Chapter Three

"Are you okay?" Jason asked Aria, minutes after Byron left.

Aria exhaled. "Yeah, I'm fine. He just makes me so angry, you know? He cheats on my mom, walks out on me and Mike, and then comes back ten years later looking for help. It's like he thinks he's done nothing wrong." Aria looked at Nadia. "How dare he stay in the attic for so long without telling me. He could have been a danger to Nadia."

"Do you think he's the one who has been sending letters?" Jason asked.

Aria's head hurt. "I don't even want to think about that. I have a headache I'm going to go to bed." She kissed Jason on the cheek. "Goodnight."

The next day Aria was having lunch with Emily and Alison. Emily and Alison had been dating for the past two years and had recently become engaged. Alison was furious with Jason when she found out that he had married Aria. Not because she didn't want them together, she did, but because she didn't get to attend the wedding.

Aria zoned out of the conversation while she was bottle feeding Nadia. Emily and Alison were talking about wedding stuff again, venues, dresses, dates. All the details made Aria reconsider wanting to have a fancy vow renewal. She was happy with the way things were. For the first time in her life she actually felt complete.

Out of nowhere Alison asked a question. "What's it like being a mom?"

Aria had to think about it. Everybody always said how challenging being a parent was but she didn't really think so. With Nadia being premature, the first few months were hard, but almost two years later everything had pretty much settled down. Nadia was such a happy, well behaved baby she hardly ever cried or fussed. "Honestly, it's great. Having a baby is just so surreal. It's like they are a part of you forever. And it's insane how much you love your own child. I never wanted kids and I'm still not a baby person who loves to be around other people's babies, but I love Nadia so much. I would die for her if I had to."

Emily looked surprised. "Wow, it's a big commitment though."

Aria shrugged. "It is but my life is here in Rosewood. It's not as if I'm still globetrotting around like I did in college. It's nice to have stability." Aria did kind of miss being carefree sometimes, but life was almost the same as before she had Nadia. "Why are you guys asking?"

Emily and Alison looked at one another apprehensively, then Ali spoke. "After a lot of thought and planning, me and Emily have decided to have a baby of our own. We would like it if you would be our surrogate."

Aria tried to mask her shock. "I'm sorry, your surrogate? Why me? Can't one of you carry the baby?"

"Well we think it would be a better idea to have a third party to carry the babies. That way neither one of us will feel like more or less of a parent to the babies," Emily said. "We're thinking of twins. One egg could be mine and one egg could be Ali's. That way we each have a biological baby."

Ali pitched in. "And we don't want to hire some stranger to do it. We're best friends and you're married to my brother. I can't think of anyone I would trust more than you to do it."

Aria didn't even have to think about it.

Jason was exhausted when he got home from work Friday night Cooking wasn't really Aria's speciality but she always had pizza ordered.

"I'm thinking of taking a cooking class," Aria announced. "Do you want to join with me?"

Jason laughed. "No, I like living," he joked.

Aria faked hurt. "I'm not that bad." She looked over at the bare kitchen window. Last month she accidently set fire to the curtains while using the frying pan. "Besides, pizza and take out every night is so unhealthy," she said as she handed Jason the pizza box.

Jason shrugged as he took a bite of the pizza. "I guess if that's what you want. I'm going to be working overtime a lot in the next two months. Don't you have a book tour coming up?"

Aria shivered at the thought. She hated all the travelling involved in a book tour. It was so exhausting. "That's not until June." Aria sat down on the couch next to Jason. "So, something really weird happened to me today. Emily and Ali asked me to be their surrogate."

Jason looked confused. "I didn't even know Ali wanted a child. You're not thinking of doing it are you?"

"No but I feel kind of bad for turning them down."

I need opinions. What do you think Aria should do about the surrogacy situation? Any other thoughts. Please review.