Chapter 46

Emma stared at the plastic stick in her hand, the two pink lines unmistakable despite her trembling fingers.

Positive.

She sank onto the edge of the bathtub, mind spinning. This couldn’t be happening. Not now, after they’d signed surrogacy contracts. Not now, when Katie was preparing for hormone treatments to receive their embryo.

Not now, when Emma had finally made peace with another woman carrying their child.

She reached for her phone to check the date. Eight weeks since her last period—she’d assumed the irregularity was stress-related. How could she not have noticed? Then again, between Franklin’s health, team management, and surrogacy planning, she’d barely had time to breathe.

A knock at the bathroom door made her jump.

“Emma?” Alek called. “Are you alright? We need to leave for the clinic in twenty minutes.”

The clinic. Where they were scheduled to begin their egg retrieval process today. Where doctors would take her eggs, fertilize t