The Surrogate Mother

Chapter 14

Alice and Dylan spent the rest of the day goofing around. Alice would talk about Sara to Dylan whenever something reminded her of Sara, which was almost everything. Dylan listened to all of them with absolute interest and loved watching her talk endlessly.

When Judy came back from work, she called the both of them back home so they could eat early and wait for Gina to drop by. Alice was nervous about the rest of the story and wanted to ask Dylan to stay with her while Gina filled her with even more doubts, worries and anxiety.

Dylan felt Alice's nervousness radiating off her and wordlessly held her hand as a silent promise to be there for her.
"I want you stay with me when Gina tells me the rest of the story. Will you do that for me, Dylan?"

"Are you sure you want that?"

"Yeah. I really need the support."

"If you're sure, then so am I."

The stranger lurking in the shadows leaned in closer as he heard Gina's name. He knew he had to be there to listen to this story and after casing the house, he knew it wouldn't be easy to directly eavesdrop. He'd have to plant a bug. But how?

The duo went back home, showered (separately, might I add) and helped Judy prepare dinner. Since, it was decided that Dylan would join Alice with Gina, the three of them agreed that it would be better if they had dinner with Gina too, who arrived at their doorstep just as they were getting the plates ready.

"Hi Gina! Come in. Come in."

"Hey Judy. Hi Dylan. How are you, Alice?"

"I am good, Gina. Better than before."

"Good. You were sleeping soundly when I got here in the morning, so I did not want to wake you up. Hope you aren't mad."

"Good God! No. No. I am glad I was able to sleep well too."

"Well, Gina, we just finished preparing dinner. Why don't you join us?" said Judy, deciding to mention the part about Dylan joining the mother-daughter duo, later.

"I am actually pretty starved and was hoping for a good dinner, if you don't mind?"

"Nonsense. Sit. Sit. Dylan, come on let's get the table ready." Judy said as she gave a Alice a chance to tell Gina about Dylan.

"Gina, I was actually thinking about Dylan joining me for the rest of my story. I think it's too much to handle for me and I need somebody to get the picture so it becomes easy for me to deal with it. I know it seems like asking too much of you, but I know this will help me. I also trust Dylan to not..."

"Alice. You don't have to go on a nervous rambling session, honey. I get it. You need the mental and moral support. Of course, Dylan can join us."

"Thank you so much, Gina. Sorry about the rambling though."

"Nonsense. It's cute. Sara used to do it a lot. In fact, there was this one time when... you know what? I think this story is best for after dinner. Think you can wait till then?"

Alice cracked a weak smile as she looked at Gina, thinking about how much she resembles her.

"I think I can manage."

"Good. Let's eat."

The four of them enjoyed each other's company during dinner over sun-dried tomato pasta and orange juice. It didn't feel like they had only known each other for a short time. The bond was pre-formed before they all met each other.

As Dylan and Alice followed Gina into Alice's room, Gina threw the listening device she had felt being dropped into her pocket when a stranger had bumped into her and walked without even half an apology, through the window.

"These assholes think they can get to my daughter before I can. However, they clearly don't know me well. But my first duty is to protect Alice from anymore danger." she thought to herself as she sat down next to Alice.

Outside the house, the mysterious stranger who bumped into her watched as his listening device fell into the grass and he heard the sound of it falling through his earpiece.

"Bloody hell! She's good. I need to up my game if I want to catch hold of Alice."

_____________*_______________*_________

Don't forget to vote.