2 of 10

Write now Article Tools

Tatiana awoke slowly. She felt so strange, groggy and her eyes refused to open as if they were weighed down. She could feel her hand encircled by a strong, warm, reassuring hand. Tom's hand? She smiled. She loved him so. Her smile slowly faded and she bit her lip. That was her secret and had to remain that way. It was so wrong of her to feel this way. He was married after all and cared nothing for her in that way.

She had to remember she was only the surrogate, the "baby machine" as Judith called her. But she couldn't help loving the child, Tom's child growing inside her. She recalled how happy, how amazed Tom had been when he felt the baby kick the first time. With tears in his eyes he gazed at her and without thinking, kissed her belly. She giggled thinking about it.

She struggled to open her eyes and found an unfamiliar ceiling attached to unfamiliar pale yellow walls with a boarder of daisies running around the perimeter. Where was she?

She looked down and found Tom's wavy, dark brown head next to her hand. His lips were mere centimeters away from it. She could feel his warm breath tickling her fingers. She carefully disentangled her hand from his and lightly touched his tumbled hair. It was usually so neat and straight but right now it was messier than she'd ever seen it. But why? What happened? She remembered nothing.

He stirred and his eyes fluttered open. She gazed lovingly into his sapphire blue eyes and smiled. He lifted his head and stared at her. "Tatiana, oh, I was so scared. How do you feel?" he asked anxiously.

"Tomas, what happened?" she asked hoarsely. What was wrong with her voice? Her throat felt raw.

He made a valiant effort to smile but it crumbled before her eyes. Eyes filled with tears, he stroked her hair and pushed it out of her eyes. He reclaimed her hand and squeezed it lightly. "It's all right. You'll be fine," he said simply and she suddenly knew. The blood drained from her face.

She placed her other hand on her abdomen and gasped. "The baby... Consuela... where is baby Consuela? Tomas, no!"

"It's fine. You'll be fine. It wasn't meant to be. I was so stupid getting all jazzed up about a... an unviable tissue mass. It wasn't a baby, not really. It doesn't matter," he said bracingly.

Tatiana knew he didn't believe that any more than she did. From the moment he knew the embryo was successfully implanted Tom had exploded with joy. And when they found out it would be a girl he insisted on Consuela, Tatiana's mother's name. Then he went on a spending

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about Novel excerpts: Death of a child?
We want to hear your view. Write now!