Dear Thing by Julie Cohen Read Free Book Online Page A

like this. She won’t touch me or even really look at me. And I can see that she’s hurting, but I can’t do anything to comfort her because it always leads to the same thing. I still want a baby. And she’s given up.’ He knocked back his shot, and so did Romily.
    And then it came to Romily, in a big blinding revelation that felt like a firecracker popping in her head.
    ‘Ben!’ she cried. ‘I’ve got it! I can get pregnant for you!’
    ‘Shut up, Romily.’
    ‘No! I mean it. I can carry the baby, and give birth and everything, and then you and Claire would have a baby.’
    ‘Shut
up
, Romily.’
    ‘We can use your sperm and my eggs – not, I mean – not that we would have to have sex, of course. We could use,’ her hands seemed suddenly quite sweaty, ‘a turkey-baster or something and then I’d be the pregnant one, and Clairewouldn’t have to go through any more treatments at all, but it would be your baby. And I’ve already had a baby, so I know that I can do pregnancy and birth. The physical part was quite easy for me. And I have no desire whatsoever to have any more children, so it wouldn’t be a problem to hand over the baby when it was born.’
    ‘Romily,’ said Ben, ‘this is one of those so-called brilliant strokes of genius you get when you’re drunk and forget about the next day.’
    ‘No! I mean yes, I am drunk, but in this case, this really is a brilliant stroke of genius. Being pregnant wouldn’t be any trouble to me at all.’
    ‘You didn’t enjoy being pregnant with Posie.’
    ‘No, but I was worried the whole time. How I was going to support her, how I was going to carry on my research and writing up a PhD with a baby, whether I’d like her or not. And the whole – you know, her father. But this time, I wouldn’t have those worries. I’d know the baby was going to a good home – the best home in the world, in my opinion.’
    ‘I’m …’ She watched him think about it. ‘No, it’s too much to ask.’
    ‘No, it’s not! Look.’ She grabbed the pencil again and wrote, in letters big enough to fill up the rest of the page: SEVEN:
Romily
WILL HAVE THE BABY FOR YOU
!!!
She held up the paper in front of Ben’s face. He gently pushed it down.
    ‘This is a big thing, Romily.’
    ‘But Ben, seriously. You and Claire deserve a baby. And if I can help you, I will. I owe you so much. All those times you’ve looked after Posie …’
    ‘We wanted to do that. We love Posie. You don’t have to pay us back.’
    ‘And Posie wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for you,Ben.’ She held his gaze with hers. ‘Remember that night.’
    ‘I remember it.’
    ‘You’re just about the most important person in my life,’ she said, her heart beating hard. ‘Let me do this for you.’
    ‘Do you mean it?’ Ben asked her quietly.
    ‘It’s nine months. What’s nine months, compared with what Posie and I owe you? I’ll do it.’
    She watched him thinking. She could see the exact moment when hope came back into his eyes.
    ‘You would have a baby for us?’ he said. As if he couldn’t quite believe it.
    ‘I would do anything for you. Anything.’
    He didn’t say a word. He reached across the pub table and took her face in his hands and he kissed her, suddenly and hard. Then he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her.
    ‘Thank you,’ he whispered into her hair. ‘Thank you. Thank you.’
    Romily clung to him, her head spinning, her breath gone, her cheek pressed against his chest, tasting beer and tequila and her best friend on her lips.

4
Pear Tree
    ‘GOOD MORNING!’
    Claire patted the soil down around the bulbs, making sure they were snug in their new home, before she looked up. Ben was coming across the lawn, carrying two steaming mugs. He wore a T-shirt and pyjama bottoms, and seemed not to care that his bare feet and the hems of his pyjamas were getting soaked.
    ‘Looks like you’ve been hard at work already,’ he said, handing her one of the mugs and