The Baby Contract

The door didn't open.

"I can hear you in there."

Still the door didn't open.

"Fine. I wanted to come by and apologize to you. And I also want you to know that I love Bran and I'm having his baby. If he'll have me, I want to be with him."

The door flew open, and Harper glared at me from the other side. "Baby?"

I nodded. "Will you let me in so we can talk?"

"You lied to me." She started to shut the door and I pushed my hand against it to keep it from shutting.

"We’re going to talk, Harper. If I have to have Dax kick down your door, I will."

She opened the door again. "Dax? So now you're cheating on my brother?"

"What do you care? You’ve gone out of your way to push Bran out of your life."

She looked me up and down with an expression like she didn't know me. "That doesn't mean I'm okay with you cheating on him."

"Please let me in. Let me have my say and then I will go."

"Why should I? I was a good friend to you and you went behind my back with my brother, my enemy."

"I did go behind your back and I'm sorry about that, but Bran is not your enemy. Second, you should hear me out because I'm carrying your niece or nephew. I know you well enough to know that you might hate me and Bran, but you won’t hate your niece or nephew."

Her gaze scanned down to my barely showing belly. "Fine. Dax stays outside." She walked away from the door, leaving it open.

Dax nodded that he would wait outside. I walked in and shut the door behind me.

"Say what you have to say. It's late. I have a busy day tomorrow." She stood in her living area not inviting me to sit.

"Let me start by apologizing again for not telling you what was going on. When Bran made his proposition to me, I knew you wouldn't like it. You would feel betrayed by it. And because your friendship meant so much to me, I didn't want you to know."

"First of all, what proposition? Second, I was such a good friend that you needed to lie to me?"

I recognized how crazy my explanation had sounded.

"I wasn't thinking right. You know that I don't have any family. You’re like a sister to me and I didn't want you to get upset. You were all I had and I didn’t want to lose you."

"I get that part. What was the proposition?"

I took a breath because I knew this was going to be difficult for her to hear as well. "I know that Bran is annoying in his overprotection, but the guy is so full of love that he wants to give to a family. You've been denying him that and so he decided he would have his own family."

She stared at me. “So what, you've got some sort of marriage contract of convenience?"

I shook my head. "I agreed to be his surrogate."

Her jaw dropped. “You fucked him and agreed to give your baby away?”

Her words tore through my heart. “I was supposed to have IVF but…well all that animosity between us included sexual chemistry.”

"Still, he hired you to have his baby?"

I nodded.

I saw in her eyes when she realized that I had taken his deal and not the one she’s offered. The hurt in her expression filled me with guilt.