Chapter 5 - Richard Had Asked a Lawyer for Permission and Ignored the Answer
Richard’s consultation with the reproductive lawyer became one of the clearest pieces of the timeline.
He had described me as “unable to engage with fertility decisions after pregnancy loss.”
The lawyer asked whether I had been legally declared incapable of making medical decisions.
No.
Did Richard hold a medical power of attorney covering reproductive decisions?
No.
Had I signed a document delegating embryo-disposition authority?
No.
Then the lawyer wrote:
A prior general consent to surrogacy exploration is not equivalent to consent to transfer a specific embryo to a specific gestational carrier. Do not proceed without Diane’s new written authorization directly verified by the clinic and counsel.
Richard replied:
What if she previously told me I can decide?
The answer:
Given her written withdrawal, verbal statements are insufficient and disputed. Do not proceed.
Nothing ambiguous.
Richard stopped using that lawyer.
Two weeks later he hired another firm for the carrier agreement.
He did not disclose my September withdrawal.
He provided the electronically signed rescission instead.
That was how the legal paperwork began looking complete.
Then Emma’s attorney found another clause in her agreement.
Intended Mother requests anonymity from Gestational Carrier until after confirmed fetal viability due psychological-health concerns.
I had never requested anonymity.
Why include it?
Because Emma’s attorney had asked why she had never spoken to me.
Richard needed a contractual explanation.
The agreement included separate signature pages.
My electronic signature appeared again.
Then my supposed initials beside the anonymity clause.
Richard said:
“I thought you’d be relieved not to deal with another stranger.”
Emma stared at him.
“I wasn’t a stranger. I was carrying your child.”
He corrected her automatically.
“Our child.”
Emma said:
“Not the point.”
Exactly.
Then I asked Richard why Emma specifically.
He had chosen her profile after the first carrier withdrew.
Emma had previously carried one successful surrogate pregnancy.
She lived forty minutes from the clinic.
Medical screening good.
No obvious scheme.
Richard had not chosen a vulnerable woman he could manipulate financially.
He chose a competent carrier and then manipulated her with false information.
That distinction mattered.
Then the payments.
Emma’s compensation and pregnancy expenses were funded through a proper escrow account controlled independently.
Richard had not been secretly paying her cash.
No affair.
No bribe.
No evidence that Emma knew anything was wrong.
The ugliness was more focused.
Consent.
Then Emma said:
“You told me Diane picked my profile.”
Richard looked at her.
He had.
According to the agency notes, Richard repeatedly said:
“Diane liked Emma because she already has a daughter and understands how complicated pregnancy can be.”
I had never seen Emma’s profile.
Then Emma’s attorney produced one last message.
Richard to the agency:
Diane’s only concern is that Emma understand the baby is ours from the beginning and not form unrealistic expectations.
Emma read it silently.
Then looked at me.
“Did you ever say that?”
“No.”
She laughed once, without humor.
“Interesting.”
I had accused Emma of trying to steal my husband.
Richard had been telling everyone I feared Emma would steal my baby.
He had created suspicion in both directions before we ever met.
Then Emma asked the question that changed the entire case from a contract dispute into something more personal.
“Why would you need us to be afraid of each other?”
Richard had no answer.
But I began to understand.
If Emma trusted me directly, she might contact me.
If I trusted Emma directly, I might learn she existed.
Richard’s plan required every relationship to pass through him.
He had not just arranged a surrogacy.
May you like
He had made himself the only person allowed to explain what everyone else wanted.
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