Chapter 4 - The Favor I Should Have Known About
I sat there in silence so long that Sarah finally looked afraid I’d leave the room.
I didn’t.
I just needed a second to understand the words I had heard.
“For Ethan and Vanessa?” I repeated.
She nodded once.
Vanessa, according to Ethan, had spent nearly two years grieving failed pregnancies I had never fully known the details of. She had told Sarah that she couldn’t safely carry a child again. Ethan wanted a family. Vanessa wanted a baby. Sarah wanted to help.
So she agreed to become a surrogate.
Not for money.
For family.
I stood up and paced the room because I couldn’t stay still anymore.
“You volunteered to carry their child?”
“Yes.”
“And no one told me?”
Sarah lowered her eyes.
“Ethan said you’d think it was too dangerous. Vanessa said if you knew, you’d stop it.”
That was exactly what I would have done.
Not because I doubted Sarah’s heart.
Because I knew my son well enough to know he’d ask too much if it meant saving someone he loved, and I did not trust Vanessa nearly enough to let my adopted daughter put her body in that woman’s hands.
“When did this happen?” I asked.
“Months ago.”
“Why keep it secret after the transfer succeeded?”
At that, Sarah’s eyes filled again.
“Because Vanessa changed.”
There it was.
The thing I had been feeling circling this whole night.
“Changed how?”
“At first she was grateful. Then she got possessive. Then suspicious. If Ethan asked how I was feeling, she’d go cold. If he brought me vitamins or drove me to appointments, she’d accuse me of trying to replace her.” Sarah rubbed at one wrist unconsciously. “When I wanted to tell the truth, she said the wedding had to happen first.”
I looked down.
There were faint pressure marks around that same wrist too.
“Did Ethan know she was doing this to you?”
She hesitated.
And that hesitation told me the answer was not simple.
May you like
Which meant my son had already failed her long before I punched him into that arch.
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