Read Online Claiming Noah by Amanda Ortlepp - Free Book Online Page B

was rushed into the chaos of noise and light of the operating theatre. After the agony of a long labour it felt like only a few minutes before the midwife handed her a small bundle, loosely wrapped in a striped blanket, and said, ‘Here he is. Here’s your son.’
    As she glanced at the baby on her chest, tiny and helpless but already grappling for her with its mouth and its one free hand, she waited for the rush of adoration she knew she was supposed to feel. Instead she felt dread taking hold of her like a hand to her throat.

5
DIANA
    Monday, 13 June 2011
    D iana and Liam sat in two uncomfortable chairs facing the fertility counsellor’s desk. The shelves surrounding the walls were littered with educational flyers covering every conceivable fertility issue: Embryo Donation ; Ovulation Induction ; Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection. It had never occurred to Diana how many different methods had been developed to deal with infertility.
    The counsellor was an older woman, in her late sixties, Diana guessed. She said her name was Mrs Olsen and since she offered no first name Diana and Liam were forced to call her by her surname as if she were their teacher. They had made the appointment with Mrs Olsen at the request of the staff at the fertility clinic, who had stressed to them the importance of discussing the social, legal and emotional implications of adopting an embryo.
    â€˜You’re very fortunate,’ Mrs Olsen said to them from behind her desk. ‘Most couples are on the waiting list for a long time. Some have been on the list for years.’
    â€˜Yes, we know,’ Diana said. ‘We feel very lucky to have been chosen.’
    â€˜Doctor Malapi feels strongly about matching the embryo as closely as possible to the recipients. He feels it’s a key success factor for implantation, as well as for the future of the child, of course.’
    â€˜And we really do appreciate that,’ Liam said in a sickly-sweet way that Diana knew was an attempt to charm Mrs Olsen. He was always trying to do that with older women. Usually it worked, too.
    â€˜Yes, you should.’ Mrs Olsen pursed her lips at Liam in a way Diana would have found humorous in a less grave situation. ‘Now, you do understand, of course, that this embryo is one of several conceived using the donor couple’s sperm and eggs. That means if this embryo results in a child then that child is likely to have full-blood siblings living with another family. How do you feel about that?’
    Diana smiled in spite of the stern look on Mrs Olsen’s face. ‘We’ve discussed that. We think it’s nice that our baby could have a sibling. We hope one day they might be able to meet.’
    â€˜We won’t give you the contact details of the donor couple,’ Mrs Olsen said firmly. ‘That’s confidential.’
    â€˜We understand,’ Liam said. ‘We wouldn’t ask for that. Our understanding is that once our baby is eighteen it would be allowed to find out the identity of the donor parents if it wanted to. That’s what my wife meant.’
    â€˜Yes, well, that’s correct.’ Mrs Olsen shuffled through a stack of papers on her desk. Diana and Liam sat in silence while she selected a page and scanned through its contents before addressing them again. ‘All I’m able to tell you about the donors is that they’re a healthy married couple in their late thirties. They’re both university educated and successful in their chosen careers. They’re Caucasian and both were born in Australia.’
    She looked up at Liam. ‘Like you, the husband has dark hair and brown eyes. The wife has blonde hair and green eyes.’
    Diana’s heart raced with excitement at the prospect of having a baby boy with the same dark hair and eyes as Liam’s. She imagined them standing side by side, her son a miniature version of his handsome father. From the look on Liam’s