even though it was quite a risky operation back then.
“We kept in touch with this young doctor even after he moved to his hometown of Hillsborough to become the head of the cardiac department there. He lives with his young wife in his family mansion on the shores of Lake Wyndemere, a five-mile-long lake on the border between New York and Massachusetts.”
What a beautiful story, I thought. The way he described it made it sound more like a fairy tale. I smiled like a little girl hearing one for sure.
“Whenever he came into New York City to see a show or be at some medical conference, usually where he was a chief speaker, he’d stop by to see us, even before he was married. We went to his wedding, by the way. He took us to dinner many times, too. He was very fond of my wife, Rose. I think he saw her as the mother he wished he had instead of the one he had. You might say he was her surrogate son.”
“I love happy endings,” I said.
He thought I was getting up and held out his hand.
“Wait. My daughter Toby was always very fond of him. She and her husband don’t live too far from Hillsborough, so they see each other often. Toby is especially friendly with Dr. Davenport’s young wife, Samantha. She knew her before she married Dr. Davenport, because Toby’s husband, Greg, is an executive in Samantha’s father’s company, the Avery Dental Equipment Company.
“Long story short,” he said, sitting back, “is it’s Samantha Davenport, not me, who’d like you to consider being pregnant. Of course, she has to meet you first, and Dr. Davenport has to approve. You’d have to undergo some medical examinations, but I guess I’ve been talking you up so much with my daughter Toby that it was just natural for her to suggest you to Samantha, and since she and the doctor were coming to New York anyway, I figured I’d mention it to you. All of us are more like relatives than just friends, you see.”
I stared at him as if he had gone mad.
“Mr. Abbot,” I began. I couldn’t manage to call him Leo right now. “You want me to have someone else’s baby? Someone… this doctor’s wife, wants me to do this, I assume, with her husband, or doesn’t she care who the father is as long as she has a baby? Don’t you see what this sounds like? Why doesn’t she just adopt one?”
“Whoa… whoa…” he said, holding up the palms of his hands. “Steady, there. I’m not suggesting any sort of thing like you’re thinking. I’m sorry that I’m not explaining it well. I’m just understanding it all myself, and like my wife used to tell me, I have a habit of thinking after the ship has already sailed.”
“Understanding it all? It’s not really hard to understand unless you’re four years old. I’d say five or six, but nowadays not even storks believe in that fairy tale.”
“No, no, there’s no sex involved here,” he said. “I should have started with that.”
“Pardon?”
“It’s called in vitro fertilization. Everything will be explained to you in great detail. Best way it was explained to me was you’d carry their baby and give birth to him or her, but the baby is totally made from them.”
“You mean like an embryo created in a petri dish in a clinic?”
“Yes, yes,” he said excitedly. “I should have realized that you would know something more about it than me.”
“I know what it is. I’ve heard of it, but in heaven’s name, why would I do such a thing?” I asked. I was actually feeling nauseous.
“Well, some girl your age or about your age is going to be asked to do it, and they’re going to pay you or her a lot of money.”
I shook my head. This was all so unreal and out of the blue, especially coming from him. My father was right when he told me that there was no greater mystery than the mind of someone you knew. No matter how friendly you were and how long you had known each other, there were layers and layers of thoughts swirling within him or her, thoughts you never imagined were there. “Just think of your own,” he had said. “How often do you surprise yourself with what you’re thinking?”
Leo reached for my hand. “Believe me, Emma. The only reason I agreed to mention this to you is you have me convinced that you’re