When James, Jessica’s husband, asks her to be a surrogate for his brother’s fiancée, she agrees against her better judgment. However, as the pregnancy progresses, her doubts grow. The fiancée remains unreachable, the details don’t quite add up, and when Jessica finally meets her, the truth shatters everything.
It all began when James, my husband of eight years, asked me to join him for a “family meeting” with his mother, Diane, and his younger brother, Matt.
A couple in their home | Source: Midjourney
I remember rolling my eyes as we drove to Diane’s house. There was always some sort of drama brewing in James’s family.
“What is it this time?” I asked James. “Did your mom find another scratch on her precious china and decide it’s my fault?”
James kept his eyes on the road. “It’s something important, Jess. Just hear them out, okay?”
A man driving a car | Source: Pexels
When we arrived, Diane greeted me with her usual stiff hug and led me into the living room. Matt gave an awkward nod from the armchair.
“Jessica,” Diane began, her voice adopting that syrupy tone she used when asking for favors. “We have something very special to ask of you.”
I looked at James, who was studying his hands.
Matt cleared his throat.
A man sitting in a living room | Source: Midjourney
“Jessica,” Matt said, his voice slightly shaky. “I’m engaged.”
“Congratulations!” I replied, genuinely happy for him. “When do we get to meet her?”
Matt and Diane exchanged a glance.
“I’m not sure. She’s a wildlife photographer,” Matt explained.
A smiling man | Source: Midjourney
“She’s currently in the Ethiopian Highlands trying to capture images of wild Ethiopian wolves,” he added. “And the cell reception in the mountains is terrible.”
“The thing is,” Diane said, leaning forward, “my future daughter-in-law has some health problems. She desperately wants children, but she can’t carry them herself.”
A creeping dread settled over me as three pairs of eyes fixed intently on me.
A woman sitting in a living room | Source: Midjourney
“We were hoping,” Matt said, “that you’d consider being our surrogate.”
The request hung in the air. I looked at James, expecting him to be as shocked as I was, but his expression told me he’d known all along.
“You want me to carry your baby?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
A woman on a couch looking unsure at someone | Source: Midjourney
“Think about what it would mean for Matt,” James said, squeezing my hand. “And the compensation would really help us and the kids. We could make a solid contribution to both of their college funds and finally do those kitchen renovations you’ve been wanting.”
“But your brother’s fiancée…” I started. “Shouldn’t I at least talk to her first? It’s a really big decision.”
A hesitant woman | Source: Midjourney
“She’s totally on board,” Matt assured me quickly. “We did the IVF before she left and froze the embryos. We just need a surrogate now.”
“But I don’t even know her.”
“She’ll be back in the States soon,” Diane said, patting my knee. “You two will get along wonderfully, I’m sure.”
A woman smiling in a living room | Source: Midjourney
I felt trapped, surrounded by expectant faces.
James knew exactly which buttons to press: our children’s future, improvements to our home — things he knew I cared about.
Despite the nagging feeling in my gut, I slowly nodded. “I’ll do it.”
A woman in a living room | Source: Midjourney
The next nine months were a whirlwind of doctor’s appointments and growing discomfort.
Each trimester brought new challenges: all-day morning sickness, swollen ankles, and back pain that kept me up at night.
Through it all, James remained supportive in his own way, rubbing my feet while reminding me how much the money would change our lives.
Still, something didn’t sit right.
A thoughtful pregnant woman | Source: Midjourney
Matt visited regularly, bringing me vitamins and checking in on the baby.
But his fiancée remained a mystery.
“Has Matt’s fiancée called yet?” I asked James one night as we lay in bed, my huge belly making it impossible to get comfortable.
A couple talking in bed | Source: Midjourney
“She’s still traveling,” James mumbled, already half asleep.
“For nine months? Without a single phone call to the woman carrying her child?”
James sighed and rolled over. “You’re stressing over nothing, Jess. It’s not good for the baby.”
A man sleeping on his side | Source: Midjourney
“The baby,” I whispered to myself. “Not mine.”
As the due date approached, my unease grew.
I tried calling Matt directly.
“When is your fiancée coming back? I’d like to meet her before the birth.”
A woman talking on the phone | Source: Midjourney
“Soon,” he promised. “She’s still in Ethiopia, trying to photograph some incredibly rare bird on the Nechisar plains.”
I sighed. It seemed this woman was as impossible to track down as the animals she photographed.
The day I went into labor, James drove me to the hospital as I clung to the dashboard, pain tearing through my abdomen.
Hospital building | Source: Pexels
At the hospital, James held my hand during the initial checkup.
Matt and Diane arrived shortly after. They burst into the room, but I raised my hand.
“Out. Both of you,” I ordered through gritted teeth. “This is too personal.”
“Six centimeters,” the nurse announced. “Progressing.”
A nurse holding a clipboard | Source: Pexels
A few minutes later, James’s phone buzzed. He pulled his hand away from mine and looked at the message.
“I’ll be right back,” he said, stepping out of the room. “Matt’s fiancée just arrived.”
He returned moments later with a beautiful woman.
A shocked woman in a hospital bed | Source: Midjourney
“Rachel?” The name slipped from my lips like a curse.
Rachel was James’s high school girlfriend. The woman whose name I had banned from our house after catching James drunkenly scrolling through her social media one night — six years after we got married.
After he admitted he had never gotten over her.
A smiling woman in a hospital room | Source: Midjourney
“Jessica!” Rachel’s face lit up with genuine joy. “I can’t thank you enough. I know how hard this must’ve been, but you’ve made our dream come true.”
The room spun around me.
I turned to James, my voice trembling with rage. “You knew exactly who she was the entire time. And you never told me.”
A woman shouting at someone | Source: Midjourney
James’s expression barely flickered. “It wasn’t relevant.”
“Not relevant?” I repeated, incredulous. “You asked me to carry a child for the woman you told me you never got over — and that wasn’t relevant?”
Diane stepped forward, her voice soothing. “Sweetheart, don’t overreact. Rachel wanted a baby, and you were the perfect choice.”
A woman in a hospital room speaking to someone | Source: Midjourney
“She’s already had two kids without complications. Plus, she wants to keep her body.”
The pieces clicked into place with sickening clarity.
This wasn’t about helping family. It was about convenience. About keeping Rachel’s perfect body intact and using mine as an incubator.
An enraged woman in a hospital bed | Source: Midjourney
“Glad to know I’m a good breeder,” I snapped.
Rachel’s face flushed with guilt. “I didn’t mean—”
“Shut up!” I roared as another contraction tore through me. “Liars. Manipulative little liars…”
“Stop being so dramatic,” James sighed.
A disapproving man | Source: Midjourney
“Jessica, it’s done,” he continued. “The baby’s here. Just let it go.”
I exhaled slowly, trying to calm myself even as the contractions came faster.
I turned to the nurse who was checking my vitals, deliberately avoiding eye contact with the family that had betrayed me.
“I need a moment alone with my husband.”
A nurse in a hospital room | Source: Pexels
Rachel and Diane hesitated, but the nurse quickly ushered everyone out except James.
As soon as the door shut, I turned to him coldly.
James blinked, confused. “What?”
“This marriage. Us. You tricked me into being that witch’s incubator. You disrespected me for the last time.”
An angry woman yelling at someone | Source: Midjourney
James laughed — actually laughed. “You’re blowing this out of proportion.”
“Am I? Then you won’t mind when I take everything I’m legally entitled to in the divorce.”
The color drained from James’s face as the reality hit him.
A shocked man | Source: Midjourney
We had built a comfortable life together. Our house was nearly paid off, we had retirement accounts, and college funds for the kids. All of it subject to division.
“Jessica…” he started, suddenly panicked.
“No,” I interrupted, my voice firm even as another contraction tore through me. “You took away my choice. Now I’m taking back my life.”
A woman emotional in a hospital bed | Source: Midjourney
I still had to endure the final stage of labor.
I went through it alone—I didn’t want a single traitor in the room with me as I pushed through what felt like endless pain.
When the cries of a newborn finally filled the room, I felt a complicated mix of relief, sorrow, and resolve.
A newborn baby being cleaned | Source: Pexels
The nurse placed the baby in my arms for a brief moment.
I looked at his little face—so innocent, despite the circumstances of his arrival.
But then I handed him back to the nurse. “I can’t keep this baby.”
A newborn baby | Source: Pexels
A week later, I met with a lawyer.
I filed for divorce, secured full custody of my kids, and made sure James felt the full weight of what he had done.
James tried to fix things—sent flowers, left teary voicemails, even showed up at my parents’ house, where I was staying with the kids.
A regretful man | Source: Midjourney
“Please, Jessica,” he begged. “It was a mistake. I should’ve told you.”
“A mistake?” I replied calmly. “A mistake is forgetting an anniversary. What you did was a calculated betrayal.”
Three months later, I sat across from my lawyer as she slid over the final divorce papers.
“He’s agreed to everything,” she said. “The house, the accounts, primary custody. You’ve won, Jessica.”
Divorce papers on a desk | Source: Pexels
I signed with steady hands. “I didn’t win anything. I just stopped losing.”
As I walked out of the office, my phone buzzed with a message from James:
“Rachel baptized the baby yesterday. They want you to know they’re very grateful.”
I deleted the message without replying and stepped into the crisp autumn air.
A woman walking through a city street | Source: Midjourney
Rachel had her perfect body and her perfect baby.
Matt got his family without ever having to see his wife pregnant.
James got exactly what he deserved.
A smiling woman looking to the side | Source: Midjourney
And I got something far more valuable: my freedom.
Here’s another story: When James’s salary doubled, I was shocked when he demanded we split all expenses 50/50. I worked part-time at his insistence, but I agreed—with one condition: we put it in writing.
Little does he know, my agreement isn’t surrender—it’s the first step of a plan.
