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were old enough to understand, we’d tell them the full truth.”
    “What about the fact that this kid is never going to know the security of having both his parents under the same roof? Right from the start he’s born into a broken home.”
    “You want me to go over the stats for single-parent families in Australia? There are plenty of people raising kids on their own, right from day one. Then there are the divorces and the custody arrangements. For sure any arrangement Alex and I come up with has to be better than what a lot of divorced couples agree to—and I’m in a position to know. This would be all about the child, not us. We wouldn’t be using the kid to punish each other, there’d be no issues with child support or access. No jealousy over new partners, no acrimony.”
    Derek’s eyes narrowed. “Alex. That’s the woman you play racquetball with, right?”
    Ethan hesitated. Until he made his final decision, he hadn’t planned on revealing Alex’s identity. After all, it was her business—until it became his. But he’d already blown the gaffe.
    “Yeah. That’s right.”
    “You say there’d be no acrimony. You’re kidding yourself if you think there aren’t going to be moments when the two of you want to rip each other’s heads off. It doesn’t matter whether you’re married or in a relationship or divorced or whatever, you’re going to disagree about something. Raising kids is like that, and no neat little contract you guys draw up beforehand is going to make any difference to that.”
    “How do you and Kay work it out?”
    “We fight. Then we have sex and make up. What are you and Alex going to do to get over the rough patches? Play a game of racquetball and exchange lawyer jokes?”
    “We’d work it out.” It had been a long time since he took anyone at face value or trusted his own instincts entirely where other people were concerned, but his gut told him Alex was a good and genuine person.
    And if his gut was wrong…well, he’d be protected. He’d make sure their co-parenting agreement was watertight and rock solid.
    “Doesn’t it worry you that this child would be the product of a medical procedure and not the result of an act of love?”
    “You trying to tell me that every kid who’s born into the world is born of love?”
    “All right, passion then. Something human and real. What you’re talking about is so…calculated. Like a business transaction. Call me a traditionalist, but I can’t help thinking that the creation of new life should at least be accompanied by some sentiment.”
    Ethan considered his brother’s words. He understood where Derek was coming from—he’d had the same gut-level rejection of Alex’s idea at first. He’d confronted her in the street, he’d been so determined that she hold out for the “real thing.” But after talking to her, he understood her urgency. She didn’t have the time to play the odds and hope. As a man, he had no such constraints, but given his vow to never again marry, it was unlikely he’d have a child any other way.
    Like Alex, he recognized that right here, right now there was an opportunity for him to perhaps fulfill a long-held dream. It was an unconventional opportunity, possibly a calculated one, as Derek said. But it was there, up for grabs.
    What had Alex said yesterday? This is what’s on the table and I’m not too proud or precious to take it.
    He focused on his brother. “I appreciate your honesty.”
    “But it’s not going to change your mind, is it?”
    “No.”
    “You always were a stubborn bastard.”
    They resumed running. Ethan glanced at his brother, aware Derek seemed troubled. No doubt Derek would go home and tell Kay what Ethan intended and the two of them would rant and rave to each other about how crazy it was.
    Was he crazy for thinking about doing this? He had a good life—a lucrative career, the respect of his peers, the security and peace of mind of relying on no one but himself. Was he