The Surrogate

Just a little bump

Seb stands outside for a moment longer, his hands on his hips, lips pressed together, thoughts racing through his mind. As worried as he is about Holly being behind the wheel of a powerful car in the state that she's in this also feels like something of an epiphany.

This could be the step forward that he's been waiting and hoping for, the realisation for her that she wants to be a mother to these two girls - both Imogen and Emilia. And Holly would make the most wonderful, kind and nurturing mother, he's sure of it.

It would also strengthen his case in getting her to stay here with him in Switzerland instead of her heading back to her own home, in the UK. He's sure they get could everything sorted that would enable her to live here permanently, that she now has a Swiss born child would give her excellent grounds to apply for citizenship. Hell, he'd even marry her if it would help!

He looks towards the large garage where his other cars and motorcycles are stored, wondering if he should go after her.

But that would mean leaving Emilia with his parents, she's probably getting hungry and upset and he needs to sort her out a bottle of milk that Holly expressed yesterday.

Then there's the not so small issue of explaining to his parents where Holly has gone and why, who Imogen is and why they know nothing about his girlfriend already having a daughter.

Shit. This is a mess and he could have avoided it if he'd remembered to tell Holly on Friday and hadn't kept it quiet all weekend.

He makes his mind up, he's going to stay here and hope that Holly isn't gone for too long. He just hopes he's made the right choice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As she gets nearer to the supermarket where Imogen was seen, Holly's mouth is dry, her stomach is rolling and she feels sick.

Suddenly this doesn't feel like such a good idea.

What if it's not Imogen but some random person who has less than good intentions and will try to mug her or steal the car - Seb's car.

As her destination comes into view she slows right down, her mind desperately fighting to figure out what to do next and what to do for the best.

On the passenger seat next to her, her phone begins to ring and a quick glance reveals Seb's name once again. It's the second time he's tried to call her and she feels bad because she knows he'll be worrying. His parents being there hasn't even entered her mind, she's forgotten that they're even there.

She comes to a stop at the turning to enter the car park and looks across to see it's fairly full of cars. She'll be safe with so many people around, right?

She swallows and then puffs out a breath, inflating her cheeks and then rubbing her nauseous stomach, feeling like she's going to have to open the door to puke any minute now. Then a grey Range Rover impatiently beeps its horn behind her, she can see the male driver gesticulating and probably yelling in her interior mirror's reflection, urging her to move.

Feeling like she has no choice, she turns into the car park.

The word apprehension doesn't even cover the way she feels, neither does fear. Without thinking she's already looking around for any sighting of a girl who might be Imogen and there's always the chance that she wouldn't even recognise the girl if she saw her.

Out of nowhere there's a bang in the form of a loud collision of metal and a jolt that makes her let out a sharp scream as the DBX comes to an abrupt halt.

"No!" Holly screams out in anger and frustration and then leans her head on the steering wheel, bursting into tears. "Why the fuck didn't I look where I was going?!" She throws her head back against the headrest and slams her hands on the steering wheel, crying out, "fucking hell!"