Read Online The Passion Play by Amelia Hart - Free Book Online

child.
    She did not make the call. Instead she pulled her appointment book out of her purse and turned to a fresh page. 'Desirable Characteristics' she headed it up, then started a list.
        Athletic.
        Intelligent.
        Attractive
    She considered the last. Attractiveness. Was that shallow of her, to want to pass that on to a child? Attractiveness opened doors. She was absolutely certain Dan had chosen her first and foremost for her looks.
    Not that that seemed like such a recommendation anymore.
    She shrugged and left it on the list for now. Athletic. Intelligent. Attractive. The image of Luke Barrett popped into her head. Not him as he had been at the club – embarrassing – but at the stadium. The first time she had spoken to him he had been glowing with happiness over the promotion from the practice team at another stadium. Dan had spotted him and poached him.
    He had been new in town, with the job he had always dreamed of, joy beaming out of him like the sun. She liked that about him: that he was so cheerful, and transparent as a pane of glass. She went to talk to him, ready to help out the new kid settle in, and asked him if he needed anything.
    Sadly he was not very bright, stumbling to give her a straight answer, blinking his big hazel eyes at her like someone had just thumped him on the head. But the large, goofy smile he gave her warmed her anyway.
    She had liked his old-fashioned manners too. A nice boy.
    And yes, attractive. Also athletic, though not intelligent.
    It puzzled her for a moment that he had popped into her head. But then he had certainly made an impression on her a couple of nights ago as a man, in a way she had not experienced in . . . years? Natural enough to think of him in the context of baby making. She ignored the heat under her own skin, cleared her throat and went back to her list.
        Special talents?
        Creative?
        Artistic?
        Tall
    That one was a definite. She had never liked being five foot four. Delicately built was alright, but it did mean every extra pound stood out, so she had to always consider what she ate. So tiresome, when taller friends could cram in extra servings of this or that with a gleeful shrug because no one would notice the result.
    So yes, tall. For a moment she imagined a teenage son reaching up high to a cupboard, to fetch her a tin she could not reach without a foot stool. 'Here, Mom,' he said in her mind, and his freckled face broke into a tolerantly superior grin. She would take it and give him that special smile that let him know how much she adored him, and he would turn away without thinking twice, taking it for granted his mother loved him more than life, of course.
    It made her warm all over to think of it. She wrote carefully over her own writing a second time to emphasize it. ' Tall .' Once more she ignored the thought of Luke. Luke who towered over her, six foot four of professional athlete. Mmmmm.
    She stared at the page for awhile. Not hair color. That did not matter. Nor eye color.
        Healthy.
        No genetic diseases
    Other than that she had nothing. Really she was not fussy, which was peculiar, given how everything else in life needed to be just so to satisfy her. Not a child. A child could just be him or herself, just as they were made.  She would contrive for a few advantages to help them through life. That was a parent's job, after all. That would be her job. But genes were a roll of the dice and she could get anything, no matter how she planned or carefully chose a sperm donor. Clumsy, slow, with a face only a mother could love . . . oh, she would love it.
    Halfway down the page, leaving room for further inspiration on characteristics, she added ' Artificial Conception? ' and ' Natural Conception? ’ Then she drew a table around them with further divisions under each: 'Pros' and 'Cons’.
     
    Artificial Pros: