You, Me & the Sea by Elizabeth Haynes

Author:Elizabeth Haynes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Myriad Editions
Published: 2020-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Sorry – Mum asked re surrogacy and I had to tell her. Xxxx

Her mother being actually proud of her for the first time added an extra weight on to the pressure on her shoulders. Now it wasn’t just Lucy and Ian she’d be letting down if she changed her mind. Not just Lucy and Ian who would think less of her.

Then, on Sunday morning, Lucy had turned up unexpectedly and taken Rachel out for coffee. Mel had still been in bed. She’d been out on a date with Darius the night before and Rachel hadn’t seen her; had heard them both come in at threeish. He was probably still in the house.

Rachel had had another sleepless night and was scarcely functioning. But a double espresso and a chocolate brownie had perked her up and she was actually listening when Lucy dropped her next bombshell.

‘So, Ian and I were talking. I know you really like sharing with Mel, but we thought you’d need somewhere better to live, so we decided you could move into my old house while you – you know, while you’re having the baby. We can’t give you money, that’s not legal, but we can give you expenses, and we can definitely give you somewhere to live. For free.’

Lucy and Ian had three properties, at the last count – the four-bedroomed cottage they lived in, and both the places they’d had before they married: Ian’s flat in the city, currently occupied by a recruitment consultant and his girlfriend; and Lucy’s old house, a Victorian terrace not far from the university. It had been a student house for a while but Lucy had recently redecorated it, in the hope of attracting a slightly more careful class of tenant. It was currently empty.

‘But … you’d be losing out on the rental,’ Rachel had stammered.

Lucy had shaken her head. ‘We can afford it,’ she said. ‘And at least this way we can – you know – help you out a bit. To say thank you.’

Rachel had been overwhelmed by the implications of it, of being beholden to them. What if they needed money suddenly, and turfed her out? What if she didn’t get pregnant – at what point would the offer of free accommodation be withdrawn?

She had gone back home to think about it. If Mel had been there, then probably this might have been the moment that she would have told her, and it would undoubtedly be the moment at which Mel would have said something like what the actual fuck and how about fucking no, for a start, you’re not a fucking baby machine. But Mel had gone out for lunch with Darius.

She does not say this to Mel now, of course. It’s not her fault.

She had only been home for twenty minutes when her phone started buzzing with messages. One from her mother was warily happy, but with a subtext.

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