The Other Baby

"It's bound to be a shock, but..."

"I know, it's what she did to you. But she did discuss it."

"Oh, sure, but I never really had much of a chance to say no. I don't mind, I'm good with the whole thing, but I think this will make it better."

"You'll need some time with Cathy when she comes home. Are you sure you want us all here?"

"I think that will be best. If you can give us a few minutes when we take Carmen upstairs, and pitch in with some support later."

"You mean, tell her what a great idea it is to have two at once?"

"Yeah, something like that. Is that asking too much?"

You might think I had my fingers crossed when I said that, but I didn't. I didn't tell Cathy because I thought it would be too complicated, but I had spent a number of hours with both sets of grandparents, listening and talking our way through the whole business.

When I first started researching Cathy's ideas and fertility in general, the whole issue of surrogacy came up. Finding a Chinese lady who was happy to have a baby for me turned out to be no more complicated than finding a slew of black guys to impregnate Cathy.

The child looked brilliant, lying there in the cot. I thought I'd call him Lee. Where the name came from I don't know. It must have floated into my head somewhere out of all my research, or maybe it was because Lee Kuan Yew, the first prime minister of Singapore was always a hero of mine. The only thing left to figure out was how exactly to spring it on Cathy.

When I got to the hospital Cathy and Carmen were ready for me.

"Did you get any sleep?"

"I did," she said. "What about you?"

"Three hours, enough to go on with."

We had a travel cot for Carmen. I'd brought it in from the car.

"It wasn't twins," Cathy said as we set off.

Was this the moment to tell her? No that would be crazy, not while we were driving. Home was only a few minutes away. I let it pass.

"The folks are all at home," I said.

"And?"

"Your Mum asked if I was okay."

"And what did you tell her?"

"I said we were in this together. I told them that you knew they knew."

"Have you ever thought of joining the diplomatic corps?"

I laughed and kept driving, glad I'd warned Mum to give us some space when we arrived.

Cathy paraded Carmen around, while I said I'd make sure everything was ready upstairs. I'd put Lee in the second cot, so the one nearest the window was free. I hung a blanket over Lee's cot. Lee was fast asleep. Good kid, I thought. We'll get on well.

I went back downstairs and met Cathy about to come up. I stepped backwards up the steps and stopped to wait for her on the landing. I sure as hell wasn't going to shock her on the stairs. The two of them were far to precious to me.

I stood at the nursery door.

"This is when I tell you my secret," I said.

"Will I like it?"

"I hope so. Do you think I like Carmen?"

She giggled. "I think so. If you don't then this is a hell of a good act."

"I'm glad it shows. Did it ever occur to you that preparing for twins was a crazy idea?"

"I thought it was rather romantic," she paused for a second. I could see that she was curious.

"Actually I thought it was supportive too. "

"That was kind of you."

Time to go for it.

"This may be a bit of a shock."

I pushed the door open.

"We have another baby," I said and pulled the blanket off Lee's cot. Lee, bless him forever, opened his eyes and beamed at us.

"This is my son, Lee. He's half Chinese. I hired a surrogate mother."

Cathy stood there transfixed, staring at Lee, then back to me.

"You hired a surrogate?"

"Yes."

"So this really is your son."

"Just like Carmen is your daughter."

"That's what you meant by every conceivable possibility?"

"Exactly."

"So we do have twins."

"Very close. The surrogate mum has had several kids before. Carmen was two weeks late and Lee was two weeks early. He was conceived after Carmen, but in birth terms he's a day

older."

"Hang on, so you... I mean, nine months ago... all this time and you didn't tell me."

"Yeah. Until he was born, I had no guarantee. You know the mum might keep him, she might miscarry. Until he was born and I had the paperwork, I didn't dare say anything."

"How did he get here?"

"My Mum collected him earlier today."

"So that's why you had to tell them about Carmen."

"Mmmm."

"I've been stitched up."

She looked at me again, then back to Lee and burst into tears, but she was smiling. Eventually she blinked them away.

"How many times did you have to fuck her?"

"Three."

"Well," she said, laughing. "If I want another baby, I know who to ask."

Cathy moved across the room and carefully put Carmen into the second cot. After a little shuffle she settled into sleep. Cathy turned to Lee.

"Can I pick him up?"

"Sure, he's our son."

She stood holding him. "All that stuff about twins was bullshit wasn't it. You already knew."

What could I say. I nodded.

"You needed this?"

I nodded again, I was too choked up to risk saying anything.

"You were right, keeping it secret like that, I think it would have been too complicated for me. I'd have had to talk to her, the surrogate, and it would have made me feel weird."

She chuckled, kissed Lee's forehead, looked at me, beaming, and then saw our mothers tiptoeing along the landing, closely followed by our fathers. Cathy turned back to the bed and carefully laid Lee on the mattress. Smart kid that he is, he closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

Cathy held a finger to her lips and shooed the grandparents back downstairs.

"I need champagne," she said.