THE CONTRACT - EPILOGUE
The story is technically over. But, I've had lots of feedback from readers about the father of Tea's baby. Is it really just some anonymous donor, or is Todd the father. And if he is the father, does he know that he's the father? Did he plan it all?
I wrote the story so that Todd wasn't the father of the baby. I thought it was more important to show how much he came to love Tea and how much he ended up loving the baby even though it wasn't his. Like he said in the story, the baby was the physical manifestation of his new life. It was like Tea was giving birth to his new chance at a happy life. I thought it would be a more meaningful bond with the child than one just because he was genetically connected to it.
But, in the interest of keeping the readers happy, and as a way of thanking you guys for being so kind and reading my work, I'm adding this chapter. I hope it's not too far out there, but at the same time, gives you what you want.
Thanks again!
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"Come here, Todd! Quick," Tea yells from across the nursery. "He's doing that thing again."
Todd runs over to where Tea is changing the baby. He peeks over her shoulder and smiles at his son.
"I don't see anything, Tea," he says, scrunching his face up in a scowl.
"Come on, JT. Show Daddy that thing you do," Tea coaxes the infant. The baby looks over at Todd and makes the same scrunched up scowl that Todd did the minute before.
"Look, he did it," Tea exclaims excitedly. "That's the same look you get on your face all the time, Todd. I'm telling you, he's looking more and more like you everyday. People are beginning to think I was just an incubator. He has your eyes, your nose and your lips."
"Hey, you've never complained about these lips before," he says, kissing her neck.
"I'm not complaining." She giggles when his mustache tickles her. "But he looks so much like you, Todd. It's almost kind of scary. It's like he really is your child. He even has your temper."
"I told you Tea. JT is my son. In all the ways that are important. Just because biology says otherwise . . . "
"That's the thing. Even biology seems to be on your side. I don't see how he could look anymore like you, even if the two of you were blood related. I guess this was all just meant to be." She finishes up changing the baby's diaper and hands him over to Todd. They had an unusually close bond, and the baby always cried for Todd more than anyone else.
"We all were meant to be," Todd adds. "Me, you, Starr, and little Jarod Thomas here. Our own happy family." He leans over and kisses her gently on the lips. He couldn't show her enough how much he loved her. He had wasted so much time in the past and almost lost her. Now, he takes every chance he gets to let her know that he couldn't live without her.
The baby was named after a new friend of Todd and Tea's. A stranger in town who helped them when they needed it most. They were away for the weekend when Tea went into labor. Unable to get to a doctor in time, they ran across this man. This Jarod**. He helped Tea deliver the baby and made sure they all were okay before mysteriously disappearing. He sends messages every now and then, but they've never seen him after that day. But, they were so grateful he had been around that they decided to name the baby after him.
(** A shamefully blatant and not so subtle reference to my other series of fanfiction based on my new favorite show, The Pretender. If you watch the show, check out my stories at: http://home.t-online.de/home/lerche.68/nicky.html If you don't watch the show, you should!!!)
"Oh, before I forget, a package was delivered her for you today. From Jarod," Tea says. She walks over to the table by the door and grabs the think, manilla envelope. She gives it to Todd and then reaches for the baby so that he can open his mail. "What is it?"
"It looks like a bunch of newspaper articles and documents. Wait, here's a note:
"Dear Friends, I hope this finds you well and happy. I was searching around and found some things you might be interested in. It looks like JT ended up in the right place after all. Love, Jarod."
"That was sweet of him. He has so much searching to do for himself. It's nice that he took the time to find out some things for us. What did he send?" Tea asks.
Todd pulls out the papers that appear to be lab tests of some sort. He puts them down and pulls out the newspaper articles next, hoping they'll be easier to decipher. He starts to skim it quickly and is amazed at what he discovers.
"I can't believe this," he says slowly. He finds a chair to sink into as his knees begin to give away. "I just can't believe it."
"What does it say, Todd?"
"This is an article about a doctor. Or at least everyone thought he was a doctor. He used to go around from clinic to clinic doing not so ethical things. He worked in most of the prison clinics along the east coast before he finally got caught."
"Caught doing what, Todd? You're not making any sense."
"Selling stuff. For lots of money. Whatever was in the market. A few years back, it seems that there was a shortage of sperm bank donors, so he . . ."
"Todd, you're starting to scare me a little. What did this doctor do? Did he personally furnish the sperm banks or did he just supply the donors?"
"He just supplied the donors. Mostly from the prisons he worked in. Prisoners who wanted to make a little extra cash and didn't really realize what they were doing. Prisoners like a couple of frat kids locked up for gang rape at Statesville."
"Statesville? What? How? I don't understand. What are you trying to say? Do you have something to do with this, Todd?"
"The doctor gets the prisoners to donate. Then he turns around and sells to the sperm banks, changing all the donors' profiles from 'criminal' to 'doctor' or 'lawyer' or 'all around great guy'. Whatever would sell. Making tons of money in the process."
"How did Jarod find all of this out? And why is he telling us about it?"
"My guess is that Jarod is this anonymous tip to the police that the article is talking about. You know how Jarod is. Always working to stop all of the injustice in the world. This guy must have been who he was trying to bring down. And everything else just all fell in his lap. He's a genius, so it couldn't have taken him long to figure things out."
"What kinds of things, Todd. I'm still confused."
"Tea, I remember this doctor. From when I was in Statesville. I was one of the prisoners who donated."
"So, you think that by some huge coincidence, the doctor just happened to sell to the clinic we went to for the artificial insemination? And by some bigger coincidence, we just happened to choose your own sperm? Todd, isn't that taking a huge leap?" Tea is incredulous, yet a lot of things are starting to make sense to her.
"Tea, how else would you explain how he looks so much like me? And why Jarod would bother to send us these articles. Or these," he says, picking up the other documents. The lab tests that he didn't really understand before. Now, it was all clear to him. Jarod must have found out about the whole sperm selling operation and found the connection between the doctor's job at Statesville and Todd. After that, a simple DNA test would confirm or deny his suspicions that JT was really Todd's biological child.
"These are DNA test results." Tea flips through the papers and stops about halfway through. Her eyes start to tear up and she drops the papers. She holds the baby tightly and cries softly.
"Tea, what do they say? I couldn't understand all of that technical mumbo jumbo."
"He's yours," she sobs. "JT is yours. Somehow, out of millions of sperm donors, we end up with you. I can't believe this," she says still crying. She looks at him and sees that he's crying too. He comes to her and grabs her tightly, clinging to her as they sob together.
But their tears are tears of joy. Happiness that their life has just been made more complete than they could have ever imagined. The baby was truly a miracle for them. A miracle that made their family what it is today - meant to be.
The End.