The Married Billionaire's Surrogate An African American Pregnancy Romance For Adults(5)

Alicia was blaming it all on her, when she sensed her mother’s soft hand on her head. She startled and rose to look at her, tears still wetting her face. Melody Balfe had been a beautiful woman back in the day and still there were gorgeous features ornamenting those wrinkles. But she was also very strong and endured a lot of life’s hits. That was the case now as well.

“Nothing can kill your mama so easily, my dear Alicia. Even strokes are afraid of me.” The both of them laughed through tears.

“How are you feeling, mom? You scared me to death. Don’t do this to me ever again, okay?” Alicia got a hold of her mother’s hand.

“I feel like any other old woman, dear. And why are you frightening yourself so much? Your mama won’t be eternal and there will come a day when the One up there will summon me and you will have to say goodbye,” Melody told her weakly.

Alicia sniffed and slowly placed the strands of her mother’s gray hair away from her face. “Remember when I was in third grade and this white girl hit me just to see if a red bruise would appear on my face? I’ve never felt so humiliated in my whole life and when I came home, you know what you told me?”

“Hit me as hard you want, but you won’t break a Balfe. Oh, no, no.” The both of them said it at the same time. Again they burst into laughter mixed with tears and gripped each other’s hands tighter and tighter.

The warmth in the room engulfed them and for a while Alicia thought the time had stopped. She closed her eyes, resting her forehead on her mother’s chest and got carried away back to her childhood home, her tiny room with flowers drawn on the walls, the broken chair and springs coming out of the mattress. She smiled at the memory, realizing just how happier she had felt and how peaceful her dreams had been compared to the nightmares shaking her in the mansion. We truly learn how to cherish things after we lose them, Alicia thought to herself when her mother spoke again, but this time her voice was lower and more serious.

“You know, my Alicia, I’ve been doing laundry for people in the neighborhood and have been thinking of looking for a job in the bakery across the street, but it’s not enough for the bills, my beautiful daughter.”

“Which bills?” Alicia looked straight in her mother’s eyes.

“This silly stroke made, honey. Your salary from the Wyatt family won’t help us either,” her mother said.

“I will find a way, mom. The only thing on your mind should be how to get better. I’ll start working in another house. Mr. Wyatt knows a lot of people and he will certainly recommend me to some. The work in the mansion is too light for me anyway. I can work somewhere else as well.” She lied.

“Do they treat you nice there, honey? Does this Mr. Wyatt care about you?”

“Yeah, he does. They’re all especially wonderful with me. Even Mrs. Wyatt. I haven’t met such kind employers before,” Alicia said and lowered her head so that her mother won’t see the tears traveling to the corners of her eyes, ready to fall any second now. But they didn’t. She stabbed her nails in her palm and braced herself from the look of her mother. She had to be strong for the both of them in those tough moments.

And just like that a whole week passed before Alicia could even turn back and see where all that time had gone. In and out of the hospital, in between washing clothes and cleaning – it had been definitely one of the fastest weeks since she was a child. The only bright spot in all of that rush was her mother’s improving health and Dr. Mullins’s statement to let her go home.

However, for Alicia, letting her mother go home meant paying the hospital bill as fast as possible and that definitely wasn’t something she was ready for, still. Even though in the past three days she had phoned all her relatives to ask about money, each and every one of them had refused coming up with what she thought was an excuse and left her at the beginning once more. Who could blame them? She, herself, didn’t have any cash left aside for her and her mother, let alone to lend some.

All of that led her to the silly thought to go to Mr. Wyatt and ask for a loan, but once she came before his study she couldn’t even knock on the door. She had stumbled upon him a couple of times later, yet still the words didn’t escape the tip of her tongue. On the bright side, the previous week for Alicia also meant rarer meetings with Mrs. Wyatt and rest from her harsh behavior. All in all, life had to go on and Alicia embraced that, fixing her hair and entering her mother’s hospital room.

“You okay, mom?” Alicia tried to make a cheerful expression despite the burden with the bill weighing her down. To her biggest surprise, her mother was standing up dressed in her best pink dress with yellow flowers all over it as Christina was helping her out. “Where are you going?” She turned to her best friend with question marks written in her eyes.

“You don’t know? The hospital expenses have been paid. We’re going HOME!” Christina squeaked happily.

“H-how? Who could have done that?” Alicia confusingly asked.

“It wasn’t you?” Her mother interrupted.

Alicia shook her head exchanging glances with Christina. Who indeed? Could it be her relatives finally answering the call of their blood or some people from an association that were saddened by the whole story? In any case, Alicia owed them her life and she was determined to find out who they were.

“Let’s go then. The neighborhood is dying to see you.” Alicia caught her mother under the elbow and they left the hospital smiling, Christina following up their lead.