Page 35 of Her Baby His Gift

“So are you.” He countered

Guilt hit her. “I want to be there for you the same way you are for me.” She waited for him to respond, and when he didn’t, Harlem nudged Damian on. Her voice softened. “What did the doctor say?”

His words were slow to come. He wasn’t sure he could say them. Damian attempted to swallow the lump in his throat before speaking. “I . . . I’m the problem.” It killed him to say it out loud to her.

“W-what?”

“I won’t be able to give you children.”

The silence was deafening.

It took a minute for Harlem’s brain to catch up with her mouth. “Is he sure?” She couldn’t believe it. Harlem may have been hesitant about not being ready to have children now, butnever? “We should get another opinion.”

Damian shook his head. “He’s sure. He sent my lab results to another specialist to confirm. That doctor came back with the same conclusion.”

Harlem swallowed hard. Her mind was racing. “Okay. At least we know what we’re up against. So, we won’t be able to conceive the traditional way.”

Damian removed his arm from around her and sat up. “Harlem . . .”

She whispered into the darkness. “Yes?”

“I talked to Carter about being a possible sperm donor for us.”

“Carter! Are you serious?!”

He nodded.

“Nuh-un. Nope. That’s crazy.”

Damian’s mind was spinning. He didn’t know how to handle this situation.

Harlem’s chest tightened. This was a nightmare. She knew Damian had reservations about alternative methods to becoming parents, but Carter Owens? He must have fallen and bumped his head if he thought that was a possibility.

“Listen, I know him, and more importantly, he’s not a psycho. I won’t have to worry.”

“Who says he’s not a psycho?”

“C’mon, Harlem.”

“Damian, I can’t stand Carter. I can’t imagine knowing he was the donor. I prefer not knowing. All we have to do is a little bit of research. A clinic that specializes in in-vitro is much better equipped to handle this kind of thing.”

Damian was digging in. “I wouldn’t have to worry about anything if it was Carter.”

She opened her mouth to ask him if he’d lost his mind, then closed it to rephrase the question. “That would be crazy. Carter would be around a child that is biologically his. You would be okay with that?”

“Of course not! I’d hate it. But I can’t imagine doing something like this any other way. The more I think about it, the more I think it’s something I could live with.” Damian clasped her hand in his as his eyes pleaded with hers. “If we want to continue down the path of parenthood, I don’t know how to go about it any other way.”

Harlem didn’t want to think about a future without Damian. But she also couldn’t imagine Carter being the biological father of their child. “I need some time to think about this. I can’t . . .”

Damian leaned in and touched his forehead to hers. “I understand, and I’ll live with whatever you decide.”

“Whateverwedecide,” Harlem stressed. They would both have to live with this decision.

Chapter 19

Harlem made the three-hour drive to her parent’s home in two. She needed to put some distance between her and Damian so she could think clearly.

Home. It was always a place of warmth, love, and refuge—a place where she could press pause, or even reset, on her life.

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