She sat across from us and tapped her tablet. “You’ve seen how challenging it can be to find the right surrogate. Some couples connect quickly. Some need time. And some…” She glanced at me gently. “Need a little more assistance.”
“I need assistance?” I asked defensively.
“It’s alright, that’s what I’m here for. It’s my job to make sure we get this right. Your current preferences are limited to the tri-state area. That keeps things convenient. But it also narrows the pool.”
“Are you saying there are no matches within a hundred miles of us?” I asked.
Cal squeezed my hand. “Babe, it’s okay. We’ll search a hundredthousandmiles if we have to.”
“To Cal’s point,” Tessa continued carefully. “The perfect surrogate might live a little farther away. Maybe a lot farther.”
Cal leaned forward. “We’re not worried about travel. Not if it leads us to the right person.”
I blinked at him. “You sure?”
He glanced at me. “I have a jet.”
Right. Of course.
Tessa smiled. “Then I want to show you someone.”
She turned the tablet toward us.
Her name filled the screen in soft, simple text:Leilani Kauhi.
A photo followed. A young woman, early twenties, warmsmile, dark curls, sun-kissed skin. She was sitting barefoot on a porch surrounded by what looked like half her extended family and at least three stray chickens.
“She’s based in Hawaii,” Tessa said. “She comes from a big family—parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins. She’s passionate about helping others. Studied midwifery. Volunteers with new mothers. And she has the strongest surrogate application I’ve ever read.”
“She’s beautiful,” I said, before I even realized I was speaking.
Tessa tapped to play her intro video.
“Hi,” Leilani said with a grin, and a natural grace, the kind of glow that couldn’t be faked. “My name is Leilani. I come from a very loud, very loving family on the east side of Maui. We’re the kind of people who start cooking for dinner at lunchtime. We have four generations under one roof most days, and nobody knocks. My grandma always says love should arrive unannounced and hungry.”
She gave a small, crooked smile. “I love swimming, singing badly, fixing things that probably should’ve been thrown out, and cooking for way too many people. I help out at our local clinic as well as taking care of my nieces and nephews, and sometimes my uncles too—though don’t tell them I said that.”
She glanced down briefly, like she wasn’t used to being on camera, then looked up again with a smile so unguarded it almost hurt. “I think bringing life into the world is the greatest honor. Not just the science of it, but the soul of it. I’d love to do that for someone who’s ready to love a child the way my family loves me. Fully. Loudly. Every single day.”
And with that, she gave a shy little wave, then as an afterthought added—“Oh, I also make really good banana bread. Not relevant, but… just putting it out there.”
Cal reached for my hand.
“Holy crap,” I breathed. “She’s the one.”
Cal just nodded, a little stunned.
I turned to Tessa. “There’s a catch, isn’t there?” I asked, suddenly guarded.
Tessa raised an eyebrow. “You mean the fact that she’s in Hawaii?”
“Yeah. That.”
“She’s worth the travel,” Tessa said simply.
Cal leaned back, already thinking. “You know… Hal’s new investment venture is in Maui.”
I winced. “Please don’t say our surrogate and Hal Chambers in the same sentence. It feels like mixing ice cream with tax fraud.”
