Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 57866 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 231(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57866 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 231(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
I nodded and smiled at her. “I will. Thank you.”
“You sure about the cheesecake?” She arched her brows. “It’s really good, and you deserve it.”
I looked at the doorway of the restaurant, and then back at her.
“You want the cheesecake. I can tell,” she said. “It’ll take me two minutes to grab it and I’ll be right back.”
I left the little Italian restaurant shortly after that, clutching the handle of a bag with my cheesecake in it and still crying.
CHAPTER FOUR
Beau
Dear Beau,
It must feel so strange to have a woman you don’t know ask you to donate sperm. I’ll respect your decision either way, but I want to make sure you know more about me before deciding.
I’m not sure where I was born. My mom has bipolar disorder, and she remembered that she was in a hospital when she had me, but she doesn’t know where it was. My father was in and out of our lives for those first years, and he wasn’t around when I was born. He was an alcoholic who started using drugs and it eventually killed him. I don’t tell you these things to make you feel sorry for me, but to show you who I am. My mom and I moved around a lot when I was a kid, because she could never hold down a job. Our entire lives could be packed into her car and driven to a new place on a whim. This meant I never got to stay in school for long, if I was even enrolled in a school, but wherever we moved, I always found a library and read everything I could get my hands on.
Everything changed when I was fifteen. That’s when my dad’s parents were finally able to find me. They had been trying for years. When they found out how bad things were for me, they moved me into their home in Madison, WI. They hadn’t had contact with my father for many years and their hearts were broken by the path he went down, and they told me all the time that having me live with them was the greatest thing that ever happened to them. They were the best people I’ve ever known. Thanks to them, I was able to enroll in high school and catch up. I had a real home for the first time in my life, and I no longer had to wonder how or when I’d be able to eat next.
I was in my first year of law school at the University of Chicago when my grandparents were killed in a car accident. My whole world died that day. But they left me everything they had in their will, and they’d both written me letters in which they encouraged me to keep going, no matter what happened.
That was five years ago. I moved to Denver after law school, because I had a friend who was here, but she ended up moving for a new job and then I was alone here. I started my own legal research business. As you can see from the financials I provided, I make a great living and have plenty to fall back on thanks to what my grandparents left me.
Having a baby will mean I have a family again. My child will be my entire world. I want to be the mother I never had. I’ve read dozens of parenting books and gotten certified in infant CPR. If you help me have a child, you’ll be changing my life forever.
In case this seems like a backward attempt to start a relationship with you, I assure you it isn’t. All I want is the donation and then we’ll never see each other again. I’ve had contracts drawn up that absolve you of all ties to my child, and I’d be happy to pay your attorney to review them on your behalf. One contract stipulates that neither of us ever disclose this arrangement, if you’re concerned about that.
If anything I’ve said sparks your interest in helping me, I’d love to see you Wednesday for lunch at the restaurant I’ve attached a card for. I’m also including my phone number. Thank you for reading this and considering my request.
Sincerely,
Shelby Grant
I set the letter on my kitchen counter after reading it for the fifth time. Since I didn’t even look at it until returning from my road trip, I’d missed the lunch. Shelby most likely assumed it was a no from me and would move on.
It had to be a no. Didn’t it? I left Mountain Top that night sure I’d just met my craziest fan yet. If I’d seen a trash can on the walk back to my car, I would have dropped the binder into it and never looked back.
Sheer curiosity made me open it and look at the contents. Shelby had used color-coded tabs to divide it into sections, and she’d included everything from her college transcripts to paint samples and décor ideas for a baby nursery.