The Heartbreak Factor - Part Four

Chapter Fifty.

Burrowing beneath the blanket that was draped over George and I as we sat huddled up together on the sofa in our lounge with everyone else around us, I watched the horror movie that was playing away on the television screen in front of us. Katy was spending a few days with George’s dad in Nottingham, leaving us with the house to ourselves. It was pretty funny how the only few days we actually got with a free house and we ended up inviting our friends round for a movie night. It was nice to spend time with them without having to worry about wedding plans or what Katy was up to or whether it was time to put Katy to bed yet. 

As I rested my head on George’s shoulder, he looked down at me and smiled, pulling me closer into him once he wrapped his arm around me. Before I met George I wasn’t really a fan of horror movies. They played tricks on my mind and ending up scaring the living daylights out of me at stupid o’clock in the morning every night for the following month. But since meeting George, I had became accustomed to watching them since he was a huge horror movie geek and I wasn’t really in a position to argue with him when he watched all sorts of romantic comedies with me. It was only right that I would do the same for him.

Even though I didn’t really want to get engrossed in watching the movie as I knew if I did it would scare me until Christmas, I couldn’t help myself as my eyes fell deeper and deeper into the screen. The more I watched the motion picture flicker on the screen as it was quickly approaching to the long-awaited climax, the more I was scaring myself. The suspense. The chills. The goose bumps. The fear. The deafening screams from the woman as the axeman bludgeoned her to death in the middle of the woods. The blood. The gore. The darkness. The silence. It was creepy. It was shoulder-shudderingly creepy. George’s hand tightened around my shoulder as he smiled, looking at me through the corner of his eye as my heartbeat began to pound as the axeman appeared back on the screen again. Deep red blood was dripping off his face as his eyes bulged into the camera, as if they were looking straight at me. 

“So much for not getting into it,” George whispered to me, sniggering beneath his breath as he continued to hold onto me as tightly as possible. 

“Shut up,” I replied, nudging him slightly in his stomach with my elbow - my eyes not leaving the screen as the axeman ravaged his way through the woods in search of the other survivors. 

*

As the second movie was about to begin, I picked up the blanket that was wrapped around my body and bundled it down on George’s lap. Standing up, George looked at me in confusion. 

“Wine?” I asked. 

He nodded before returning his attention back to the opening titles that were rolling onto the screen. 

I snaked my way around JJ and Elle who were lying flat on the floor beside the sofa, watching the movie with their hands intertwined with one another’s. Jaymi and Olly sat beside them - their legs wrapped over one another’s as they rested with their backs against the sofa George and I were sat on. The next obstacle was Josh and Chloe on the second sofa. Chloe was fast asleep, resting her head on Josh’s chest as she cradled her almost-bursting baby bump with her hands. The only thing in the way of me and the kitchen was Chloe’s leg that was sticking right off the sofa. I knew that if I so much as touched her leg, she’d wake up and end up going into one of her hormonal, pregnant hissy fits. After a few moments of trying to manoeuvre my way across my best friend’s obstacle course, I made my way into the kitchen. It was pretty adorable though to see everyone all loved up and happy with their partners.  

Once I made it into the kitchen, I headed straight to the fridge and opened it up in search of a bottle of red wine. Amongst all the juice we had for Katy and the lager that Josh had brought over for the ‘lads’ to drink, there was a few bottles of wine for us ‘girls’ to drink. I grabbed the coldest one and went over to the kitchen counter to get the bottle opener. 

“POP!” Jaymi laughed, mimicking the sound of the bottle of wine as the cork popped out of the neck. 

“What are you doing in here?” I smiled. “I wasn’t going to be too long. Just getting a bottle of wine for everything then I’ll be back in to watch the movie. Do you want a glass?” 

“I wasn’t that bothered about the movie,” Jaymi confessed. “I just wanted a quick word with you.” 

“Yeah?” I asked. 

“Yeah,” Jaymi smiled. “I just feel like the other day when you gave us that proposition, we didn’t really get to talk it through properly. I feel like we said no without giving you a proper reason why. Olly wanted to talk it through with you too but I said that it’d be best for me to talk to you.” 

“It’s fine, Jaymi. I understand. I don’t mind.”

“No, Sammy,” Jaymi interrupted. “You have no idea how much of a good friend you are for even considering it, let alone suggesting it to us. We are so lucky to have you in our life, Sammy, but we really cannot expect you to go through it. It’d put so much strain on yours and George’s relationship. That’s why the majority of surrogates are strangers to the couple and are usually single women. We can’t put you or George through that, no matter if you suggested it first or not.” 

“Jaymi..”

“No, let me finish. Please.”

I nodded as Jaymi shut the door so that we could talk without the sound of the movie interrupting us. 

“You would have to carry the baby for nine months and you would build the same connection you built with Katy. You would give birth to the baby and then you’d have to give it away as soon as it was born. You wouldn’t just have to deal with giving the baby up - you’d have to deal with seeing Olly and I raise the baby as our own. You’d have to deal with being the aunty to the baby you gave birth to. I know you wouldn’t mean to but it’d be your natural instinct to resent us for taking your baby from you - it’s biology.” 

I didn’t think of it like that. 

“We would love nothing more than to have a baby of our own, but Sammy, we would never want to fall out with you and be the ones to make you hurt and that’s what you’d be if we ended up going along with this. You’d be hurt. No baby is worth that.”

“I just thought I could help,” I smiled. 

“And you can. You can help me choose what colour we can paint our little girl’s bedroom,” Jaymi beamed. 

I looked at him in confusion. “What?”

“We went to the adoption meeting as our agent has found us a beautiful little girl called Tiami. Her mother died when she was born and had no other family so she’s been in care and foster families for the past four years. We’ve applied to adopt her.”

I threw my arms around Jaymi, nearly knocking the bottle of wine off the kitchen counter in the process. “That is amazing news, Jaymi. Honestly.”

“Hopefully. I just hope they accept our application.” 

“They will. They’d be stupid not to. You and Olly will make amazing parents. Anybody with eyes can see that,” I smiled. 

“You have to meet her though, Sammy. She’s absolutely gorgeous. She’s got these adorable little blonde curls and bright blue eyes. She’s so funny. She’s so polite too. Olly and I took her for ice-cream in Leicester Square and she was so grateful. She wouldn’t stop saying thank-you and then gave us huge hugs when we took her back to her foster family’s house.” 

I could see just with the look in Jaymi’s eyes as he spoke about her that he really loved her already. It was amazing to see him so happy. I hadn’t seen him this happy since his wedding day. It was beautiful to see. 

“I’m happy for you, Jaymi,” I beamed. “I really am. For you and Olly. You deserve this more than anyone.” 

“Oh, come here,” Jaymi laughed, throwing his arms around me again and hugging me tightly.