Surrogate Pregnancy

Chapter Three Part 4

Leon was getting stronger, working on the station, usually followed by his trusty mate Homer. He had worked on the station in all his holidays, while studying and had loved every minute of it. Binna Burra, in The Kimberley, had always been his home, his father's home and his grandfather's home. The stately, two storied homestead, with wide verandas all around, stood in its own 'Garden of Eden.'

The 800,000 hectares were bordered along one side by the mighty Mary River, and ran over two million cattle. His father had started with 300,000 hectares, and Leon had built it up, after coming back from university. He had taken over, to give his father time, to build the horse stud he wanted so much. His father was happy, and Leon who loved Binna Burra gave it all he had. He went to Rockhampton, and bought Brahman and Angus stock to breed as Brangus, an animal very strong and adaptable, which would thrive on Binna Burra land. He also bought more land, as time went on. It was his father's hope that maybe Jason, the younger son, would take over his horses, even though he didn't want to be part in Binna Burra. But he was aware, Jason was doing very well in his own area, civil engineering and construction, which could take him a long way too.

Leon was slowly coming to the decision that finding Lydia was imperative. Finding out if she was married or it was some other family problem that had made her disappear so fast. For if she was not married......he had given up on women.....or had he?

Lydia had shoved him a totally different kind of woman than he had met before. There had been a short engagement to a woman, he had thought he loved, and then later found sleeping with his (then) best friend. It had hardened him towards woman ever since. But now? He was going to start his search when his parents went to Adelaide next week.

In Alice Springs it was heating up. Lydia was happy, that she spent the hottest hours working in ICU, its air-conditioning was second to none.

Alice was preparing for Christmas Northern Territory way. Lydia was walking on Todd Mall, enjoying the many different people, when she saw Santa. He was surrounded by little children in all colours. He was a Santa with a long white beard, red hat and coat, but he wore red shorts and thongs. The things Santa had to do, to survive forty plus degrees! The truck was covered in fake snow and little stars, jingling Christmas songs nonstop. No one seemed to notice the heat. The temperature was hovering around the forty degrees every day now, and Christmas was coming soon.

Lydia smiled when she saw Ross, a young doctor she knew, and had had dinner with a couple of times. He was also far away from family. I am going to have Christmas with Monica from the lab, and some of the staff who also are far away from home. You are welcome to join us."

"That will be lovely, will you be using the barbeque area next to the staff pool?"

"Yes we are, so we can take a dip in the pool, when it gets too hot."

She thought of herself in a swimsuit, wondering if she could find one that fitted her. In the following days she looked around for a pregnancy swimsuit. Surprisingly she found there was a large range to choose from. Apparently women living in the desert went swimming, never mind what. Lydia thought that was wonderful, she could think of nothing better than submerging her whole body in cool water. Now she was prepared for the Christmas party in good time.

Lydia was feeling better than she had for weeks, realising she had been lonely. Ross had been a welcome interruption in her worrisome life. She could feel the baby moving...but she had signed a contract to give it away, and taken the $50,000. What a mess. She knew she had no choice at the time, Nicole's life quality and happiness had been in the balance.

She did not know what to do, but thoughts about lawyers, or leaving the country, kept coming back to her. She shook herself, no more maudlin thoughts, today was a good day and she was starting to make new friends. She showered and dressed, realising her uniform once again was getting tight. She took a deep breath, so soon? She would have to confess or leave her job very soon. She felt her stomach had suddenly started to grow bigger, almost from one day to the next. She had seen many pregnant women, and knew she was getting too big, too soon. Maybe she should have her blood sugar checked?