LENORA ENTERED BENTLEY’S office carrying two cups of coffee. She handed him one and seated herself on the sofa.
“How did it go this morning?” he asked.
“We don’t have the results of the lab tests yet, but the doctor found no problems during Jamie’s physical examination. In fact, he said she seems exceptionally healthy. I’ve scheduled an appointment with the fertility specialist for tomorrow afternoon.”
Lenora paused and took a sip of coffee before adding, “She’s a virgin.”
Bentley digested this last fact. Somehow he would have preferred otherwise, although he would be hard-pressed to explain why. Amanda Hartmann originally had insisted the surrogate be “chaste.” Bentley had pointed out that such a requirement would severely limit the pool of possible candidates since most young women were sexually active by the time they were old enough to enter into a surrogate-mother arrangement, but it was her husband Toby who had convinced Amanda to keep an open mind. “Every baby is born pure in the eyes of our Lord,” he assured his wife. “And we have entered into a special covenant with Him. It is Him we serve.”
Amanda touched her husband’s face. “Sometimes the disciple teaches the master,” she had said with an adoring smile.
But now, it would seem that Amanda was going to get her wish. A virgin would bear a child to carry out their “special covenant.”
Which was nonsense, of course. Bentley told himself. It wasn’t as though he were a high priest sacrificing a virgin to appease the gods.
Or was it?
Bentley cleared his throat. “So, after spending all this time with Miss Long, what do you think of her?” he asked Lenora.
“I think she is sincere, honest, intelligent, lonely, and desperate,” Lenora said without hesitation.
Bentley took a sip of coffee before asking, “Do you think she is emotionally capable of coming through this arrangement unscathed?”
Lenora shrugged. “I suspect that no woman goes through a pregnancy without being changed in some profound way-whether she keeps the kid or gives it away. But I think Jamie is resilient enough to resume her life afterward.” Lenora paused before adding, “I do find myself wishing, however, that there was some other way for her to solve her financial problems.”
Bentley absently stared out the window thinking of his own spoiled daughter who had never earned a dime in her life yet had such a sense of entitlement about money and the things it could buy. His sons, too. He sometimes wondered if he had done the lot of them any favors by never insisting they get a job and at least buy their own vehicles.
“Jamie asked me what sort of people ‘the clients’ were,” Lenora said.
“What did you tell her?”
“That I’ve only met the woman once, which is the truth. Of course, I have handled countless phone calls from Amanda Hartmann and have found her to be unfailingly cordial and charming. She always remembers my name and seems to sincerely care about me as a human being, which I find quite flattering. She is, after all, a very famous person. Of course, I resent the hell out of people who want to do away with the separation of church and state-and that includes Amanda Tutt Hartmann. But it is hard to be angry with a woman who has been through what she has. So if she and her new husband want a kid and this is the way they want to go about it, I hope it works out for them.”
Lenora rose and headed for the door. With her hand on the doorknob, she said, “Hey, boss, promise me you won’t get involved in any more cases like this one.”
Bentley answered with a noncommittal laugh, then asked, “How’s law school?”
“Drudgery punctuated by moments of sheer enlightenment.”
Jamie took special care with her appearance, washing her hair and applying a touch of eye shadow and blush. She was wearing black slacks and a white cotton blouse, which she hoped would make her appear mature and businesslike. She added a narrow black belt and a pair of small pearl earrings, then checked her appearance in the mirror-and decided that she looked like a waitress.
She took off the white blouse and put on a blue one.
Today was the day she would meet Mr. Abernathy’s clients. She hoped that by this evening she would know one way or the other how she would be spending the next segment of her life.
After deciding that there was nothing more she could do to improve her appearance, Jamie sat down at the desk and placed a call to Dallas. To her sister.
Her heart pounded while she listened to the phone ring. When her sister answered, she said, “Ginger, it’s Jamie.”
“What do you want?”
“I want you to know that I truly wasn’t hiding anything from you. There was no hidden bank account. No hidden assets. Granny mortgaged the house just so we could get by. We pretty much lived hand-to-mouth.”
“So?”
“You left angry. I hated to leave things like that. I wish we could be closer. I’d love to see you sometime and get to know your daughters.”
“I suppose you think I should feel guilty because I didn’t raise you, but I don’t. I had my own life to live. I wish you well, but that is the best I can do.”
“I wish you well, too,” Jamie said.
“It wasn’t fair the way Mother fawned over you,” Ginger continued. “I was a latchkey kid, and then you came along and she treated you like a princess.”
“Good-bye, Ginger,” Jamie said, and carefully replaced the receiver as though it were made of glass.
“I am not going to cry,” she told her reflection in the dresser mirror.
But she did.
Then she tidied up the room so the maid wouldn’t think she was a messy person and headed for the elevator.
Ten minutes before the appointed hour, she was waiting in front of the hotel for Lenora. She was nervous. So much so, her stomach hurt.
The woman and her husband stood when Lenora showed Jamie into Mr. Abernathy’s office. They were two of the most dazzlingly attractive people Jamie had ever seen in person. They looked like movie stars. Like the sort of people who kept a yacht docked at some posh resort on the French Riviera.
Mr. Abernathy introduced them as Amanda and Toby. Amanda’s age was difficult to discern, but Jamie decided that she must be at least a decade older than her husband. Maybe more. She was obviously one of those women who took impeccable care of herself. She had perfect skin, perfect cheekbones, perfect posture, perfect figure, perfect makeup. Her pale lavender pant suit fit her slim body to perfection. Her gold jewelry was understated but impressive. Her watch was a Rolex. Her shoes and handbag were of the finest leather.
And she had a radiant smile. “You are every bit as pretty as Bentley said you were,” she said as she shook Jamie’s hand.
Toby stepped forward. He was perfect, too. Like a model in Gentleman’s Quarterly, down to the perfectly folded silk handkerchief in the breast pocket of his perfectly fitting tan blazer and his perfectly manicured nails. His smile revealed the whitest teeth Jamie had ever seen. “I am so pleased to meet you, Miss Jamie,” he said, taking her right hand in both of his.
Amanda seated herself on the sofa and patted the cushion next to her. “Come sit by me, Jamie. We need to get acquainted. Lenora will get you something to drink. What would you like, dear?”
“Just a glass of water, please,” Jamie told Lenora.
“I am so sorry about your grandmother,” Amanda said, once again clutching Jamie’s hand. “How dreadful for you to be left all alone in the world at such a young age.”
The look on Amanda’s face was so sincere that Jamie’s eyes filled with tears. And she felt herself relaxing. She liked this woman. Amanda seemed as kind and caring as Jamie had hoped she would be.
Amanda immediately fished a handkerchief from her handbag and handed it to Jamie. “You poor dear,” she said. “What you need is some time to heal, and our ranch is just the place for that. We have two swimming pools and a library full of books. Our excellent cook will prepare your meals, and our very competent nurse will look after you. And I think you’ll find your accommodations attractive and homey. Bentley told us that you’re thinking about continuing your studies while you’re at the ranch. I think that’s a wonderful idea, and I’ll see that a desk is put in your room. You won’t have a care in the world, my dear.”
Toby knelt in front of her. He had the most beautiful skin Jamie had ever seen on a man. His eyes were a pale golden brown. Arresting eyes that captured her gaze like a magnet.
“You’ve never seen anything until you see one of our West Texas sunsets,” he told her in a voice so gentle, he sounded as though he were trying to lull her to sleep. “Amanda and I travel a great deal, but we always look forward to our time back home at the ranch. And for as long as you are there, our home will be your home.”
Jamie had expected to be interviewed. To be asked dozens of difficult and personal questions. Instead she was being courted. They had already made up their minds. They wanted her.
Jamie felt the tension flow from her body and smiled.
Amanda explained their plans. According to Jamie’s menstrual cycle, the first attempt at insemination could be made the following week and would be done by the fertility specialist here in Austin. Should any further attempts at insemination be necessary, a fertility specialist in Amarillo would perform them. Jamie would receive a ten-thousand-dollar advance payment today and have the week prior to the insemination procedure to get her affairs in order. After the procedure, she would be flown to the ranch in their private plane.
“I’d rather drive,” Jamie said. “I have my grandmother’s car.”
The room got very quiet. Mr. Abernathy, Lenora, and Toby all looked nervously at Amanda. “But I thought Lenora had explained the terms of the contract to you,” Amanda said in her same soothing voice, but the look on her face was one of displeasure-a look that made her seem less lovely. “Once the contract has been signed, you will not be allowed to drive a vehicle.”
“But I have several things I need to take care of over the next week. And I’ll need my car after the baby is born.”
“It can be stored here in Austin. We’ll see that you have transportation back to Austin after the birth of the baby.”
“Everything I own is in that car,” Jamie explained. “I would just feel more comfortable if I had it with me at the ranch.”
“Very well,” Amanda said with just a touch of irritation in her voice. But the smile had returned to her face. “If the car is that important to you, Lenora can arrange for it to be transported to the ranch. And you can go ahead and run your errands. Just remember that you will be drug-tested before the insemination procedure, and from the minute you are inseminated, you will be closely supervised, Jamie. I want you to understand that. We want this baby so very much and will make sure that everything possible is done to assure a successful pregnancy.”
“Does that mean I will have no privacy?” Jamie asked.
Amanda shook her head. “Not at all, dear. But we do expect you to adhere to our wishes, and I hope you can see things from our viewpoint. Everything we know about you says that you are an exemplary young woman who has every intention of fulfilling her end of the bargain, but we have to make sure of that for our own peace of mind. Once we have ascertained a level of trust, you will have a reasonable amount of privacy, but you must realize that you are never to leave the premises unaccompanied or communicate with anyone outside the boundaries of the ranch.”
Jamie nodded and swallowed a dose of reality. These people seemed nice enough, but they were not going to be her new best friends. This was a business deal. She was a brood mare. They were paying to use her womb.
She had no best friends. She had only herself.
“I’d like to get a dog,” she said, surprising herself. Where had that come from?
“I beg your pardon,” Amanda said, a frown marring her smooth forehead.
“I want to bring a dog with me.”
“I didn’t realize that you had a dog.”
“I don’t. Not yet, at least. But I will by the time I leave for the ranch.”
“I see,” Amanda said, her lovely smile back in place. “Well, I think that’s a fine idea. Now, before we sign the contracts, I would like for us all to join hands and pray for the success of our endeavor.”
Amanda stood and waited while everyone else followed suit. She reached for Jamie’s hand and that of her husband, who in turn reached for Mr. Abernathy’s hand. That left only Lenora, who seemed unsure as to what she was going to do. Mr. Abernathy held his hand out to her, and with a shrug, she joined the circle, and Amanda began her prayer. “Our heavenly Father, we thank you for bringing us this innocent young woman. Bless the journey we are beginning with Jamie Long this day and continue to guide our footsteps as we carry out your bidding…”
The complete adoration in Amanda’s voice struck a cord in Jamie’s mind. She had heard that voice before. She opened her eyes and regarded the woman’s uplifted face. Her expression was one of pure rapture. Jamie had seen her before. On television. Praying, just as she was now.
Jamie joined the others in echoing Amanda’s “Amen.” Amanda opened her eyes and greeted Jamie’s gaze with a beatific smile.
Amanda’s prayer had touched Jamie’s heart. These were godly people. She would be safe with them.