The Surrogate

When Cole and Christy were alone in the room she was worried about him and placed her hand on his arm. "Are you okay?"

He put his hand over hers. "I can't believe how Joyce and her lawyer are twisting everything around. With her sitting here with tears rolling down her face is such an act and I think the judge is sympathizing with her."

"I'm sure once he hears what she has to say he will realize how phony she is."

Cole managed to give her a weak smile. "I hope so, but she did put on quite a performance for me a while back. It was so good that I almost believed her."

Mr. Miller walked in with a bottle of water for each of them. "Miss Grant, when everyone comes back into the room you will be questioned next and then I will be able to question Mrs. Mason."

"Isn't there any way we can keep Christy out of it?"

"I wish we could, but unfortunately we can't. Her lawyer is going to try to get you to admit that you and Cole were having an affair from the beginning. I'm afraid that those pictures are quite damaging. If at any time you need a break just let me know," he said, looking at Christy.

"I'm so stupid, I should have kept tabs on what Joyce was doing, where she was going and who she was going with. If only I had I would have had proof of her cheating and God knows what else she was up to."

"Don't beat yourself up, you didn't know this was going to happen," Christy said, moving her hand up and down his arm.

Moments later the others came back into the room and sat down as they waited for the judge to come back. Cole and Joyce glared angrily at each other. He couldn't help noticing that she was wearing some very expensive jewelry, ones he had never seen on her before.

The judge entered the room and sat down. "Mr. Gibson, you may now proceed with your questioning.

Christy felt herself tensing up, she could feel Joyce's eyes on her but was too scared to look back at her.

"Miss Grant, I will try to make this as short as possible seeing your condition. Would you tell us how you came about meeting Mrs. and Mr. Mason?"

She told him how she was looking for a job at the hospital when Joyce approached her. How she was offered money to be a surrogate for her and her husband. She then went on to say that after thinking about it she agreed to do it and to meet with Dr. Mason.

"So when you heard how much they were offering you, you jumped at the chance, didn't you?"

"I wasn't doing it just for the money, even though I lost my job and was close to losing my apartment. I did it to give them a child since Mrs. Mason was unable to get pregnant herself."

"Oh, that was very nice of you. But isn't it true that once you met the doctor and realized how wealthy he was you decided you wanted him for yourself?"

"No, that's not true."

"Oh come on Miss Grant, a handsome young wealthy doctor and with his wife away did you not decide to try and seduce him? Isn't it true that you took every opportunity to be alone with him?"

"We may have been alone a lot of the time but nothing ever happened between us. Cole is a decent and honourable man and would never cheat on his wife."

"But he did cheat and that is how you got pregnant, isn't that the truth?"

"No, I got pregnant from the procedure, we never had sex."

"You really like Dr. Mason don't you?"

"Yes, he's a good man, so kind and understanding."

"How do you feel about his wife?"

"To be honest, I don't like her."

"You don't like her because she was standing between you getting what you wanted. Which is a very wealthy and well-known doctor. Isn't it true that every chance you got you went to him and complained about his wife, making up stories about how she was forcing you to do housework? Weren't you deliberately trying to drive a wedge between them so that you could step in and take her place?"

Cole was sitting there, he could feel the anger building inside him but forced himself to keep quiet and not punch Joyce's lawyer in the mouth.

"That is all lies, she was never home and when she was she got me doing all kinds of housework even though I told her I wasn't supposed to and that I wasn't feeling well. She was cold and evil and treated him like he was nothing but dirt beneath her feet. He deserves so much better than her, he deserves a wife who can love him and treat him the way a husband should be treated."

"Tell the truth, Miss Grant, you've been sleeping with the good doctor the moment you moved into his home."

"No, we weren't."

"Are you in love with him?"

She looked over at Cole before answering. "Yes."

"How long have you been in love with him?"

"I don't know," she replied, looking down at her hands.

"Miss Grant, answer the question."

"From the moment I saw him I knew that there was a connection between us. Yes, I love him with all of my heart. But I never confessed my love to him while he was married to Joyce."

"I don't think that you were in love with him, I think you were in love with what all he could offer you if only he wasn't with his wife. We've all seen the pictures of you together with him. In some of them, it looked like you were initiating some of the intimacy. You're sitting before a judge so I suggest you tell the truth, tell us how you set out to steal him from his wife and deliberately did and said things to turn him against her and that you were sleeping with him from the moment you moved into that house."

"That's enough, leave her alone," Cole yelled out and got to his feet.

The judge slammed the palm of his hand on the desk. "Dr. Mason, I will not tolerate another outburst from you. Now sit down and keep quiet."

Mr. Hart turned and looked at the judge. "Your honour, it is obvious that the two in question have been carrying on an affair for quite some time. Dr. Mason has been cheating on his wife for years and that is why he was always sending her on vacation. He even made sure that she was out of town when he brought Miss Grant into his home to live with them. The proof is all in the pictures and you will find that there is no proof of Mrs. Mason being unfaithful to her husband. Yes, she went on a lot of trips but it was him that booked and paid for those vacations just so he could get rid of her and carry on with his many affairs."

"Your honour, that is hearsay and there is no proof on any of it. I wish now to cross-exam Mrs. Mason."

Joyce's lawyer shook his head. "I'm not done with Miss Grant."

"Go on, but make it quick so that the other side can speak their peace."

"Thank you, your honour. "Miss Grant, are you and Dr. Mason having sex?"

She looked at Cole and when he smiled and nodded his head she replied. "Yes, we are now."

"Isn't it true you have been from the beginning?"

"No, it just happened recently and until then we did nothing sexual."

"But you moved into his bedroom sometime back so are you trying to tell me that you were sleeping in the same bed with him all this time and not having sex until recently?"

Christy could feel the sweat forming on her forehead and neck. Her heart began racing and she felt dizzy and nauseous. Cole noticed her face turning a ghostly white.

"Christy," he said, placing his hand on her arm he felt how clammy she was. Her eyes held the look of someone who was close to passing out so he turned to the judge.

"Miss Grant needs to go to the hospital now. This pregnancy is a high-risk one and her blood pressure is up which means she needs medical care ASAP."

Yes, even the judge could tell that something was wrong. "You better take her to the hospital and tomorrow we will continue."

Cole told his lawyer to call for an ambulance, he knew that she needed treatment right away and didn't want to wait till he drove her to the hospital. He was worried that all of this stress would cause her to lose the baby.

He sat in the ambulance with her, holding her hand, the look of fear in her eyes was enough to break anyone's heart.

"Cole, what's happening, is the baby going to be okay?"

He raised her hand and kissed it. "I need for you to relax, everything is going to be okay." He was terrified for her and their baby.

"Please tell me the baby's going to be okay," she said as tears ran down her face.

How was he supposed to tell her that when he didn't know himself? But he had to assure her that the baby would be alright so that she wouldn't panic anymore than she already was.

"Sweetheart, the baby is fine. You had a panic attack and it spiked your blood pressure. Once we get you to the hospital we'll have both you and the baby checked out just to ease your mind."

Even though he was one of the top doctors at the hospital he still was not allowed to go into the room while they examined both Christy and the baby. He waited outside the door, pacing back and forth as he ran his fingers through the back of his hair. He hated Joyce and her lawyer, it was a good thing that neither one of them was around because if they were he would surely have strangled both of them and dealt with the consequences later.

It felt like an internity before someone came out to speak with him.

"How are Christy and the baby?"

He knew the nurse that came out to talk to him, she was an older woman and had been working at the same hospital since he started.

"Dr. Mason, she's doing quite well now and so is the baby. The doctor examined the baby and the heartbeat is strong and he does not feel that there is any concern about the baby's health. He gave Miss Grant something to bring down her blood pressure but it's still very high. So they want to keep her in overnight as a precaution."

Being a doctor he knew that, he was just glad that she and the baby were okay and apparently out of danger. "I want to go see her."

"Of course, she's being taken to a room as we speak. The medicine she was given is making her very sleepy so she will probably fall asleep at any moment."

He went to the room that she was in and went over to sit on the bed beside her. "Hey there gorgeous, you scared the hell out of me."

She opened her eyes and reached for his hand. "I want you to tell me the truth."

"I will always be honest with you," he said and leaned over to kiss her on the forehead.

"Is our baby going to be okay? I remember what you told me about having high blood pressure and what it can do to the baby."

He stroked her cheek tenderly. "What I told you was the worst scenario that could possibly happen. The doctor ran a few tests and examined both of you and said that everything is fine with the baby but your blood pressure is still high so they are going to keep you in overnight. It's just a precaution so I don't want you to worry. I'll be right here beside you to make sure that everything is okay."

"I'm so sleepy."

"The medicine you were given will make you really tired so just close your eyes and get as much sleep as you need."

"I'm so sorry."

"Now what in the world would you have to be sorry about?"

"I did a terrible job when the lawyer was questioning me. I think I only made things worse for you."

He took her hand and ran the back of it down his cheek. "No, you didn't. You spoke the truth and you were so brave. I could feel my insides getting warm when I heard you say how much you love me."

"You could use a shave," she said when she felt the stubble on his cheek when he ran the back of her hand over it.

"I will shave later when we go home together. Now close your eyes and get some sleep," he said when he saw how hard she was fighting to keep her eyes open.

Within minutes she was fast asleep. He pulled a chair up and sat down, holding her hand and watching as she slept. He was so worried about her and knew that she couldn't go through much more of what she had gone through earlier. He had to come up with a way of keeping her out of the rest of the divorce proceedings. He put his hand over her belly, gently caressing the baby bump.

"Hang in there little guy, be strong because your mommy and I love you."

After saying that he happened to glance up and his blood began to boil and the fury inside him was like a volcano erupting when he saw Joyce through the glass window. Removing his hand from Christy's stomach he got up and stormed out of the room, but he made sure to shut the door quietly before facing the evil witch.