The Surrogate's Secret (13 page)

Andrea sat alone in the cozy sunroom they used as a breakfast area when it was too cool to eat on the patio. Surrounded by hanging flower baskets and lush plants in terracotta planters, the bright space lived up to its name. Predominant colors of whites, yellows and greens along with lots of glass worked well in producing a relaxed atmosphere.

H
appy to be back in the impressive home where he grew up, Miguel smiled his greeting.

“Buenas Dias, Mamacita.

“Buenas Dios, Miguel. Breakfast is hot and I have no doubt Maria has again spoiled you.”

Food waited in heated containers on a side table, and the smells of ham, eggs-benedict and toast made him aware that this was another meal that had been prepared in his hon
or.

“Maria
indulges you. She knows your penchant for American breakfasts, but she reminded me to tell you, fruit first.”

Quickly adding a large glass of orange juice to his choices, he leaned over to greet his mother
before taking his seat. Every Chilean child knew a kiss on the cheek in greeting and leaving a room satisfied the customs, a great way for Latino families to keep affection and touching prevalent in today’s faced-paced society.

“
Hello, Beautiful. Hope you slept well.” He stabbed two slices of cantaloupe from the lavishly filled plate nearby and winked at the woman watching him with love beaming.

“I did
and from the satisfaction written over your face, I think you must have also. Did Sheri and the babies pass a good night? I worried about the time difference.”

“They are fine, M
amá.
Sheri’s getting them organized now and will be downstairs soon.”

“
She’s a lovely girl, Miguel. Kind, sweet-tempered, and very good with the babies.”

“Yes. She has a lot of patience. I noticed it right off.”

“If only Felipe and Mary-Anne could have seen their family. He would have been so proud.” Her voice wobbled, but just a little.

“Don’t fret, Mamacita.
Your grandchildren are here with us now. You’ll be able to watch over them growing up, and from your stories, those two will get to know about their papá and to love his memory.”

She reached over to hold the clenched hand, which immediately opened to grip hers. “Thank you for bringing them to me. You’re a good son, Miguel, and a good man. I’m proud of you.”

“Thank you.” He grinned and teased. “I’m afraid I’ll be losing my ‘numero uno’ status very soon. Between my wife and those two little devils, you’ll be too busy to pay any attention to me.”

His whining tone made her laugh. “Never. Well…
maybe a little? Who’re you again?”

Her chuckling made his heart soar. What a lovely sound. He cocked his head. “I think I hear my wife coming now.
” In the distance, rumbling could be heard as Sheri pushed the stroller towards them.

“Oh good. Maria said there was a message from a
n acquaintance of hers named Charly. She’s to call the number back as soon as possible. Isn’t it nice that she has a good friend since she has no immediate family… except for us of course?”

Losing his taste for the barely-begun meal, Miguel pushed his plate away and stood to leave. Sarcasm dripped from heated words as he answered. “By all means, she mustn’t keep her friend waiting.”

“Miguel?”

He heard her entreaty and instantly felt annoyed at his behavio
r. His mother didn’t deserve his biting tongue, and he couldn’t share it with the woman who did.

He stopped at the opened door without turning around.  “I’ve just remembered some files that will need my attention
, Mamá. I’ll be too busy to take my wife sightseeing after siesta, even though I promised. Can you arrange for Paula to show her around for the next while, maybe take her shopping?”

“Really
, Miguel. Don’t tell me you’re leaving her alone again today? What will she think of our Chilean hospitality?”

“She’ll think her husband
’s a busy man whose company needs his attention after he’s ignored things for far too long.”

“A company can be run by a paid employee. A marriage, on the other hand, cannot be ignored and survive. Don’t be a fool.”

He knew he closed the door rudely, cutting off the woman who loved him unconditionally, but he couldn’t respond with any truth as to why he acted this way. His palms hurt from the force of his nails digging in, and he’d bitten the side of his cheek when his jaw clamped shut.

How could he tell her how much he despised the name
Charlie?

“Charly, is everything all right? Andrea told me you wanted to speak to me as soon as possible.”

“
Finally! Hot damn, girlfriend. I’ve been waiting forever for you to get back to me. Hold onto those thongs you modern girls call panties.”

“What? Don’t keep me waiting, you brat?”

The following silence added the theatrical ambience so typical of Charly. Before Sheri could smack the phone into the wall, Charly hollered, “I sold the book! Sheri, they gave me an advance of ten thousand. Can you believe it?”

Sheri
cheered into the phone on her end, calming after a few minutes. “I’m not surprised. I bet you sold it to the big house in New York, the one you were so scared to pitch it to, the one I told you would grab—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know you’re a believer. I’ll never question you again. Now
be quiet, smarty-pants and listen. I don’t have much time. I’m going into seclusion to get all the revisions done, and then I’m booking a seat on the next plane to South America. I need a fix with your babies.”

“Those brats? What about me?” Laughter rang in
Sheri’s voice mixed with pride and glee.

“You’re just a bigger
baby, pal. I’ll let you know when to expect me. Love you guys, lots and lots.”

“Oh,
Charly, I miss you so much. Can’t wait to see you again. Don’t goof off. Work hard so you get here soon.”

“Sheri,
my dear, I couldn’t help but eavesdrop. Your friend is planning a visit?” Andrea, leaning on her cane, stood at the entrance to the book-filled library where Sheri had made her call. The light streaming between the heavy red damask drapes made intricate patterns on the Turkish-styled carpeting. Sheri crossed over. With her arm around the woman’s fragile shoulders, she helped her toward the grouping of comfortable big-wing chairs near the lit fireplace.

“Yes.
Charly misses the twins and plans to finish the revisions on her book that’s just sold as quickly as she can. So it looks like a visit could be possible.”

“That’s wonderful. Your friend is very welcome. Now, I’ve just spoken to Miguel. As you know, he’s been away for a long time, and
even though the company has survived, with their CEO out of reach, many decisions have been left undone or handled badly. He apologizes, but after consideration, he realizes he might be tied up during the next few days. He said he’d wanted to be able to escort you around Santiago himself, but it won’t do. He’s really needed at the office. We can expect him to be with us for dinners, but during the days we’re to deal with entertaining ourselves.”

The hard tone in Andrea’s voice made Sheri wonder if Miguel had any choice about coming home to eat the late meal. As lovely and warm as
Andrea had shown herself to be, she was still the person who, against all odds, had taken a team into a jungle hellhole to rescue her son.

Sheri
thought back to his earlier pronouncement, that he would be taking her sightseeing, and wondered what could have changed his mind in less than an hour. The man was an enigma, hot and cold, loving and scary. What had she gotten herself into?

“
Please don’t look so upset, Sheri. I’ve called Paula, Miguel’s cousin, who will be more than happy to come after siesta to take you around Santiago. She’s a lot of fun to shop with. Miguel has no patience with the shops.”

“Oh
, good. I made the dumb mistake of bringing only summer clothes because at home in July it’s very hot. I was in such a tizzy; I mostly packed those types of clothes.”

“
From what I could gather, Miguel didn’t leave you a lot of time to organize.” A mother’s knowledge of her stubborn son resonated in her sarcasm.

“Sure, he did. After I complained that a few days wouldn’t be near enough he extended my time by a few more.” Sheri knew her tone would indicate her playful disgust.

Andrea’s boisterous laugh rang out downplaying her weakened condition. “That man! Don’t worry! I’ve done the same thing myself, only from the opposite direction. A few years ago, I arrived in sweltering LA with only a velvet gown to wear to an important business function, and no time to buy something appropriate.”

Enjoying the girl-talk, Sheri settled in. “Did you suffer the evening very badly?”

“Not at all. Once Miguel knew what I’d done, he called in a favor from a model he knew, and she came loaded with an armful of gowns for me to choose from. I must admit my son can be handy to have around in some situations.”

Sheri swallowed back the sarcastic retort that sprang to mind and instead smiled prettily at the proud mother. “I can see where you might think so.”

Not anyone’s fool, Andrea took Sheri’s hand in hers. “If only you could have met Miguel a few years ago. Women adored him for his fun-loving ways. Men worked hard for him out of respect for his knowledge, his bravery. I admit the family doted on him. As his mother, you might think I’m prejudiced…” At Sheri’s raised eyebrow, Andrea giggled and added, “So shoot me.” Her face switched from a smile to a frown as she deliberated over her next words.  “But, over the past months, my son has been kidnapped and physically tortured, heart-broken and embarrassed by a woman he believed in and is trying to deal with the loss of his beloved brother. If at times he seems less than sensitive, please bear with him, Sheri. He loves your babies very much and will do his best as their Papá. I guess what I’m trying to say is… please, give him time.”

Feeling very small, Sheri nodded and patted the thin hands where the prominent veins caught one’s eye. Resentment fled while scads
of emotions washed over her. Sympathy ranked among them but the thrill of anticipation took the number one spot. Her penchant of always looking at the bright side kicked in. Habits learned young were hard to overcome. Deciding to be a thoughtful wife, willing to give her husband the benefit of the doubt not only came naturally, but made sense in the circumstances.

“Now young lady, I’ve talked too much as usual, and I promised myself to learn as much as I can about you today. Please tell me about your parents and where you grew up?”

Dreading these kinds of questions from the time she’d arrived, Sheri decided to tell all and get it over with. “I grew up on Vancouver Island, in a small village called Qualicum Beach. It’s where I first met Mary-Anne. My mother left the family home when I was twelve. At first, my father and I believed she’d run away from us because, either she didn’t like being part of our family anymore, or she’d met someone else. I recently learned she’d left because she had a brain tumor and didn’t want her family to watch her die. After my father passed on two years ago, I went through some old letters and found an unopened one she’d written to me. I can only surmise that my father, angry at my mother’s desertion, had chosen not to pass it on.”

Telling the story in
its condensed form didn’t come near to explaining the intense pain her father had suffered, his sense of failure, his anger, and how much of it he’d shared with her in his drunken rages. The many jobs he’d lost until in one of his less than honorable moments, he’d let himself be injured and from then they lived on medical assistance from the government.

That man had whined and snivelled to his very last breath, and because she took after her upbeat mother, the only way she could have survived living with him was to be up to his down and bright to his dark.

“You poor dear. It must have been horrible to realize that your resentment had been misplaced.”

Sympathy from Andrea, a woman who knew what suffering felt like personally, salved her tender sprit. Her cold hands enclosed the one of Sheri’s that unconsciously had been on its journey to where her teeth waited to gnaw away her budding anxiety.

“Not at all. I felt more betrayed after I’d read the letter. How could she have stolen those last opportunities from us? Didn’t she understand how much I hated her for leaving me, and how mad I became with my father for letting her go? Her disappearing caused him to drink and lose one job after another. He changed into a sorry excuse of a man, and I hated it. If she had let us deal with her problem as a family, I believe we would have accepted her death and been able to move on.”

Hostility stiffening her shoulders and a voice brusque and raw sounding, Sheri bit her lip to stop from spouting more vitriol.  Silence vibrated with her suppressed rage. Never having talked to anyone but Mary-Anne, who’d always agreed with her views, wanting to support her friend, no one had ever tried to make her see things differently. Therefore, her bitterness was well cemented.

“Sheri, think as a mother now. You have two babies who you love.”

“More than life itself.”

“Yes, more than your own life. So, if you knew they’d have to go through months of torment to watch you die a painful, horrible death, and you knew of a way to save them from that nightmare, mightn’t you choose that path? Wouldn’t your love for them force you to think of what’s best for those so precious to you?”

“No! I don’t know. Maybe…
oh, God. I’ve never thought of it like that. It was easier to be angry with her. I actually hated her because I thought she’d left us to be with someone else.” As painful memories sufaced, Sheri clutched her throat, swallowing the moisture gathering in her mouth. “Now that you mention it, I remember her as the strong parent, the one I had to get permission from if I wanted to do anything. Even my father looked to her to run things. He was easy going and he… he missed her so much.”

An arm
sliding around her shoulders stopped her rambling and brought Sheri’s head onto the shoulder of an understanding mother. “Sheri, whatever choice your mother made, you can be absolutely certain, she did so thinking only of what she believed best for you and your father. She must have loved you terribly to have given up the last months of her life with her family.”

A weight the size of Africa disappeared from Sheri’s
spirit and she took a deep cleansing breath. “I’ve been so angry.”

“I think wounded is the word you should use. We
use anger to cover our pain. Nature uses it as a remedy, but unfortunately it can be destructive.”

Sheri needed to be alone to think, to wonder
and to forgive. “Thank you, Andrea. I’d better go and check on the twins now and see if they’re up from their nap. We’ll be back to have lunch with you if you’d like.”

“I’d like that very much. And if you ever want to talk about your past again, my dear, I’ll be happy to listen.”

Sheri wandered out of the room, thoughts pinging in her head like popcorn in a microwave. All fixated on the woman who she’d held in contempt for the last seventeen of her twenty-nine years.

What must she have gone through? To leave her home and family at the worst time in her life. Could I do it
, she wondered? Could I give up everyone I loved to protect them?