Chapter One

“Will you have my baby?”

Gail Henderson abruptly began to loudly choke on her iced tea. All around her conversations ceased as they became the center of attention. As she coughed and wheezed with tears streaming down her eyes, she squinted at her best friend. Crystal Jabbar sat, calm as you please, as though she hadn’t just dropped what amounted to a nuclear bomb into the conversation.

They were seated at a table in Golden Corral, sharing lunch after a hectic morning of Christmas shopping. The holiday was only a few weeks away. The place was packed as usual. The other diners slowly turned their attention to their own tables when Gail glared. Since no one had offered their assistance, she knew they were just being nosey.

“I’ve given this a lot of thought. You know I can’t have children. If you had one for me, I would have the best of both worlds—a child created by the man I love more than anything and my best friend, who is like a sister to me,” her friend continued.

Crystal had been pregnant several times. Each one had ended in miscarriage, the last almost taking her life. Afterwards her husband, Rashid, put his foot down. No more pregnancies. Crystal told Gail he’d threatened to get a vasectomy before allowing her to risk her life again in another pregnancy attempt, and she’d reluctantly complied with his decree. Gail thought Crystal had resigned herself to her barren state, but apparently not.

“What do you mean, have a baby for you?” she cautiously asked, blotting the tears from her eyes and face.

Crystal leaned forward in her chair, her gaze intent. “I want you to be my surrogate. I’ve been looking into it. Rashid would be its father, and we’d use your eggs. Once the baby was born, I’d adopt it, making me its legal mother and as my best friend, you’d naturally be its godmother.”

Gail pushed back a few inches from the table, unconsciously trying to place more distance between them. “Isn’t this kind of drastic? I thought you were considering adoption,” she asked a bit desperately.

Crystal frowned. “I did, but that’s not for me. I want a child of my own. At the very least, I want a child fathered by Rashid. You know how important family is to him. Do you really think he’d be satisfied with an adopted child?”

Rashid Al Jabbar was an Arab-American and his behavior was strongly influenced by the male-dominated culture in which he grew up. Because of his heritage, family and children meant a great deal to him. “Crystal, you know that’s not fair to Rashid. He loves you. If you wanted to adopt, he would go along with it just because it made you happy.”

A brilliant smile lit Crystal’s face. “Yes, he does love me, doesn’t he? That’s why I want this so much. I need to give him the child he so desperately desires. Hopefully, it will be a son to carry on his family name.” Crystal reached out and gripped Gail’s hand. “Gail, please. You’re my best friend in the world. There’s no one else I would trust to do this for me.”

Gail pulled her hand free and motioned between the two of them. “Crystal, look at us. We look nothing alike. Don’t you at least want someone who is similar in appearance to you?”

Crystal was a short, curvy, natural blonde with pretty brown eyes. Gail was tall and slender with skin the color of nutmeg. Not only did they not resemble each other, they were from two different ethnic groups. Crystal was Caucasian while Gail was African-American.

Her friend airily waved her hand. “Pshh. You know I don’t care about things like that. Besides, who would know? Rashid is almost as dark as you.” It was true. Rashid had the dark, olive-brown complexion of a Middle Eastern man.

Gail could feel herself caving. It’s not that she didn’t want to help her friend. She just had a bad feeling about it, and over the years, she’d learned to trust her instincts. She took in Crystal’s pleading expression. “Have you discussed this with Rashid?” It was a last ditch effort to avoid the inevitable. She’d never been able to say no to Crystal, and Crystal knew it.

Crystal leaned forward again, determination showing in her eyes. “He’ll agree. Don’t worry. How could he not? This is a win-win situation.”

Win-win for whom? Gail wondered. Then she sighed, knowing Crystal was right about Rashid. Crystal had him wrapped around her little pinky. “I’m not saying yes, but I’m not saying no. Let me look into it. Do a little research. This is too big of a decision to make on the spur of the moment.”

Crystal squealed, causing the other diners to turn and stare—again. She got up from her seat and ran around to hug Gail. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Gail returned her hug but inwardly a feeling of dread grew. She was going to say yes. She always did but she sensed this time, the results would be disastrous.

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As promised, Gail spent the next few weeks researching Artificial Insemination and surrogate mothers. She had a much better understanding of what she’d be getting herself into if she proved crazy enough to agree to Crystal’s scheme.

The problem was she and Crystal had a long history together. It went all the way back to junior high school when they’d first met in Mr. Peterson’s third period gym class. They’d clicked, despite their obvious differences.

Gail had been the serious, studious one. The straight A student who always had a book in her hands and sat in the corner reading. She’d been on the debate team and the student council, and had even spent time working on the student newspaper.

Crystal had been a social butterfly who’d coasted through life on her looks and charm. She’d been a cheerleader and had won prom queen two years straight in high school. She’d studied and kept her grades just high enough to prevent being placed on academic suspension.

Being so different, they should have never become friends. Yet those very differences are what held them together. Gail had caused Crystal to be more serious, and Crystal had help Gail be more lighthearted. Somehow they’d maintained their close friendship, despite attending two different colleges, several hours away from each other. It was happenstance that they’d both ended up relocating to the same city after graduation. Crystal had married first, having met Rashid in college. Gail had met and married Jason a couple of years later. The two couples had interacted frequently, mainly due to the close friendship of the women.

Crystal rejoiced with her when Gail had discovered she was pregnant, and cried with her three years later when she’d lost both her husband and their son, Marcus, in a fatal car accident. That had been two years ago. She and Crystal had supported each other through every crisis, sharing the laughter and the tears. Crystal had always been there for Gail in her time of need. How could she do any less for Crystal now?