Page 11 of The Virgin's Baby
I pushed the button to switch over to the other caller, ending our stimulating conversation.
What a nut case.
“Hello?” I answered the call, praying it wasn’t another looney bird.
“Hello, this is Aspen Dell. I saw your poster.” She went quiet. “This was a bad idea. Sorry.”
Her voice was so light and sweet, but with an edge that told me she was smart too. “No, wait. Please. I would love to hear more. You said your name is Aspen Dell. Well, it’s nice to make your acquaintance, Aspen. I’m Ransom Whitaker.”
“Whitaker Drilling Company?” she asked about my grandfather’s business.
“That belongs to my grandfather.” I loved the lilt she had to her slightly southern voice. I couldn’t let her off the line yet. “So, you’ve heard of us then?”
“I have. I’m a student at Texas Tech, majoring in petroleum engineering,” came her reply.
She’s intelligent!
My criteria for the mother of my child was very different from my criteria for girls I wanted to get into the sack with.
I wanted physically attractive candidates who were intelligent. I didn’t want to saddle my kid with some unattractive features and not much brain to work with after all.
I just had to ask, “So, I can tell that you’re an intelligent woman. Do you mind telling me about your physical appearance?”
“Well, I’m still not sure I’m going to do this.” She seemed hesitant, but then she went on, “I’m five-five with dark, naturally curly hair that goes to my waist and is very thick.”
“Is it soft?” I asked as I imagined it.
“Well, yes, it is.” She paused again. “My skin tone is naturally tan. My eyes are brown with dark green and gold flecks in them.”
“I do believe those are called hazel eyes, Miss Dell.” I had to make sure she was single. “It is miss, isn’t it?”
“Yes. I’m not married or anything like that. There’s no man to get in the way if you pick me.” She sighed. “Wait, I can’t do this. I can’t. I’m sorry for taking up your time.”
“Hold on now. There’s no reason for you to make any hasty decisions. Well, the decision needs to be a little bit rushed, but there’s still some time.” I thought it might ease her mind some to know the situation. “You see, my grandfather has cancer. At this point, the doctors are still trying to get rid of it with chemo and radiation, and I’m holding out hope for him.”
“That’s good,” she said. “You’ve got to have hope.”
“I do. But you see, he’s the only blood relative I have left. And he doesn’t want to leave me alone in this world. He’s kind of put the gun to my side and added to his will that I’ve got to have a baby before he passes on or his entire fortune will go to charity.” I had to hand it to the old cuss; he knew how to put the screws to a person to get his way.
Her voice went soft, “Oh, that’s the reason for this. I was curious, but I didn’t feel right asking you. It’s pretty nice of him to not want to leave you all alone here. I can vouch for how lonely that is. I’m all alone now too. My father died a couple of years ago. My mother has never been in the picture.”
“If you had my baby, there would be some of your blood in this world too.” The idea made me feel a lot better about having a kid with her. Not only would it benefit me, but her as well.
“I’m sure you wouldn’t want me to be around at all after the baby’s born, right?” she asked. The lilt in her voice told me she wasn’t entirely sure about being left out of the kid’s life.
What would be so bad about the kid having its mom around now and then?
“We could definitely talk about that. This thing isn’t exactly a contract, you know. I think that’s illegal. I’m not buying a baby. I want to create one with the right woman. But I don’t want a relationship with that woman. Would you be okay with that?”
“I would,” she agreed rather quickly. “But it might be nice to get to see the kid now and then. Or maybe even get to be in its life a bit more than that. That’s all I’m saying. I wouldn’t step on your toes or anything.” There was another pause. “I’m sorry. I can’t do this.”
“Aspen,” I whispered. “Don’t be so quick to pull out of this. We should meet. Talk. Get to know each other. And we can go from there. The truth is that you’re the first woman to call me that’s not crazy as a loon. I’d hate to lose you.”
“You would?” she asked.
I knew I would. “Yeah. So, how about lunch tomorrow? You pick. Anywhere you want. Make it expensive though. I never eat cheap.”
She laughed. “I never eat expensively. And I don’t have a car.”
