Page 22 of Better Than Baby

“Your surrogate?” My mother perked up. “I thought you were adopting. Why didn’t you say so?”

We had an audience now…a big audience.

I straightened, hands on hips as I surveyed the curious onlookers. “We’re telling you now. Right, Aar?”

Aaron’s front teeth pierced his bottom lip as he inclined his chin. “Right.”

Here goes everything.

“Lena is our surrogate, and she’s pregnant with our baby.”

The room exploded with cheers of congratulations. There were heartfelt hugs and a million questions. Lena smiled like a champ and explained her role.

“I’m the oven,” she joked.

“No, you’re a miracle,” my mother gushed, wiping a tear from her cheek and grasping my hand. “When are you due? Will you find out what you’re having? Any chance of twins? Are you feeling well? You should sit. I know exercise is important, but is yoga okay for you?”

“Whoa…Mom, go easy on her. No smothering,” I chided, squeezing her hand gently.

Mom blinked through a new round of tears. “I knew something was up, but I didn’t dare hope it was this.”

“Throuple was the next logical explanation,” I deadpanned.

She smacked my arm playfully. “I’m sorry. I just…I can’t believe it. Oh, Matt, you’re going to be a daddy.”

The raw emotion and wonder in her voice was undeniable. My mom could be difficult and was famous for jumping to all the wrong conclusions. However, her heart was usually in the right place. Or perhaps a little off-center, but hey, I never doubted that she loved me. And in a way, she’d shared a slice of the burden and pain on our journey to fatherhood. She’d sympathized, she’d cried, she’d been angry and hurt on our behalf. And now…she was overcome with joy.

This baby wouldn’t be her first grandchild—my sister had two kids, and my brother and his girlfriend had one—but I knew she’d love him or her with everything she had.

I gathered her into my arms and swallowed the lump in my throat. “Yeah, I’m gonna be a daddy.”

My friends swooped in with monster hugs and back slaps, saving me from any teary displays. I spotted Aaron and Jay in a tight embrace as Peter moved in, ruffling my hair.

“Congratulations. We’re happy for you both,” Peter said.

“So we’re gonna be uncles again.” Jack punched my biceps, then draped an arm around Curt’s shoulders.

Curt rubbed his hands together in a show of wicked glee. “I’m so ready for this. Your kid is going to be so spoiled. We’re buying the biggest giraffe stuffed animal now, but we’ll save the motorized mini Jeep as a first birthday gift. We call it. Don’t let anyone steal our thunder.”

I rolled my eyes but went along with it, drawing Aaron to my side. “You got it.”

“And to be clear, we’re calling him Curt if it’s a boy and…Curt if it’s a girl? Or…” Curt elbowed his husband in the ribs. “Jacqueline for ol’ Uncle Jack works too.”

“Those are very original ideas, and we’ll definitely give that some thought…not,” Aaron replied.

“I’m hearing maybe.”

We all laughed. The good-natured commentary continued in a flurry of off-the-wall suggestions and earnest congratulations until Murphy raced into the room with a shoe in his mouth, Holly and Henry hot in pursuit.

“How did Murphy get out of his crate?” someone asked.

“We had to let him out. He was so sad, but he jumped on the bed and tried to eat my shoe!” Holly explained, tossing her ponytail over her shoulder and pointing at her light-up sneakers. “They’re new, so I askidently gave him Uncle Aaron’s shoe instead.”

Aaron squeaked. “My Pradas!”

And just like that, the living room was pure mayhem with a manic pup, two wild-eyed kids, and a slew of amused adultswho’d either joined the chase or sidled next to Lena to talk about babies.

My dad chuckled and handed me a beer. “Take it easy while you can, ’cause this is the tip of the iceberg, son. Just the tip of the iceberg. Cheers.”