Please, let her be the answer to my prayers.
Chapter Seven
“Iswear, just smelling your mom’s pastries improves my mood.” Addison held the cup up to her nose and inhaled. “How does she do it?”
“I couldn’t tell you. You know I can’t bake to save my life.”
Addison took a long sip of her drink and peered at her. “Maybe Savannah has the gene.”
Charlotte snorted. “She just learned how to boil eggs. She’s a long way away from baked goods.”
Addison swung her gaze back to the bakery and frowned. “I hope Emily is training someone who can take over.”
Charlotte took a sip of her coffee and sighed when it trickled down her throat. “So, you want to tell me what’s actually on your mind? Because I know you love my mom’s baking, but we both know that isn’t what this is about.”
Addison shifted so she was blocking the bakery from view. “Mason and I have been going to the fertility clinic, and we keep flipping through the folders…”
Charlotte squeezed Addison’s hand, and the two of them set off at a brusque pace down Main Street, strolling past the group of people lined up outside the Red Horse Inn.
“So, you haven’t found anyone who’s suitable?”
Addison took another sip of her drink and lifted a hand to her face to shield her eyes from the sun. “The problem is they’reallqualified. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but they’re too qualified. I don’t even know if that’s a thing.”
Charlotte slowed her pace to match Addison’s. “What do you mean?”
“No family illness, no current health problems. All of them are intelligent and attractive, and a lot of them aren’t in relationships,” Addison explained, her free hand fluttering to her side. “It all feels very impersonal and transactional.”
“No offense, but isn’t it the point though? I mean, there’s nothing wrong with surrogacy, but it’s kind of like a business deal.”
Except it was one that ended with a new life being brought into the world.
The whole concept still blew Charlotte’s mind, even if she found herself warming up to it. She couldn’t deny that the thought of bringing a tiny little bundle of joy into the world felt good.
It felt like having a purpose.
But Charlotte didn’t dare voice her feelings out loud, especially not when she was still weighing her options. Until then, she couldn’t bring Addison into the loop, even though she wasn’t used to keeping secrets from her.
She and Addison had been thick as thieves since meeting at college.
Addison sighed. “Yeah, I know it is, but I want it to feel a little more personal. This woman is supposed to be carrying our child. I don’t want her to feel like an incubator.”
Charlotte choked on her drink and stopped to take a napkin out of her pocket. “I’m sure they don’t feel that way.”
Do they?
Addison stopped walking and shrugged. “I don’t know. Anyway, I can’t keep criticizing everyone, so I let Mason pick someone, and we’re supposed to meet her today.”
Charlotte’s heart missed a beat. “That’s good, right?”
“I don’t know. Mason has been struggling a little with his firm…you know how hard consultancy is, and even though I’m back to being full time at the gallery, it just doesn’t seem like the right time.”
Charlotte placed one hand on either side of Addison’s shoulders and waited for her to lift her gaze. “That is fear talking. You’ve been wanting to be a mom for as long as I’ve known you. You were practically planning your entire life with Mason months after meeting him, and I know you wanted kids right after marriage.”
But her cancer diagnosis had changed everything and turned Addison’s world upside down.
“You can’t give up now,” Charlotte continued in a softer voice. “And just so you know, I won’t let you. I’ll drag you to the meeting myself if I have to.”
Addison let out a nervous laugh. “Maybe you should, so I don’t talk myself out of it.”
