ᴛʜᴇ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴡᴏᴍᴀɴ ʙᴏᴏᴋ ᴛᴡᴏ

Deep dive

ZOE

I sat down on the bed next to Lala, but  she just lay there in tears.

"I'm sorry, Lala. I really am." I say to her awkwardly

"I want to try a surrogate." She says, and I turn to her stunned.

"Wait, really?"

She sat up and grabbed a pillow, hugging her pillow tightly.

"I want to carry our baby, but I can't, and since you won't, it's the next best thing." She explains. "But I want you to give the egg."

"Why do you want a baby so bad?" I ask her while running my fingers through my hair.

"Because I want to be a mother Zoe. I want to experience that." She says, and I frown. "And you said you did too."

Yeah. My words are really coming back to bite me in the ass.

"I know. I know." I sigh.

"Please, Zoe. I want this baby to be half of one of us." She says, staring at me with those teary eyes.

"But I'd still have to do the treatments, Lala. I can agree to surrogacy but not the egg thing." I say to her.

"Zoe, you literally just offered."

"That was more of a spur of the moment thing." I say while scratching the back of my head.

"Zoe." Lala says in a warning tone.

"Okay, okay. Surrogacy, but I can't do the egg. We'll just.. I don't know, we'll pay extra."

Lala sighs. "Okay, I can agree to that."

"Are you sure, Lala? Babies are a lot of work. Our entire lives will change."

"Well, yeah, that's the point." She says.

I don't know if I'm ready to give up my freedom, but I'd do anything for Lala. I don't want to lose her, even if that means giving up a little bit of my freedom.

SOFIA

The phone weighed heavy in my hands as I dialed my mother's number. The familiar and comforting sound of her voice echoed in my ears as she answered, "Hola, mija!"

My mom can barely speak English, but she understands it just fine.

"Hi, Mama," I said, my voice shaking slightly. I took a deep breath before continuing, "I had the baby."

A gasp escaped from her, "¿Qué? ¿Por qué no me dijiste? Are you okay? Is the baby okay?"

"We're fine, Mama," I assured her. "It was an emergency c-section. We're home now."

I could hear the relief in her voice as she sighed, "Gracias a Dios. And the baby?"

"A boy," I said, a smile tugging at my lips despite the worry in my heart. "We named him Santiago."

There was a moment of silence before she spoke again, "Santiago, I love it. He is a strong name for a strong boy. I can’t wait to meet him."

"Me too, mami."

She paused before continuing, "Sofia, I think it's time we met Xavier's family. Now that Santiago is here, they are part of his life, too."

My heart dropped. I bit my lip, my worries rushing back full force. "Mama..." I hesitated, unsure of how to phrase my fears.

"What is it, Sofia?" She asked, her voice filled with concern.

"Xavier's family... they're not like us," I finally managed to say, my voice barely above a whisper.

"¿Cómo que 'not like us'?" She asked, confusion clear in her tone.

"They... they're racist, Mama," I confessed, the words coming out in a rush. "They don't like me."

There was a brief pause, and then my mother's voice came through the phone, firm and determined. "Sofia, I understand your worries, but we can't let fear dictate our actions. We need to face this head-on. Xavier's family is a part of Santiago's life, and they need to understand that our love and respect will not be compromised."

"But Mama, what if they treat us poorly? What if they say hurtful things in front of Santiago?" I pleaded, my voice filled with anxiety.

"Sofia, we have faced discrimination before," she reminded me. "We have fought against prejudice and intolerance all our lives. We will not let it define us or limit our happiness."

With a shaky breath, I whispered, "Okay, Mama. We'll meet them."

A sense of determination filled my mother's voice as she responded, "That's my brave girl. We'll face this together as a family. We'll show them."

"Te amo hija." She says

"I love you too, Mama..... bye."

I ended the call and stepped into Xavier's office. "Hey, can we talk."

He looks up at me, from the stack of papers on his desk, and stands up.

"Yeah, sure." He says.

I placed my hand on my stomach and got closer to him.

"My family wants to meet yours."

Xavier looks up at me, stunned. "Are you sure that's a good idea."

"No. It's not. But it's what they want." I answer.

"I mean, I'll do it if you want this Sofia, but it's risky." He said.

"I know."

"And your brother and I didn't exactly get off on the right foot." He adds.

"I know. Sorry about that, by the way."

Xavier looks up at me and stares.

"What?"

He smiles and gets up from his seat and stands in front of me.

"I just remembered the first time I met you." He says to me.

"You were mean." I say, raising my eyebrow.

"More sarcastic." He answers

We chuckled softly and stared at each other for a while. For a moment, everything was normal again. Xavier placed a hand on my waist and laid his forehead on mine.

I titled my head up, and I don't know why, but I closed my eyes. We stayed there, our bodies pressed together, and his lips were so close.

The tension was thick.

"Sofia." Xavier whispered, but then we were interrupted by the crying from the baby monitor.

I flinched from the sound and pulled away.

"I should.." I say while signaling to the door.

"Yeah." He says and nods, his head repeatedly.

I bite the inside of my lip and hesitantly walk out of Xavier's office.

So close...