The Offering by Angela Hunt Page A

my perspective, but she lived two hours away and wasn’t likely to drop in for a visit. She would never have to see this baby or even glimpse me pregnant. She could keep her disapproval to herself while she enjoyed her surreal life in The Villages.
    As for Mama Isa and Jorge, Tumelo and Elaine, Amelia and Mario—they might not understand my decision, but they wouldn’t condemn me, either. They’d grown up with crazy American ideas, so in time they would shrug and resign themselves to my plan. They might whisper about Gideon marrying a gringa loca, but they would also take quiet pride in the fact that one couple in the family had proven themselves unconventional.
    If all went well, by this time next year I might be planning to get pregnant with my own baby, mine and Gideon’s, giving the Lisandra family plenty to cheer about. Another baby would join Marilee, maybe the son Gideon so desperately wanted, and the family would have planted three generations of Lisandra men on American soil.
    They would be so excited about the future, they would forgive the recent past. I knew they would.
    I gripped my phone and punched in the agency’s number again.

Chapter Four
    S o, Mandy—now that we’re better acquainted, tell me why you want to be a gestational carrier.”
    Natasha Bray, whose red hair hung in graceful curves over the shoulders of her dark suit, asked the question as casually as if she were asking my opinion about the weather. I chose my words carefully, though, because I knew my answer might determine whether or not she would confirm me as a participant in the Surrogacy Center’s program. In the three weeks I had been working with Ms. Bray, I had completed two phone interviews, an initial medical screening, and a home visit. Only two additional requirements stood between me and official acceptance into the program: this private interview and the results from my psychological screening.
    â€œGideon and I,” I told her, “have enjoyed our daughter so much that we want to give another couple the opportunity to have a child. I carried Marilee with very few problems and had no complications during her delivery. I don’t expect things to be any different with a subsequent pregnancy.”
    â€œYour statement seems to imply that you did experience some problems—what were they?”
    I shrugged. “Nothing unusual. A little spotting in the first trimester, a few days of morning sickness, and a strange craving forCheez-Its.” Though nervous, I allowed myself to laugh. “I went through boxes of crackers like I was eating for five. But now I’d eat squid before I’d eat a cheese snack.”
    Natasha smiled and scanned the open folder on her desk. I knew the file contained my application and reference letters from family and friends. I thought about asking Natasha if the references were positive, then decided I didn’t want to know what people really thought about me being a surrogate.
    â€œYou seem to have made a lot of friends at your church,” she said.
    â€œWe’ve met some really nice people there.”
    â€œIs faith important to you?”
    â€œYes.” I smiled so she wouldn’t think I was part of some grim religious cult. “I became a Christian not long after I met Gideon.”
    â€œNo religious objections to being a surrogate, then?”
    I blinked. “Why should anyone object if I do a good deed for someone else? Isn’t that what Christians are supposed to be about?”
    Natasha lifted one shoulder in an elegant shrug. “One never knows why some people do the things they do.” She turned a page and smiled. “I understand your daughter is quite talented. Does musical ability run in your family?”
    I barely managed to keep a giggle out of my voice. “My husband plays the guitar and sometimes pretends to be Ricky Ricardo. His grandfather also plays the guitar and sings.”
    â€œSo