“Oh,” I said. “I’m not worried. It’s just…”
“It’s sudden,” she said for me. “If you want to think about it more, that’s fine by me. Don’t let anyone pressure you into anything. We do need signed consent forms from the both of you, though. Whatever your arrangement is with Mrs. Landseer should be discussed with an attorney, too. We don’t do that here, though. We’ll manage the process between you and Asher, and the rest is up to you to decide. Surrogacy can get complicated very fast with how the laws are in the US. I’m just a doctor, but I’d advise you to look into it carefully so you know what you’re getting into.”
“Yes. Yes, of course.”
She smiled. “I’ll be right back with the consent forms. You can look them over at your convenience. I believe Asher is waiting in the waiting room, too. I’ll get him, you both can talk things over, and when you’re ready to continue the preliminary exam I’ll be waiting.”
She left me in the doctor’s room. I sat on the cushioned table, swinging my legs side to side, thinking. Was I ready for this? If—I checked the pamphlet. Alright, so, if I followed this chart, and everything went as planned, I’d be pregnant in about three weeks. They did pregnancy tests in office a couple weeks after the second egg transplant, and anything after that was too late. About a month, then? In a month I might become a mother.
Or, not really. Technically, yes, but I couldn’t keep the child. It was for Asher and Beatrice, except…
Oh my God. I hadn’t really thought about this before, but what happened if Beatrice was planning something against Asher? Personally I had no doubts in my mind about what I heard, even if I didn’t know the specifics. I did agree that Jeremy had a valid point in needing to figure it out with more certainty, though. But, then, if she was planning something, a divorce or whatever, what happened with the child? If I signed some contract with a lawyer stating that I would give up the child to the Landseer’s, could she use it as a bargaining chip in the divorce? How did that work?
I needed to look into it, but I didn’t really know how. I didn’t have a lawyer of my own, and I wasn’t sure if I could trust the Landseer lawyer(if they had one, though I assumed Asher would). Mostly, what if Beatrice talked with the lawyer beforehand. If she was planning on leaving Asher, she, no doubt, had thought of hiring a divorce attorney. Except, why hire one if she had a perfectly good one on hand, one who already knew Asher’s situation and any potential ways to screw him over?#p#分页标题#e#
A bit conspiratorial, even for me, but I decided it was definitely better to figure out an alternative solution. I’d have to find a way to talk with a lawyer who didn’t know anything about Asher, Beatrice, or even me. Hypothetical discussions and… I didn’t have the money for this. Was I just going to waltz up to Asher and ask him to pay for it? Why, he would ask. And then what did I tell him? Also, I couldn’t do that anyways since it was more than rude.
Argh! This was so complicated. I hated it.
Asher stepped into the room after knocking. He smiled at me and I immediately felt better, different. I had three days to decide, and if I couldn’t figure anything out by then I’d find a way to delay. What if I wanted to think about it more? No one could deny me that, since this was kind of a big thing. At least I doubted Asher would be upset with me, though who knew about Beatrice. I didn’t really care about her thoughts, anyways.
“Hey,” Asher said. He sat on the chair next to the cushioned table. “Everything alright?”
“Yes. I think so,” I said.
“Everything is looking fine,” the doctor confirmed. “I see no reason why this shouldn’t succeed. Ms. Fevrier is young and presumably fertile, so there won’t be any issues there. Obviously the testing, and I have to talk with her doctor, but other than that… you haven’t been pregnant before, correct?”
She’d asked me this earlier, but I assumed the repeat question was for Asher’s benefit. “No.” I shook my head.
“For surrogacy, it’s typically better to do this with a woman who’s proven fertile in the past, but for non-donor IVF it’s obviously for women who are regularly infertile. For your situation, the latter is more applicable. I wanted to clarify that quickly in case you’ve read anything before this.”
Asher nodded, deep in thought. “Alright. Yes. I was… well, I’ve been a little worried. I may or may not have spent a few business hours looking up details.”
The doctor laughed. “Of course. I understand. Well, here are the consent forms. You don’t have to sign them immediately. I’ll leave you two to discuss things. Just hit this button when you’re ready to continue and I’ll be right back.” She pointed to a red button under an intercom grill. “I’m going to go do some paperwork in the mean time.”