Page 10 of The Alpha's Surrogate

She turned her head to him sharply, frowning slightly. “What?”

“Your family,” he said. “I was asking about your family.”

She watched him for several long seconds, as if weighing whether to respond or not. Callahan felt like a fool for bringing it up at all. He just wanted to keep the conversation going, but he should have known better. Josie hated talking about her family.

“My dad died a few years ago,” she said softly, to his surprise. “My grandfather died too, a few weeks ago.”

He knew that, of course. Fannar had informed him when her father had died, a few years after they separated. He knew she had been living alone with her grandfather for years, and he also just found out that her grandfather was recently deceased.

He raised his head and caught her watching him intently. He should have said something. He should have apologized or shared his condolences. His silence had lasted too long.

“You knew, didn’t you?” she asked in a cold voice. “How long have you known, and how did you find out?” She looked pissed. But then again, she always looked pissed.

“I did,” he admitted. There was no use denying it. “I only just found out a few days ago, actually. As to how I found out, it just came up, I guess.”

She laughed a bitter, sarcastic laugh. “It just came up? What am I, a child? No, I don’t believe it ‘just came up.’” She made air quotes with her fingers. Why did she look so angry? “You know what I think? I think you’re still carrying a grudge, Callahan.”

He didn’t need to feign incredulity. “What?”

She laughed again, the sound sharp like broken glass. “It’s clear that you’re still holding a grudge over what happened ten years ago.” She shook her head and made a dismissive sound. “I don’t even know why I’m surprised. It’s nice to see not much has changed with you, and you’re still the same thoughtless and reactionary man you were a decade ago.”

Callahan listened to her quietly. At first he was stunned, and then his shock turned into confusion. His confusion turned to anger and he felt the sudden urge to scream.

She had no right to speak to him as condescendingly as she had just done. He watched her quietly, weighing his next move. If he reacted, he would only prove her right.

He knew he wasn’t what she was accusing him of being. He also didn’t need to prove a thing to her, and so he remained quiet, watching her. He could still feel the anger smoldering inside him like molten magma, and he took slow breaths, trying to quench it before it consumed him.

She rolled her eyes. “You have nothing to say? So dramatic. I’m guessing you don’t want me to be your surrogate anymore, hmm?”

In that moment, he considered it. He considered getting up and walking out of the room, out of the building, and out of this nightmare of a reunion. But he didn’t plan to let her off so easily. Her arrogance and nonchalance pricked him.

“Why are you doing this?” he asked softly. He gestured around with a finger. “This, becoming a surrogate. Why? Never seemed like something you would have considered before. Why now?”

She glared at him but remained quiet. She turned away, pointedly ignoring him. Whatever her reason was for doing this, he didn’t imagine it was something she was proud of talking about.

He wanted to press her for details but a knock sounded on the door and Dr. Stephanie poked her head into the office. She was still smiling. “Hi. I could hear voices from behind the door. I take it this little session went well?”

Josie glanced anxiously at Callahan, and he made a mental note to ask her about it later. He turned to the doctor smiling and said, “It did. I think I’m fine with Josie as my surrogate. Pending the outcome of your tests, of course.”

The doctor turned to Josie expectantly and Josie nodded curtly. Dr. Stephanie smiled and walked around the desk to her swivel seat. “Perfect. I’m glad to see that we’ve gotten that out of the way. Now, before I go on with Josie’s tests, I’d just like to run you through some of our guidelines.”

“Guidelines?” Callahan asked, raising a brow.

The doctor shrugged. “Just a set of instructions for the two of you to observe during the period of pregnancy, is all. We have seen this process get messy so many times, and we are just trying our best to make it as seamless as possible.”

She looked from one face to the other and when they remained quiet, she nodded and continued. “Now, as stipulated in your signed agreements, the baby belongs to Mr. Finn after delivery. Ms. Ray, no matter the condition of your pregnancy, you have no right over the child, and will be required to hand the baby over to Mr. Finn, no questions asked.”

“I understand,” Josie said. “I went through the agreement extensively.”

“Good, good,” the doctor said. “I just wanted to get that out of the way. You’d be surprised how many times this has caused a problem during a surrogate arrangement.”

“Thanks for clearing that up,” Josie said impatiently. “Anything else?”

“Yes, one more thing. This is the second most important.” Dr. Stephanie’s eyes got hard and lost all pretense of cordiality. “Personal relationships between the two of you are strictly forbidden. Every communication between the two parties will go through this agency, and we will make sure to pass it along.

“Doing otherwise would put you in breach of your signed agreements. We frown on any form of intimacy between the parties, and strongly advise and warn against it. This is a nonnegotiable of this program. Will this be a problem for either of you?”

“Not in the slightest,” Josie replied immediately. “You have nothing to worry about in that regard.”

---