A Baby of Convenience (5 page)

She looked slightly uncertain, but she nodded her head.

“Of course, Mr. Hargrove.”

Chapter5

It didn’t take Neal very long to find her. He had considered calling, but then decided against it. What he was about to ask her required face-to-face conversation. He needed to be tactful about it and he was fast realizing how little he had needed to employ tact in his life. She lived in the shabbier part of the city; a tiny, aged looking apartment building wedged into a little crevice of space.

Her apartment number was fifty-four. He gave the number a ring, but got no answer. He ended up sitting in his car, unwilling to turn away from her doorstep until he had spoken to her. He had to wait nearly five hours, but eventually she showed up. She was wearing a pair of dark blue denim jeans, a white sweater and combat boots.

Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail and she wore a harassed expression. A bag was slung over her shoulders and she carried a small grocery bag on her hip. She was walking up the steps when Neal jumped out of his car and ran up towards her. She looked around before he could call her name.

“Neal?” Elena said incredulously.

Of all the people to run into, Elena had not expected to ever see Neal Hargrove again. He looked different today. Less intimidating than he did in his evening wear; he looked like just another guy and not a business mogul,
but then
, Elena thought uncharitably,
he
wasn’t really
. He just mooched off his brother. He looked as though he had been waiting for her, which she found especially odd.

Neal looked up at her, hoping the desperation on his face would soften her towards him. He walked up the steps and gave her a tentative smile, which she did not return.

“Hello, Elena,” Neal said.

Elena raised her eyebrows, “Hello, Elena?”

Neal chuckled nervously, “I thought that was a good way to start. Can I carry that for you?”

Elena looked down at her small grocery bag. She had to buy sparingly, so that she could stretch what little money she had for the rest of the week. Nine days if she could manage it. She was about to turn him down, but she was side-tracked by the change she saw in him. She couldn’t put her finger on it. It was something about his expression.

“OK,” Elena said, handing over her groceries.

“Can I come in?” Neal asked, hoping against hope that she wouldn’t tell him to get lost.

Elena did in fact think about it, but somehow, the new-found change she saw in him gave her pause. It was definitely his expression, she decided at last. He didn’t look so smug and self-satisfied as he had the night they had met. He didn’t look like he had everything in control. There was more to his visit than trying to get tangled in her sheets with her.

“OK,” Elena acquiesced, leading him to the top of the stairs, where she let herself in and led him to the staircase.

“No elevator?”  Neal asked, looking around.

“It’s been broken as long as I’ve lived here,” Elena replied. “Don’t worry, it’s only five floors up.”

Neal sighed inwardly, and started the climb. Elena seemed unconcerned and climbed without looking back at him. He was grateful for that, she would avoid seeing him pant. When they finally reached the apartment, Elena led him inside, taking the groceries from his hands and setting them down on the kitchen counter. It was a studio apartment, Neal realized, after his initial shock of seeing her bed positioned just a couple of feet away from her stovetop.

“You’ve got a nice place here,” he said lamely.

Elena rolled her eyes at him, refusing to dignify that comment with an answer. She knew that he was simply trying to get off on the right foot today, but the compliment was so transparent that she wasn’t about to go along with it. There was no room to move, and she hated herself for being so ashamed of the apartment.

“What are you doing here, Neal?” Elena asked.

Neal collected himself. He took a deep breath and leaned against the kitchen counter since there didn’t seem to be any other place to sit, apart from the bed, and frankly, that would be supremely awkward.

“I… this is… I--” he stumbled through his mission.

“Wow,” Elena interrupted his stuttering. “This must be big.”  

Neal stopped for a moment, and then he decided just to do it, like ripping off a band-aid.

“My brother may be dead,” he said in a rush.

Elena raised her eyebrows. “What do you mean by ‘may’?”

Neal swallowed. “He was in a plane crash a few days ago. They haven’t found his body yet. He’s presumed dead.”

Elena was taken back. Of all things, she had not expected that.

“I’m… so sorry,” she said quietly, “but I still don’t know how this concerns me.”

Neal nodded. “My brother is the president of Hargrove Brothers and Company. My father held the controlling stock in the business, and when he died, it passed to George. The board has just declared that if George is not found in ninety days, they will declare him dead and take his stock, and essentially the whole company.”

Neal paused there, letting that sink in while Elena tried to process what she had heard. She was still not sure why he was telling her all of this. It had no connection to her whatsoever, but she was starting to feel sympathy for him. He looked so distraught. So lost.

“So… you will lose everything if the board takes control of the company?” she asked.

“Yes,” Neal said softly.

“Does that mean you would lose your shares?”

“No,” Neal admitted. “I’d still keep my investments. I’d still get my money.”

“Then… why do you care what happens to the company?”

Neal knew what she thought of him. She had made it very clear the last time, and he knew now that she would have expected him to not have cared about losing the business. He would still have his fair share of money and his inheritance, and the running of the company would be another person’s responsibility.

A tiny voice in Neal’s head told him that there was precedent for him taking that course and allowing the board to take over Hargrove Brothers, but for some reason, he just couldn’t let it happen. Not because he thought he could actually run it, but because he knew his brother would want him to.

“Because this company… my father built it up from nothing. He built it for George and for me. I could easily walk away and let the chips fall where they may… but I can’t do that to George, or the memory of my father. Not after everything they have done for me.”

Elena was aware that her dislike for him was slowly receding into the background. He may have been a moocher, but he was grateful and appreciative, which was more than she could say for several other people she had known. It was obvious he had loved his father, and it was obvious that he loved his brother. It struck her that he was dealing with all of this only days after finding out that his brother might be dead. She found herself moving closer to him, and she placed a hand on his shoulder.

The pressure of her hand was deeply comforting. Neal realized that no one had touched him that way since the news of George’s plane crash. Everyone had relayed their condolences, they had told him how sorry they were, but no one had been there to comfort him. No one had just sat with him so that he would not be alone in his mourning. It struck Neal that he had not really mourned at all. He corrected himself fiercely; he didn’t know yet if there was anything to mourn at all.

“Neal?” Elena’s voice cut through his thoughts. He knew she was curious as to why he had tracked her down to tell her all of this.

“I know we’re strangers to each other,” he said finally. “I know that I’m nobody to you… but the reason I’m here is that I need to ask you for your help.”

Amazed, Elena looked into his pleading, desperate eyes and she felt her heart quiver a little.

“I don’t know how I can do that, Neal,” she said honestly.

Neal took a deep breath and jumped in.

“There is a way I can keep the company under my control,” Neal started, his heart beating faster as he came to the root cause of his visit. “You see, if my brother had left behind an heir, a child of his own, that child would inherit his controlling stock.”

“I don’t understand.”

“And until that child turns twenty one, I would retain control of the company.”

Elena shook her head, “I still don’t –"

“My brother dedicated himself to this business completely, Elena. He wasn’t involved with anyone; he left behind no children.”

“Then how –"

“I would like you to claim to be his girlfriend. I would like you to claim to be carrying his child.”

The silence that filled the little studio apartment was palpable. Neal looked straight at Elena, waiting for her reaction. Elena stood frozen, blinking hard and trying to make sense of what he had just said. After a few moments had passed and Neal hadn’t taken anything back, Elena backed away from him slowly.

“You’re joking, right?”

Neal’s face remained impassive. “I’m afraid I’m not.”

Elena looked imploringly at him, trying to make him see some sense, see logically.

“Neal,” she said gently, “even if I agreed to make that claim – wouldn’t they check it out? Wouldn’t they check to see if I am actually pregnant?”

“They would,” Neal said calmly.

Elena raised her eyebrows, waiting for him to explain to her how this plan could possibly work.

“I’m not pregnant, Neal.” Elena said slowly, so that it would sink in.

“I know that,” Neal replied. “I am asking you to become pregnant.”

Elena stood in shock, frozen in place. When she had finally recovered from the audacity of his words, she looked at him with wariness.

“I think you should leave now, Neal,” she said as gently as she could manage.

“Elena, please…"

She had reached the edge of her patience. “You want me to get
pregnant
,” she said skeptically, “so that you can keep your company?”

Neal tried to keep his voice calm and reasonable, hoping that would induce Elena to think the same way. He was aware that what he wanted from her was a huge favor, but he was willing to make it worth her while.

“Elena, just listen.”

“No, you listen!” Elena said insistently, “I don’t want a baby. I don’t want to be a mother--”

“I’m not asking you to be a mother,” Neal interrupted urgently, “I’m only asking you to be the egg donor and the surrogate. Once the baby is born, I will be the child’s legal guardian. You can relinquish all parental rights to me.”

Elena fixed him with an intense stare.

“Who’s going to be the sperm donor, Neal?” she asked pointedly

.

Her question once again made Neal aware of the fact that his plan was insane. So many things could go wrong, but he was also painfully aware of the fact that his capabilities were limited. This was the only path that he could see forward. He felt a stab, knowing that George might have come up with a far more efficient plan. One that didn’t involve a complete stranger, who had less than kind opinions about him.

“Umm… I am,” Neal said quietly.

“Of course,” Elena replied sarcastically, “of course you are. How stupid of me, and how do you intend to get me pregnant?”

Again, Neal questioned everything, but he had gone too far to turn back now. He pushed his reservations aside and battled on ahead. Elena watched him struggle. She knew that he understood that what he was asking her was crazy, but the fact was, he was still doing it, which proved how desperate he was. Somehow, incredibly, she understood how he felt. She knew what it meant to be desperate.