high-society wife that she’d had little time left for her family. Adam’s schedule had been so busy, they hadn’t even come for Christmas the year before she got sick.
If it had been Katy, she would have put her foot down and insisted she see her family. Even if it meant spending the holidays apart from her spouse. Of course, she never would have married a man like Adam in the first place. She could never be with anyone so demanding and self-centered. And especially someone who didn’t share her love for the ranch. But according to her parents, practically from the instant Becca left the womb, she had been gunning to move to the city, to live a more sophisticated lifestyle.
Sometimes Katy swore Becca was a doorstep baby.
“She was so sure she would beat it,” Adam continued. “We went ahead with our plans, thinking we could hire a surrogate to carry the baby. But, of course, we never got the chance.”
“She told me that, too,” Katy said, pushing down the bitterness that wanted to bubble to the surface. Harvesting the eggs had meant holding off on treating the cancer, which just might have been the thing that killed her. Katy had begged Becca to forget the eggs and go forward with the treatment. They could always adopt later on, but Becca knew how much Adam wanted a child—his own flesh and blood—and as always, she would have done anything to make him happy.
It would have been easy to blame Adam for her death, but ultimately, it had been Becca’s choice. One she had paid dearly for.
“I’m not sure what any of this has to do with me,” Katy said.
“I thought you should know that I’ve decided to use the frozen embryos and hire a surrogate to carry the baby.”
He said it so bluntly, so matter-of-factly, it took several seconds for the meaning of his words to sink in.
Baby? Was he saying that he was going to hire some stranger to have her sister’s child?
Katy was beyond stunned…and utterly speechless. Of all the possible reasons for Adam asking her here, that particular one had never crossed her mind. How could he even consider doing this to her family?
She realized her jaw had fallen and closed her mouth so forcefully her teeth snapped together. Adam was watching her, waiting for her to say something.
Finally she managed, “I…I’m not sure what to say.”
“So we’re clear, I’m not asking for your permission. Or your approval. Out of courtesy—since it’s Rebecca’s child, too—I felt I should tell you what I plan to do.”
He wasn’t the kind of man to do things as a “courtesy.” He did nothing unless it benefited him. She was guessing that he’d consulted a lawyer, and his lawyer had advised him to contact Becca’s family.
“I also thought you could give me some advice on the best way to break the news to your parents,” Adam added, and Katy was too dumbfounded to speak. As if losing their daughter wasn’t heartbreaking enough, now they would have to live with the knowledge that they had a grandchild out there with a father who was too busy to even give them the time of day? How could he even think about doing this to them? And then to ask her help? Was he really so arrogant? So self-absorbed?
“My advice to you would be don’t do it,” she told him.
He looked confused. “Don’t tell them?”
“Don’t use the embryos.” She was so angry, her voice was actually shaking. “Haven’t my parents been through enough? I can’t believe you could be selfish enough to even consider putting them through this.”
“I would be giving them a grandchild. A part of their daughter would live on. I’d think that would please them.”
“A grandchild they would never see? You really think that’s going to make them happy?”
“Why would you assume they wouldn’t see the baby?”
Was he kidding? “I can count on one hand how many times you and Becca came to visit the last three years of your marriage. My parents were always making the effort, and in most instances you were too busy to make the time for them.” She became aware, by the curious stares they were getting, that the volume of her voice had risen to a near-hysterical level. She took a deep breath, forced herself to lower it. “Why not get remarried and have a baby with your new wife? You’re a rich, handsome guy. I’m sure women would line up to marry you. Or you could adopt. Just leave my family out of this.”
Adam’s voice remained calm and even. “As I said, I’m not asking your permission. This meeting was simply a courtesy.”
“Bull,” she hissed under her breath.
Adam’s brow rose. “Excuse me?”
“I’m not some simple, stupid country girl, Adam. So please, don’t insult my intelligence by treating me like an uneducated hick. I’m here because your lawyer probably warned you that my parents could fight this, and you want to avoid any legal entanglements.”
His expression darkened, and she knew she’d hit a nerve. “Your family has no legal rights over the embryos.”
“Maybe not, but if we decided to fight you, it could drag on for years, couldn’t it?”
His brow dipped low over his eyes, and he leaned forward slightly. “You don’t have the financial means to take me on in court.”
Not one to be intimidated, she met his challenge and leaned toward him. “I don’t doubt there’s some bleeding-heart attorney out there who would just love to take on a case like this pro bono.”
He didn’t even flinch. Did he know she was bluffing? Not only did she know of no attorney like that, she didn’t think her parents would ever try to fight Adam. They would be miserably unhappy, but like Becca’s defection from the family fold, they would accept it. And learn to live with it. They didn’t like to make waves, to cause problems, which is why they allowed Becca to drift so far from the family in the first place. Had it been up to Katy, things would have been different.
Adam’s expression softened and he said in a calm and rational voice, “I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves.”
“What do you even know about being a parent?” she snapped. “When would you find the time? Have you even considered what you’re getting yourself into? Diaper changes and midnight feedings. Or will you hire someone to raise the baby for you? Leave all the dirty work to them?”
“You don’t know anything about me,” he said.
“Sad, considering you were married to my sister for seven years.”
He took a deep breath and blew it out. “I think we got off on the wrong foot here.”
Actually, what she had done was reverse the balance of power so that now she had the upper hand. It was the only way to deal with men like him. A trick Becca had obviously never learned.
“Trust me when I say, I have given this considerable thought, and I feel it’s something I need to do. And I assure you that both you and your parents will see the baby. My parents are both dead, so you’ll be the only other family the child has. I would never deny him that.”
“And
