Sold To The Sheikh: His Indecent Proposal (An Interracial Sheikh Romance Novel) (9 page)

“Like prostitution?” Amie
cut in.

Mia nodded. “Well, you
know… some women try the artificial way for years and then give
up…and find themselves pregnant the old-fashioned way.”

“I just…sometimes wish I
knew about my birth parents,” Mia said, looking down at her hands
in her lap. “Not because I care about them or anything—I don’t even
remember them, or know…”
why they gave me
up before I even had a chance to know them,
her mind finished—though she didn’t say it out loud. “But I
mean, my bio mom had to have conceived me naturally, right? If she
was fertile…”

“Sweetheart, if your birth
mother was able to conceive, you’ll be able to
conceive.”

Mia laughed again, shaking
her head. “I don’t know that, and neither do you.”

“It’s your first cycle,
baby girl. Give it a good chance, a good few times, before you
start worrying.”

“But Rami is paying me so
much money for this. If I can’t even get pregnant…” Mia’s eyes
stung with tears. “I’ll feel like a failure, like I wasted his
time.”

“And what does Rami
say?”

Mia took a deep breath and
sighed. “He says that if it doesn’t work out, no harm done,” Mia
replied. “That he would just consider it an investment that didn’t
pan out.” She frowned, picking at imaginary lint on her jeans. “But
that doesn’t make me feel any differently. If I can’t have kids
this way…maybe I can’t ever have kids.” Mia’s mom gave her a quick
hug.

“Well, if that happens,
like your Dad and me, you’ll adopt. And you’ll make some little
girl or boy’s life as special as you can, and give them love.” Mia
nodded, resting her head on her mother’s skinny
shoulder.

“You’re right,” she
replied. “It won’t stop me from feeling like I basically robbed
Rami, but at least…if I can’t get pregnant…at least it’s another
option.”

* * *

Four weeks later, Mia
found herself in Dr. Farber’s office again, with Rami at her side.
“Welcome back,” the doctor said as they sat down. “How are you
feeling, Mia?” Mia smiled weakly.

“Like I’ve been scoured by
a Brill-o pad,” she said. Dr. Farber nodded
sympathetically.

“Yes, implantation can
feel like that,” the doctor agreed. “Are you feeling tired, achy,
nauseated?” Mia shrugged.

“Not any more than usual.”
She felt her eyes stinging with tears and looked up at the ceiling,
taking a quick, deep breath. The hormones she’d been taking in
order to produce the eggs for the procedure were taking their toll
on her; Mia had had to stop watching a movie just the day before
because she couldn’t stop crying.

“Well, your blood tests
have come back within normal range, which you’ll be pleased to
hear, I’m sure,” Dr. Farber’s voice was reassuring, and Mia tried
to suppress the nervous feeling bubbling up inside of her. Rami
reached over and took her hand in his, giving it a quick
squeeze.

“What about the eggs?” Mia
asked finally, steeling herself for bad news.

“They’re doing
wonderfully,” the doctor said. “Exactly what we wanted to see. And
the fertilization is looking positive. We’ll know for sure that
it’s set in another twenty-four to forty-eight hours, but right now
it’s looking very promising.” Mia sighed with relief.

“So then they can be
implanted?” Rami’s voice sounded almost as anxious as
Mia’s.

“Absolutely. You’re going
to have some more discomfort, I’m afraid, but as long as nothing
interferes with the fertilization, the embryos can be implanted in
the next three days or so. We’ll only implant a few of them—the
rest can be frozen for another attempt.”

“I really hope we don’t
need another attempt,” Mia said wearily. She glanced at Rami. “I’m
actually starting to think I should’ve held out for more money from
you.”

Rami grinned. “I’m
perfectly willing to pay you more,” he told her. “Just name your
price.” Mia gritted her teeth, trying to suppress a flare of anger
that she knew was totally disproportionate.

“I don’t mean it,” she
said finally. “I’d just…really love to get on with being pregnant.
I don’t think it could be any more uncomfortable than what I’ve
already gone through.” Dr. Farber laughed, giving her another
sympathetic look.

“Many of my patients feel
that way,” she said. “And most of them say, once they do get
pregnant, that they were right about it.”

“Good to know it’s all
sunshine from here,” Mia said, smiling weakly again.

“So once we implant the
embryos, you will be waiting for two weeks,” Dr. Farber told them.
“And then you can take a pregnancy test to see if they have
taken.”

“Two weeks?” Rami sounded
somewhat shocked. “But if she has fertile eggs, and the embryos are
implanted inside of her, how could she not become
pregnant?”

“There are still many
things which could go wrong: sometimes the body rejects the
embryos, sometimes the uterus doesn’t cooperate, and sometimes the
embryos don’t work their way down into the uterine wall the way
they need to. If the embryos—one or all of them—implant as is
required, it takes two weeks for the hormones to be strong enough
to detect in a pregnancy test.”

“More waiting,” Mia said,
trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. “I’m getting so good
at waiting, I’m becoming a pro.”

“You’ve been incredibly
patient, and understanding of everything, Mia,” Dr. Farber
said.

“Yes,” Rami agreed. “I
really appreciate how willing you’ve been to go through this for my
sake.”

“Well, with an offer like
the one you made…” Mia took a breath and exhaled slowly. “I’m just
hoping we can make this work. I’ll feel terrible if we
can’t.”

“It can take time,” Dr.
Farber cautioned her. “Don’t get discouraged if the treatment isn’t
successful this first round. It often takes several cycles to
conceive this way.”

“I want to make sure we’re
doing this the safest way possible,” Rami said. “You’re sure you
have enough sperm and enough eggs—and that there won’t be any need
for her to take the kinds of hormones she did before?”

“We should have enough
fertilized eggs to do at least three cycles,” Dr. Farber said. “If
we’re more conservative, maybe four or five.”

“Oh man, I so hope it
doesn’t take five cycles,” Mia said flatly.

“Without wanting to upset
you, it might,” Dr. Farber told her gently. “Which is why I don’t
want you to feel down on yourself if it doesn’t happen this time.
There’s a science of reproductive medicine and there’s an art, and
sometimes the science isn’t enough.”

Mia took a sip of the
water Dr. Farber had given her. “Okay,” she said. “I won’t get all
worked up if it doesn’t happen this time, I promise.”

“And remember, both of
you, that if it gets to be too stressful, we can take a break for a
few months,” Dr. Farber said.

“That’s right, Mia,” Rami
told her, giving her hand a squeeze. “A break would be as much a
part of this as the active part.”

“You are not going to
convince me to stay in your pay when I’m not even actively trying
to get knocked up,” Mia told him firmly.

“Too much stress reduces
the chances of successful conception,” Dr. Farber repeated. “If
we’re not able to get it in three cycles, I will insist that you
take a month off—maybe even two—to get the hormones out of your
system and build your body back up. And that’s part of this
process. It isn’t my place to advise on your monetary arrangement,
but from a medical point of view, if Rami is paying you for this
process, he should be paying you for that, too.” Mia looked from
the doctor to her benefactor and decided that no matter how
logically she argued with them, neither was going to budge on the
issue.

“Okay, fine. When can I
come in and be implanted?”

“Another two days and
we’ll know for sure. We’ll be in touch very soon, don’t you
worry.”

SEVEN

“Okay,” Mia said, setting
her phone down on her bathroom counter. “I want you to know that
this isn’t any less weird the fifth time than it was the first.”
Rami laughed on the other end of the phone, the sound echoing from
the speaker.

“Well you won’t let me be
there in person, so what choice do I have?” Mia rolled her eyes and
tried to fight down the blush that warmed her cheeks. She had
agreed to call Rami when she took a pregnancy test after the first
cycle of artificial insemination; now on the second cycle of IVF,
she would have thought that she couldn’t have a single shred of
modesty left—and yet she still felt strange handling her urine
while she had him on the phone.

“I can’t believe you’re
actually awake for this. What were you doing last night?” Mia felt
a flicker of envy that throughout this process, Rami’s life had not
been nearly as interrupted as her own.
I
didn’t go out much even when I wasn’t trying to get
pregnant,
Mia reminded herself.

“For your information, I
stayed in last night because I knew I would be waking up early to
do this with you,” Rami told her, sounding haughty.

“I’m sure the models at
the club were just heartbroken,” Mia said wryly.

“I wouldn’t know,” Rami
countered. “I haven’t been hanging out with them.”

“Lies. Filthy lies.” Mia
took a deep breath and took the cap off of the test applicator. She
looked at the tiny cup and exhaled. “Okay, dipping the applicator
now.”

“How long do we have to
wait?”

“The directions say three
minutes,” Mia replied. She held the fibrous tip of the applicator
in the liquid for a moment to make sure it absorbed, then quickly
took it out and put the cap back on. “Starting now.” She set the
timer and sat down on the edge of her tub.

“So, what were you up to
last night?” Rami inquired.

“Oh God, this small talk,”
Mia said, shaking her head. “I ate at a restaurant with
Mom.”

“How’s she
doing?”

“Better,” Mia said,
smiling to herself. “The doctor in New York gave her some
recommendations on who is best to see around here, and gave her
some fresh information to give to the new doctors. We’re
hopeful.”

“That’s great! Have you
started looking at houses?” Mia bit her bottom lip.

“Kind of. Not seriously,
yet. I guess I’m sort of…waiting to see if I’m going to be pregnant
anytime soon.”

“Yeah,” Rami’s cheery tone
quieted slightly. “That’s something to consider.”

“I would love to see you
baby-proofing your house when the time comes,” Mia said, trying to
lighten the mood. She had been to Rami’s penthouse apartment once.
As the months had passed, they had become more and more comfortable
with each other, and one afternoon Rami had invited her over to see
his place. Whenever she remembered it, Mia was torn between shock
and amusement at how incredibly grand it was.

“All that expensive
furniture getting covered in scotch-guard; all those priceless
cabinets with those ugly locks on them. It’ll be
hilarious.”

“I might abandon the idea
completely,” Rami said. “Get another place and start
over.”

“Now, see, you say things
like that and you have no idea how ridiculous it sounds to someone
who isn’t so insanely wealthy.”

Rami chuckled. “Everyone I
know thinks it makes more sense to get a house out in the country
instead of trying to make it work here.”

Mia shook her head. “With
the exception of me, who do you know who makes less than, say…half
a million dollars a year?”

“Hmm,” Rami considered. “I
don’t think I know do know anyone. But hey—you’ve already made more
than half a million this year. You no longer count.”

Mia’s eyes widened. “I did
not even realize that,” she said. “You’re right.”

“You’re one of us rich
kids too now.” Rami laughed. “You can’t talk shit about me
anymore!”

“Yeah, well actually…” but
before Mia could finish her sentence, the buzzer on her timer went
off. “Okay, here goes,” she said. She stood and walked the two
steps from the bathroom to the counter. Looking down at the test
applicator, her heart sank.