Midwife Cover by Cassie Miles

Author:Cassie Miles
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi
Tags: Romance, Suspense, Contemporary, Fiction
ISBN: 9780373696109
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2012-04-03T16:13:29.060748+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Petra didn’t know what to make of Dee. After her dramatic announcement that she was a surrogate, she’d clammed up—feigning a desperate need for attention and leaving Petra with a lot of questions. If surrogacy was involved in the baby trafficking operation, Francine was working on a more sophisticated level than they’d originally thought. The fees charged for surrogates could be astronomical, and the legality in some states was questionable. As soon as possible, Brady needed to question the lawyer in Durango who handled Lost Lamb’s business.

In the meantime, Dee was the main source of information, and she was too busy whining to be useful. Petra helped her into the shower and changed the sheets on her bed and found the show tunes music she’d said she liked. After Dee was cozy and calm, Petra did a standard examination. That was when she discovered that Dee the Diva was a liar.

After fluffing the pillows behind Dee’s back, Petra asked, “When was your last contraction?”

“A little while ago.”

“Was it when I was checking your baby’s heartbeat with the fetal monitor?”

“Right.”

She was pretty when she smiled. Her full cheeks were rosy, and her eyes were a compelling though somewhat vapid blue. If the choice of egg donor was based on attractiveness and health, Dee made a good candidate. Intelligence was another matter. She wasn’t even clever enough to lie successfully.

“If the contraction came when I was touching you,” Petra said, “I should have felt it. And I didn’t.”

“Well, it might have been a different time. Like when I was in the shower.”

“Did you hear what I said to Brady on the phone?”

“About my milkshake?”

“About your examination. You’re ten percent effaced and dilated to three centimeters.”

Dee shrugged. “What does that mean?”

“You’re not in labor.”

“Oh, yes, I am.”

“Labor doesn’t really get started until you’re around five centimeters. Hard labor comes when you’re eight to ten. And you need to be one-hundred-percent effaced to deliver. And, by the way, your water hasn’t broken.”

“You can tell that?”

“Here’s a bit of free advice,” Petra said. “If you’re going to lie, you need to know the facts. You haven’t even bothered to learn the basics of pregnancy and delivery.”

“I should be in labor.” Her hands drew into tight little fists. Petulant as a child, she pounded the covers. “My due date was four days ago.”

“Why should I believe you? Everything you’ve told me is phony.” Digging for information, she said, “And you expect me to believe you’re a surrogate? Ha!”

“That’s true,” Dee protested.

“Prove it. Tell me how you got pregnant.”

“My boyfriend signed me up, and we got paid two hundred dollars. I took these pills that made me produce extra eggs, and then I went to this doctor and he gave me a pelvic exam and harvested the eggs.” She paused for a proud smile. “He said I was one of the most fertile women he’d ever seen.”

She continued with a description of in vitro insemination that was accurate enough to convince Petra that Dee had gone through the process.

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