The Billionaire's Surrogate: A BWWM Pregnancy Love Story (14 page)

Christine
woke up early feeling guilty about the way she treated Max yesterday.
They’d agreed to live together so he did have a right to know
where she was sleeping if she wasn’t home…she guessed.
She also might have been acting all crazy because of the sex they had
and not necessarily…she picked up her phone and checked to see
if she had any messages. That was when she saw the missed call from
Martha. She frowned at it, wondering why her grandmother would be
calling her at midnight. She crept out of her bed and went over to
her grandmother’s room with trepidation in every step. What if
something had happened to her and
someone
else
had called to inform her and she
hadn’t heard the phone? She knocked softly and opened the door;
peeking in the room to see that her grandmother was fast asleep. She
heaved a huge sigh of relief, watching her, waiting to see if she
would wake. When she didn’t, Christine decided to go rustle up
some coffee, maybe some dry toast to start the day. Whatever she did,
she hadn’t yet managed to stop herself from puking but hope
sprang eternal.

She picked up her phone
again and dialed Max’ number to apologize. His phone went
directly to voice mail and she left a message telling him she would
see him later and she was sorry about the whole rude thing the night
before. She took a cup of coffee to her grandmother hoping to get the
411 on why she was calling her at midnight. The smell of the coffee
seemed to have woken her and she was sitting up in bed, reading her
morning verse. Every morning she read a verse from the bible and said
her morning prayers before getting up. It had been her habit to do so
as a family but then as Christine became an adult and got her own
schedule which didn’t necessarily gel with Martha’s,
she’d been leaving it to Christine to find her own time to say
her prayers. She looked up now at the rattle of the coffee cup on its
saucer as Christine came in the door. Martha smiled at her and
motioned for her to come in. Christine put the cup down on the
bedside table and sat on the bed as Martha began to read out loud
from the chapter.

“
Love
is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant
or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or
resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the
truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,
endures all things,” Martha read.

“
What
chapter is that?” Christine asked.

“
1
Corinthians chapter 13:4-7,” Martha said.

Christine nodded her
head looking at Martha.

“
Let
us pray,” Martha said and Christine bowed her head.

“
Dear
Lord, thank you so much for another day of life on Earth.  Thank
you for another beautiful sunrise to enjoy.  Thank you for the
wonderful sounds of nature, from the cool breeze brushing through the
trees to the birds singing melodies.  You are a wonderful God,
full of grace and mercy.  I praise you for allowing me another
day to spend with my family.  I love you Father!  Amen,”
Martha prayed and then opened the bible to another page and intoned
“
The flowers appear on the earth, the
time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in
our land
.”

“
That’s
a beautiful way to start the day gra. Thank you,” Christine
said.

Martha nodded her head
in acknowledgment. “Max needs you; he’s in the hospital,”
she said.

“
What?!?”
Christine exclaimed dropping the cup of coffee she’d picked up
to drink. Martha watched the coffee spread all over her lovely rug
and Christine jumped up quickly.

“
I’ll
clean it right up,” she said rushing out to get a cloth to mop
it up. She brought lots of paper towels to absorb the stains and then
wiped it down with a wet towel. She then got a bucket with some soapy
water and wiped up any remnants of the stain, really putting her back
into it. By the time she was through, she felt better able to
continue the interrupted conversation. Her grandmother had gone to
the bathroom to clean up for the day so she had to wait for her to
come back.

“
Gra,
what happened?” she asked trying to still the rapid beating of
her heart.

“
I
don’t know. It’s the sickness. They were doing tests when
I left; wouldn’t let me see him. They’ll let
you
see him – you’re his
fiancé.”

“
Did
he pass out? What happened?”

“
Same
thing as last time. Just collapsed on the floor but he managed to hit
the call button before he blacked out and Craddock heard him. He was
still up luckily, doing the menu for the dinner party Max was
planning to have this weekend. He called me; I had just retired –
Max asked me to stay over since we stayed late talking. He was
worried about you.”

“
Why
was he worried about me?” Christine asked in disbelief and then
held up her hand. “Never mind that; we should go to the
hospital.”

“
Yes,”
Martha agreed. “So leave the room so I can dress.”

Christine
left the room digging out her phone to redial Max' number again. She
was surprised at how hard her heart was beating; how her hands were
cold and clammy and sweaty and she had this dizziness in her head.
She was worried
sick
…about
Max! Fuck, she absolutely did not need this.

The call went straight
to voicemail and she left a long agitated message about how pissed
off she was that he was sick again and would he not do this to her
and his baby; he needed to have more consideration and just not get
sick…

Then she tried to call
back and erase the message but of course she couldn’t. So she
called Andrea to maybe get her to do it; she probably had his phone
anyway; but she wasn’t picking up either. Nobody was answering
her! How inconsiderate could they all be anyway? Bloody bitches;
Christine could feel herself getting more and more nauseous by the
minute. She ran to the bathroom to get rid of the toast and coffee
she’d just eaten. By the time she’d cleaned herself up
and left the bathroom her grandmother was ready and they left for the
hospital.

The nurses claimed that
visiting hours weren’t for at least an hour but in her status
as closest kin got them a face to face with the doctor at least. She
let them know what had happened was a relapse situation and that the
inflammation was back. Its progress had been insidious and that’s
why Max had not felt any symptoms before collapsing last night. He
would have to be on intravenous antibiotics as well as other
intravenous drugs and dialysis to ensure that his kidneys were
properly detoxified. He would be out of commission for at least two
weeks and sedated for much of that time. With all that said, the
doctors were of the opinion that there was no need to hang about the
hospital. Christine and Martha insisted anyway. They wanted to be
around because Max had asked specifically for Christine last night.
The doctor had no choice but to give her permission because stress
was bad for the patient.

Max was awake when they
walked into his room and smiled faintly as he saw them.

“
Hey,”
he said very hoarsely and Christine hurried forward and picked up his
hand.

“
Don’t
talk,” she said.

Max opened his mouth to
reply and Christine promptly put her hand atop it to stop him.

“
I
said don’t talk,” she repeated.

Max closed his mouth.

“
The
doctor gave us a run down of everything that’s wrong with you.
Please tell me you haven’t been in pain and covering it up all
this time.”

Max shook his head, his
eyes on hers.

“
Okay
good. So how about you rest, for today, without talking. I’m
just going to sit right in this chair and read. We both won’t
talk. Okay?” Christine said matching actions to words and
flopping down into the chair. Martha smiled at them both.

“
I’ll
get you some food. You didn’t eat this morning,” she said
to Christine prompting Max to glare and Christine to look at her with
a betrayed look on her face and a shake of her head.

“
Always
with the big mouth gra,” she said chidingly.

Martha just laughed and
left the room. Max turned his head to glare at her more intently and
she stuck out her tongue at him.

“
Oh
don’t act all high and mighty like you’ve never done
anything wrong in your life. Besides I tried to have breakfast; it
didn’t take,” she said. Max held his hand out to her and
she moved her chair nearer to the bed so she could take it.

“
I’m
glad you’re here,” he croaked.

“
Don’t
talk,” Christine replied.

*****

Andrea
took the opportunity to call Claire Lestrange now that there was
technically no close kin around. She could justify it perfectly well
to Max if he asked by the fact that he’d be out of commission
for two weeks and someone needed to be around who could make the
decisions if something happened. Someone who was known to all the key
players and not some interloper that was claiming to be his fiancé.
Not that she would tell him the latter part; she could just keep that
to herself. She might also just drop the titbit that there
was
an interloper in case Claire was
interested in that little bit of news.

She was on the first
flight out of Paris.

*****

Christine’s
back was killing her. These hospital chairs were really not made for
pregnant women to sit on for long periods of time. The wood was hard
and the cushion was thin and the back didn’t quite bend in a
way that accommodated her spine. She wasn’t even
that
pregnant; she wasn’t sure she
should ache this much but she’d hardly moved from her position
all day and that could be why. Max slept fitfully all day; when he
was awake he tried to talk to her but then she’d threaten to
leave if he did so he shut up. But he stared at her with expressive
eyes that seemed to really want to make sure she stayed. So she did.
Martha came by bearing food at lunch time and stinted Christine for a
while as she went to sit in the hospital garden and get some fresh
air. She wondered how many more family emergencies she had before she
ate up all her days off. Thankfully maternity leave was not affected
by other types of days off. But Max really had to stop getting sick;
she didn’t think she could stand the worry on top of the
hyper-acidity of being pregnant. She checked her messages as she
strolled about but no one had texted her to protest or to tell her
about how the supervisor was complaining. That was always a plus. She
really could eat some burritos right about now though. She looked
around for a food kiosk where she might get some but couldn’t
really see any.

She picked up her phone
to call her grandmother. “Gra I’m just off to get some
burritos, I’ll be back later.”

“
Cravings?”
Martha asked.

“
Yeah.
You want anything from Walmart?”

“
I’m
good thanks,” Martha said in amusement.

When Christine came
back to the hospital she found her way to Max’ room barred by a
huge burly gentleman who claimed to be his body guard. Seeing as
she’d never seen him in her life before she highly doubted
that.

“
I’m
sorry but if you don’t move right this instant I’ll have
you thrown out of the hospital for being an impostor,” she
growled at him. He hesitated a moment but then stood his ground.

“
I
am commanded not to let anyone through to this room that is not
authorized,” he said.

“
Authorized
by whom?” Christine asked trying to walk around him.

“
Ms.
Claire,” the bodyguard said and Christine froze.

“
Max’
mother is here,” she said like a question but more of a
statement.

“
Yes,”
the bodyguard replied.

Christine looked up at
him. “Where is she?” she asked.

The bodyguard inclined
his head to indicate the room. Christine turned her head and saw
Martha hurrying toward her shaking her head.

“
What?”
she asked her grandmother.

“
Let’s
go. I’ll tell you on the way,” Martha said hooking her
arm and dragging her off.

“
But…I
wanted to see Max-“ Christine began to protest.

“
Let’s
not cause a scene in the hospital okay?” Martha said. Christine
sighed in an annoyed way and followed her.

They had left the
building before Martha opened her mouth again. “Claire is here;
she has asked the hospital to ban anyone she does not authorize from
seeing Max. She’s trying to get Clarence to get him to sign
power of attorney over to her. You saw the condition Max was in last
night – we don’t want to add to that. So we’re
going home.”

“
Who
the fuck does that woman think she is?” Christine exclaimed.

“
His
mother. And his closest kin. We’re not going to put up a fuss.”

“
Okay
then,” Christine said as Stevens drew up. He got out and opened
the back door for them and then drove them to Max’ place.

“
I
thought we were going home,” Christine said.

“
This
is
your
home,” Martha replied alighting from the vehicle and walking
into the building. Christine shrugged inwardly and followed her
wondering where this whole mess was going to end up. Max despised his
mother; he was going to be so pissed she was trying to take over like
this. And that could just not be good for his health.