Ronald immediately leaned across the table and took my hands into his own, his voice cracking with intense emotion. “We would cherish and love this baby more than anything else on this entire planet, Alison, but we need your help to make it happen.”
“Please, Alison,” Samantha whimpered, squeezing my hands with ice-cold fingers. “You are quite literally the only person on this earth that I trust with my entire heart and soul.”
The weight of her request was unimaginably heavy on my shoulders, especially since I was already a mother to two teenage children and was rapidly approaching my late thirties rather than my early twenties. Carrying a child for nine long months was not a casual favor like looking after a family pet or helping someone move into a new house over the weekend.
“I am so sorry, Samantha,” I said gently while pulling my hands back to my lap. “I genuinely do not think my body or my mind can go through another pregnancy right now.”
