving along fine. Then during a particular bad storm
season, that caused flooding and several deaths Henry was called into
work, all off duty personnel had to help with the emergency. He had
to work late that night and was gone for almost twelve hours. No one
knew exactly what had happened, whether he was tired or if it was the
bad weather conditions but around 4 a.m. the next morning Henry's
partner Adrian Copeland knocked on Andrea's door, a solemn expression
on his face. Andrea knew immediately and sank to the floor. Six year
old Ettie on the other hand was just excited to see Adrian and ran to
her friend for a hug. He picked up Ettie and dissolved into tears.
Henry Frazier has lost control of his car, hydroplaning and had
crashed into a pole. He died immediately the coroner's report stated,
Ettie couldn't quite understand but she knew from that moment on her
mother was different. Same beautiful smile but one that never quite
reached her eyes.

Ettie only had a short time with her father but she remembered every
moment fondly. Every night she ran her finger along his picture which
was mounted on the mantle for as long as she could remember. It was
her way of wishing him a good night. Sometimes she would study it,
trace the contours of his face with her finger. Henry Fraser was a
very handsome man. His skin was chocolate and smooth. He had full
lips that Ettie had inherited, and almond shaped eyes that reminded
her of her own. They both had the same smile, her mother used to tell
her. Ettie loved to find the similarities between her and her
namesake. Physical and otherwise. They both loved grilled cheese
sandwiches and drinking milk with pizza. She missed him terribly but
it was moments like tonight that she missed him the most.

Ettie sat at her tiny kitchen table with her head in her hands. The
letter that lay before her was yet another bill with the severe bold
letters of ‘past due’ glaring at her from the top of the
page. To her right was a stack of unopened mail that she was sure had
similar underlying messages. It had been a terrible day at work and
she just couldn’t deal with this on top of everything right
now. She knew eventually she would have to face it and open them, but
for right now she would place them in the bread box, out of sight and
out of mind just for another day. She grabbed some cleanser and paper
towels and began wiping down the table. When that was clean she set
to work on the dinner dishes. She sighed as she looked at her
mother’s plate, she had barely touched her food again. When the
dishes were done, she wiped down all the counters and swept the
floor. Ettie checked the time on her simple leather watch. She
couldn’t believe it was already nine, almost time to get her
mother her medicine. She might has well get things prepped she
thought to herself. She got up and made her way to the refrigerator
and she took out the milk and then put the teapot on.

As she opened the fridge to put the milk back she noticed that
supplies were running low and added grocery shopping to her long list
of errands for tomorrow. She sighed. She was so much smarter than
this. They shouldn’t be living like this, paycheck to paycheck.
Ettie touched the small mole near her lip that her mother called her
wisdom, rather than beauty mark, something she did as a habit to get
inspiration. Her mother always said, use what you have to get what
you want but Andrea never meant looks. Her mother had instilled
education over beauty in Ettie from a young age. Andrea knew the
pitfalls of being a young attractive woman in poverty driven Austin
could bring.

It was probably the reason Ettie was so conservative growing up. Why
she usually wore her hair in a ponytail, wore modest clothing, and
her glasses instead of contacts. She wore little to no makeup. The
only problem was that none of these things could hide Ettie’s
natural beauty and she did garner a lot of attention from the
neighborhood boys much to the chagrin of Andrea. Andrea needn’t
have worried however. Ettie was fascinated with learning and books
from an early age. She rarely had time for boys and never had a
serious boyfriend in high school. She went to prom with a classmate
who had asked her at the last moment, shocked by his luck that she
had said yes. In fact, the only man Ettie had ever been serious about
was George. And she, despite everything, wouldn’t say anything
bad about him. He did after all give her the greatest gift of her
life. Lily. When she thought of Lily she smiled. Lily always calmed
her. Lily was always the real inspiration.

The teakettle whistling broke her out of her thoughts. She went to
the cabinet and got out two mugs. This was the time she spent with
her mother. Times that she cherished. Andrea had been diagnosed with
cancer a little over two years ago. She was currently in remission
but the treatments had left her weakened. After preparing two cups of
tea she reached into the cabinet to get her mother’s
medication. At one time they had fit in the tiny medicine cabinet in
the bathroom, now an entire cabinet in the kitchen was devoted to her
pills and supplies. Ettie sighed, she didn’t like her mother to
see her worry, afraid that she would feel like a burden to her. That
was another thing Ettie had inherited from Henry, the ability to keep
her emotions in check. She had to remain strong, not just for her
mother's sake but for sweet Lily, only ten years old.

On the way to her mother’s room she peeked in on her daughter.
Lily was sleeping peacefully, Mr. Jingles, her bear tucked under her
arm. She wondered when she would grow out of that phase and the
thought saddened her, she wished she could remain her baby forever.

Lily wasn’t planned but she was the best thing that had ever
happened to Ettie. Ettie was only eighteen years old when she had met
Lily’s father. He was her classmate at college. George William
Munro had charmed Ettie with his quick wit and his intelligence. Many
men were intimidated by Ettie’s strong and outspoken manner.
She was used to it. She had learned from her mother to speak her mind
and question anything questionable. But George was not easily
daunted. He loved debating her and in truth he was easy to talk to.
She loved that they often had opposing views, she a liberal, he a
republican. They had spent countless hours studying and talking and
discovering things together. And lazy Sundays making love and
listening to music. She loved being away for college, an escape from
Austin and they had dreams of moving out west together. While George
wasn’t her first, he was so unlike the boys back in Austin that
Ettie couldn't help but fall in love with him. Sandy brown hair, a
wide muscular chest and deep brown eyes. He had the straightest
whitest smile she had ever seen accentuated by two perfect dimples.
He wore polo shirts and khaki shorts almost every day with his Doc
Martens and loved horses. He was also a Southern Baptist whereas
Ettie grew up more agnostic. They were an impossible pair but somehow
they worked. He liked calling her Henrietta and with him, she didn’t
mind it as much. It was the first time that Ettie felt free and she
welcomed it. He helped her break out of her shell. With a few
borrowed outfits from her best friend and roommate Gina, she wore
sexy dresses and makeup on their dates, shocked by the difference in
her normally reserved appearance. And George was equally devoted to
her. They were happy, despite their differences. She sometimes asked
about how his parents would react, him dating a biracial woman but
George assured her that they were open minded and progressive. In
fact, when she met them that summer they were friendly and welcoming.
Her mind was at ease. Sometimes life takes an unexpected turn that's
what Ettie kept telling herself. They were on the fast track to
success, George was set to graduate with honors and a full
scholarship to graduate school. He had already secured a great summer
internship at a top tier law firm in San Francisco. Ettie had filed
her transfer to Golden Gate University, and planned on moving in with
George in an apartment off campus. Everything was perfect and then
everything suddenly wasn’t when she had discovered she was
pregnant. She was shocked. They had been so careful. At first she
thought it was stress from finals. When Gina suggested a pregnancy
test, at first she laughed it off but the next morning the two lines
on the test was clear. She didn’t tell George right away. She
waited until after finals. He didn’t need that stress. He was
shocked but supportive. He proposed that night, slipping his class
ring onto Ettie’s simple gold necklace because it wouldn’t
fit on her finger. They decided to tell their parents at graduation.
She would never forget that night. She remembered breaking the news
to Andrea. She laughed when she remembered how she was preparing to
tell her she was moving. That seemed so easy and trivial in the
current circumstances. Andrea had been disappointed of course but she
hugged her daughter and told her they would figure it out. An
abortion was out of the question of course. And Ettie was shocked and
upset when Mrs. Munro insisted on it. She accused Ettie of trying to
ruin her son’s life. Ettie reached for George’s hand for
support as he loudly told his mother that he planned on marrying
Ettie. That's when Mr. Munro spoke up for the first time. To be
honest, Ettie had forgotten he was there. She was shocked when Mr.
Munro threatened to cut George off but she was even more shocked when
George pulled his hand from hers. She ranted, she raved. She begged
and she pleaded but he just stared down at his plate. And so that
night, heartbroken Ettie moved back home with her mother. George had
contacted her once after that, just an apology letter and a check for
ten thousand dollars. She never cashed it, instead she ripped it up
into tiny pieces like George Munro had ripped her heart up. She knew
from mutual friends that he had moved to California as planned and
was now married. As much as she struggled, the memory of George’s
face when she left him at that table with his parents that night
prevented her from asking him for any help. She had asked their
mutual friends not to discuss Lily with him and she hoped they
respected her decision. In any case, he had not tried to contact
them.

Ettie knocked on the door.

“
Mom. It’s time to take your pill”
she said softly.

Andrea sat up in bed, the effort evident on her face.

“
You made tea?” she asked.

“
Of course” Ettie said with a smile.
Henry’s smile.

*****

The next morning was Saturday. Thank goodness, Ettie thought to
herself. It had been a long day yesterday and she wasn’t sure
she could handle another eight hours at the office. She made
breakfast and while Lily ate pancakes in front of the television with
Andrea, Ettie cleaned up. She sat at the small kitchen table with the
stack of mail that she knew she couldn’t avoid forever. One in
particular caught her eye. It was a heavy eggshell colored envelope
embossed in gold. She opened it quickly

“
Congratulations” the letter read.