Staking His Claim. Tessa Radley

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СКАЧАТЬ worry, you can ask. No, I’ll ask for you. ‘Why are you doing this? Why are you going to Africa without the baby?’ That’s what you really want to know, isn’t it?”

      Ella inclined her head.

      “I’m not sure I can explain.” Keira shrugged out of her hold.

      Given no choice, Ella let her sister go.

      While Keira gathered her thoughts, Ella became aware of the stark silence that stretched to the breaking point between them across the length of the sofa. A silent divide. It might as well have been the blue-green of the Indian Ocean that stretched beyond Australia all the way to Africa that yawned between them… because her sister had already retreated mentally farther than the arm’s length that separated them.

      Then Keira started to speak. “This is something both Dmitri and I have to do.” The blank, flat stare she fixed on Ella was a little unnerving. “I have to find myself, Ella. Find out who I am. All my life I wanted to teach little children—and have my own houseful of kids at home.” Her eyes grew more bleak. “But things didn’t go according to plan.”

      “Keira—”

      “I loved my job at Little Ducks Center—”

      “Keira.” The pain in her sister’s voice was unbearable.

      “Don’t!”

      But Keira carried on as if she hadn’t heard. “I couldn’t work there after the car accident… after I found out the truth—that there never would be any babies.”

      “Oh, honey—”

      Keira ducked away from Ella’s enfolding arms.

      An unwelcome sense of rejection filled Ella. Followed by emptiness. Instantly she scolded herself for her selfishness. She shouldn’t feel hurt. Keira was suffering.

      Yet, despite all her empathy for her sister, the most important question still remained unanswered: What about the baby? The baby I helped create to fulfill your dream? “But Keira, you will have a baby now—and you have a husband who loves you.”

       Wasn’t that enough?

      Eyes softening, Keira admitted, “Yes, I was very, very fortunate to find Dmitri.”

      Ella hadn’t been so sure of that in the beginning. In fact, she’d foreseen nothing but heartbreak ahead for her sister. The arrival of Yevgeny Volkovoy in Auckland had been big news. Not satisfied with inheriting millions from the hotel empire his father had built up, the Russian had expanded the dynasty by building up the best river cruise operation in Russia. In the past few years he’d expanded into ocean cruise liners. With the planned expansion of Auckland’s cruise ship terminal, it was not surprising to learn that Yevgeny intended to secure Auckland as a voyage destination. What had been surprising had been learning through the newspapers that the Russian had fallen in love with New Zealand—and planned to relocate himself permanently. He’d sent his brother to New Zealand to secure corporate offices and staff them for Volkovoy Cruising’s new base. At first Ella had been less than impressed with the younger Volkovoy. With all the Volkovoy money Dmitri threw around, Ella had considered him spoiled and irresponsible. Nothing fortunate in that. Yet there was no doubt that he loved her sister… and thankfully he’d lost that reckless edge that had worried Ella so much at first. But heading off to Africa without the baby was not the right thing for Keira.

      The baby…

      Ella’s hand crept to her stomach.

      Mindful of how much her sister hated it when she nagged, Ella tempered her outrage. “You can’t just leave a baby for a few months… or even a year… and hope it will be there when you get back.”

      “I know that, Ella.” Keira’s brows drew together. “Don’t try to put the guilts on me. I’m not ready for a baby—neither of us are.”

      Ignoring her sister’s unfair accusation, Ella tried to fathom out what Keira’s response meant. Did she intend to give the baby up for adoption? Shock chilled Ella. Had her sister thought this through? She would hate to see Keira suffer when it one day came home to her what she’d lost. Perhaps Keira needed to be reminded of that.

      “If you’re thinking about giving the baby up for adoption, just remember it’s not going to be easy to find a surrogate again if you decide you want a baby when you come back from Africa.”

      She certainly wouldn’t be doing it again. She shouldn’t even have done it this time. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb decision. That’s what came of making decisions with her heart rather than her head.

      Keira flicked back her pale silver hair. “We can do what Yevgeny suggested when we first talked about you being our surrogate—put our names down to adopt a baby.”

      She’d known Dmitri’s high-handed brother was behind this!

      The ache in her lower back that had been worsening all day, intensified. It wasn’t worth arguing with Keira, pointing out that putting down your name didn’t guarantee a baby because so few became available for adoption. And when one did, the legal mother had the final say. She alone could choose whichever couple she wanted—there was no waiting list, no way to predict who she would choose.

      But right now Keira’s future plans were not her concern.

      “And what about this baby?” Ella knew she sounded angry. But, damn it, she was angry. Yevgeny made her blood bubble—even when he wasn’t present. Just the mention of the man was enough! “You can’t just dump it—”

      “I’m not dumping it—You’re the legal mother. I know you’ll make the best decision for the baby.” There was an imploring expression in her sister’s eyes that caused the hairs at the back of Ella’s neck to stand on end.

      Oh, no! Keira had planned to leave the baby with her and come back to claim it. Panic prickled through her. “I can’t keep the baby.”

      Keira’s eyes teared up again. “I know I shouldn’t have expected you to. But you always wanted the adoption of the baby to us to be an open one. So I hoped you would consider…”

      “No!” Panic swamped Ella. “We have a surrogacy arrangement—”

      Keira was shaking her head. “But Ella, you explained we can’t actually adopt the baby until after you sign the consent to give her up on the twelfth day. As the legal mother, you’re entitled to change your mind—but so are we.”

      She’d explained the legalities too well to her sister. Ella swallowed a curse. “You can’t change your mind—because I can’t keep this baby.”

      A wave of sick helplessness engulfed her.

      Keira sighed. “We already have. We’re not ready to raise a child. I don’t even want to think about the decision you’re going to have to make, but you have to do what you feel is right, Ella. It’s your body, your b—”

      “Don’t tell me it’s my baby!”

      Keira looked doleful. “I think I always knew deep in my heart that you wouldn’t agree to keep her, and I’ve made peace with that. Even though I had so hoped…” СКАЧАТЬ