XIII - Nerves

                                    

                                          
Henry hadn't expected surrogacy to be as expensive as it was turning out to be. So far, as Marbell ran through the details with him, the price range for everything bundled into one was looking at around $80,000 to $100,000. Just the price alone frightened Henry a bit, but even as Marbell crunched those pricey numbers out, his brother-in-law made certain to reassure Henry that the cost wouldn't be a problem. As Marbell always did, he offered to handle anything they couldn't afford out right , and Henry was more than appreciative of that. If he went home only to tell Daniel they'd have to wait for a good long while before having a baby, his husband would be crushed to the core. And that's not something he wanted to see.
As for right now, Marbell continued to walk him through things he and Daniel would need to focus on as they contacted the mother of their interest. There were attorneys involved, contracts, legal parental orders, and that last bit had frightened Henry even more. He had no idea surrogates could opt for keeping the baby after birth, leaving the would-have-been parents without a baby and child support to pay. That alone was horrific news.
"I know," Marbell said after seeing the uncertainty in Henry's eyes, "The idea of that possibly happening is terrifying. I don't know if you remember, but that almost happened with Ozzy after he was born, but it was about six or seven months after the parental orders had been dealt with, so there was no way for London and I to not be considered his legal and rightful parents." Marbell breathed in deeply and let it out, "I don't think I had ever been so upset in my entire life when she threatened to take him. To think she wanted to steal our son from us was so infuriating."
Henry couldn't quite remember that time, but he did remember a lot of frustration around the house six years ago when Ozzy was still a baby.
"But, please," Marbell added, "Don't let that scare you away from finding a surrogate. You just have to contact the right woman, and it's always best to know that she's already had a few surrogate pregnancies. The one we found for Oz had only done it once, and the ones for Benjamin and the girls had already had a handful. Keeping a great relationship with the woman is always a great thing, too. I remember Benjamin's was super nice and very supportive of us."
Sitting back in the dining room chair he'd been seated in, Henry breathed out deeply and tried to fill himself with confidence as well. After he got off work, he headed straight to the Matthew's residence to get as much information as he could about surrogacy. He and London and Marbell had gone through a bunch of stuff together, even a website that provided contact information for Jewish women open to surrogating for any kind of couple. Since Daniel was adamant about keeping their Jewish backgrounds in the family, having a mother of the same was important to him.
When Henry nodded in full understanding of everything, he glimpsed the time on his cellphone before tucking it away again. His husband had texted him not that long ago to inform he'd be staying at the emergency center for a couple more hours, so when London asked if he'd want to stay for dinner, Henry was all for it.
As London prepared the meal in the kitchen, Henry went ahead from the dining table and into the living room. Layla and Naomi were sitting back on the sofa, sharing a laptop as they watched countless videos of ballet performances. When he sat down off to the side of them, Naomi looked toward her uncle, and said, "You're coming to our recital, right? We're going to perform it with everyone next Saturday and the Saturday after that!"
"Hmm," Henry kicked off his work boots and reached for the controller, "I think I might be free this coming Saturday, but I have to check first. I'm not sure yet. Are you two nervous?"
"Nope!" Layla answered before her sister, "We're, like, the best in our whole class, but we're not allowed to say that out loud, because it's rude to everyone else. I mean, our choreographers even made a mirror routine just so Naomi and I could lead the entire recital." She batted her fingers at Henry, "We're that good."