Chapter 13 Chapter 13: Escalating Situation
Catherine’s P.O.V
I watched Xavier’s eyes flash with frustration, his jaw tight, the way his hands curled into fists at his sides making me flinch.
“Cathy,” he said, his voice low but sharp, “I’m doing what’s best for the family. What we’re doing…this… it’s the best way forward. Why can’t you understand that?”
I blinked at him, unable to believe what I was hearing. “Best for the family?” I repeated, my voice incredulous. “Xavier, did you even ask me what I thought? Did you even care about my opinion? Especially for a baby I’m about to raise? One I had no idea even existed five hours ago?”
He ran a hand through his hair, exasperated. “Cathy, you know how my mother has been… nagging us for years! Always reminding you that you needed to produce the Dalton heir, calling you names, making you feel… inadequate. Don’t you see? This is the only solution that makes sense. The only one that will make everyone happy.”
I took a step closer, disbelief written all over my face. “Xavier, are you seriously telling me that being pushed into this… that not even asking me if I wanted this… is the best solution? How could you possibly think that? You’ve watched me, Xavier! You’ve watched me go through so much pain to conceive!”
His eyes softened for a fraction of a second, then hardened again. “Cathy, I… I wanted to protect you from all of that. From my mother’s constant reminders, from the pressure, from the… the humiliation. I thought… I thought you’d be happy that we finally have a way to get past all of it, to secure the future.”
I shook my head, feeling my chest tighten. “Happy? Xavier, happiness isn’t about avoiding your mother’s nagging! Happiness is being part of the decision, being asked what I want, not just what you think is best for the family. You didn’t even give me a choice.”
He took a deep breath, frustration evident in every line of his body. “Cathy… I thought I was doing the right thing. I thought this would fix everything. That this would make you… us… whole.”
I looked at him, incredulity and hurt burning in my chest. “Xavier, you can’t just assume what’s right for me. You don’t get to decide that. You don’t get to decide for us without even including me. How could you honestly think this…this plan of yours…is better than asking me how I feel?”
“If I had asked, it wouldn’t have been a surprise…”
“Surprise is a gift-wrapped necklace or a ticket to Hawaii!” I snapped, unable to hold it in. “Not a living, breathing baby, conceived by another woman!”
He paused, his eyes flicking away, then back to mine. “I… I thought it would make you happy.”
God, that same sentence! Does he really think repeating it over and over will make it come true?
I laughed bitterly, shaking my head. “Xavier, no. I’m not happy. Not in the slightest. You may have thought it was the best solution, but it was never about what I wanted. It was only ever about what you wanted… and what your mother wanted too. But not me. Never me.”
He stepped closer, a pleading edge in his voice. “Cathy, I didn’t… I didn’t want to hurt you. I only wanted to… make things easier.”
I took a step back, my voice dropping to a whisper. “You didn’t make anything easier, Xavier. You just decided for me. And that… that’s not love. That’s control disguised as concern. And I… I can’t accept that.”
Xavier just stared at me, eyes wide. He’d never seen me this emotional before. He didn't have a reason to, but now he did.
“Besides,” I started, my voice tighter than I intended, “we know nothing about the surrogate’s history, or her medical records, or her family background. How can anyone even know if this woman is really suitable for being the surrogate?” I leaned back, crossing my arms, trying to mask the unease gnawing at me.
“I mean, shouldn’t we have checked all of that before anything… before her being pregnant?”
Xavier ran a hand down his face and let out a sigh, one that somehow carried both frustration and something softer, almost pleading.
“Cathy… it’s already too late for all that now,” he said carefully, like he was walking on glass. “Caroline… She's already pregnant. And she’s having a healthy baby.”
I frowned, not buying it, but keeping quiet for a moment as I tried to make sense of what he was saying. “But… How can you be so sure she’s the right person? What if…what if there’s something about her we don’t know? Something that could… that could go wrong?” My voice cracked slightly, betraying the panic I was trying to hide.
Xavier shook his head, leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Cathy, my mother… She chose the best woman she could find. She made sure Caroline had a perfectly compatible egg, someone ideal for our family. You really need to trust her on this. She cares… she really cares about our family, about us.”
“Compatible egg?” I echoed, feeling the words like a cold wave against my chest. “So… you mean you didn’t even meet her? Didn’t ask a single question?”
“No,” Xavier admitted, voice softer now, almost guilty. “I trusted my mother’s judgment. She knows what she’s doing. She picked Caroline because she would be perfect, Cathy. She made sure she’s healthy, responsible. Her family background is spotless. Caroline is the daughter of one of my mother’s friends.”
I swallowed hard, my stomach twisting. “Her family background is spotless… and that makes it okay?” I couldn’t hide the skepticism.
“How do you even know everything is fine? How do you know there’s nothing in her past… nothing that could complicate things?”
Xavier reached out, almost instinctively, but stopped himself halfway. “I know it feels strange… it feels sudden, I get that. But you have to trust me. You have to trust my mother this once. She has only ever wanted the best for us, for our family. Caroline… She's already part of this now. She’s carrying our child, Cathy. There’s no going back.”
I shook my head, my chest tightening. “I just… something about all this feels wrong, Xavier. I can’t explain it. I just… I don’t feel right about it.”
He looked at me with a mixture of exasperation and tenderness. “Cathy… I know you’re scared. I know it’s overwhelming. But the baby is healthy. Caroline is a good woman. Everything she’s doing, she’s doing with the best intentions. You have to trust that. Trust me. Trust my mother. Please.”
I wanted to, I really did. I wanted to believe him, to calm down, to accept that everything was fine. But the knot in my stomach wouldn’t loosen. Something about it all…the speed, the secrecy, the way Caroline fit so neatly into this picture, made my skin crawl.
“I don’t know, Xavier. I… I just don’t know.”
He reached out again, this time letting his hand brush mine, warm and steady. “Then trust me. That’s all I’m asking. Trust me, and trust that everything will be okay. That’s all I want… all I’ve ever wanted.”
I looked at him, at the intensity in his eyes, the hope, the pleading, and for a moment I almost believed him. Almost but deep down, a small voice whispered that this wasn’t just about trust. Something else was at play here. Something I didn’t fully understand.
I stared at him, my chest tightening, my hands curling into fists at my sides. “I just… I can’t believe this, Xavier,” I said, my voice trembling more than I wanted it to.
“A few hours ago, you were telling me that you’re with me, that you fought your mother for me, that you chose me. And now… now you’re turning against me? On this?” I could feel the sting of betrayal, sharp and raw, and it made my stomach twist.
“I can’t… I just… I can’t deal with this right now!” I took a step back, my eyes watering even though I refused to let the tears fall.
He moved toward me, his hands slightly raised as if he were approaching a wounded animal, his voice low and controlled but urgent.
“Cathy, wait…please, don’t overreact like this. Let me explain…”
“No!” I snapped, cutting him off before he could finish. “I don’t want explanations right now. I don’t want to hear anything from you. I just… I need air, I need space, I need…” I turned sharply on my heel, my heart hammering, and started walking toward the door, my shoes clacking on the floor like a drum of panic.
“Catherine, come on! Don’t just walk away!” Xavier called after me, his voice chasing me down the hallway, but it only made my chest tighten more.
“Cathy, I’m not against you. I’m not…please, stop running from this!”
I didn’t turn around. I couldn’t. My throat felt raw from holding in all the words I wanted to scream at him, all the hurt and disbelief and frustration I couldn’t put into polite sentences.
“I said I can’t deal with this! You can yell, you can call, you can say anything you want, but I’m done…done trying to make sense of your back-and-forth right now!”
I whispered it through gritted teeth, even as his footsteps echoed behind me, trying to catch up, trying to bridge a gap I didn’t know if I could cross.
“Cathy, please. You know I didn’t mean it like that!” he shouted, desperation creeping into his voice, and I could hear it, but I didn’t want to. I refused to. “I thought you’d understand…”
“Understand what, Xavier?” I barked over my shoulder, my voice breaking despite me trying to sound fierce.
“That you’re choosing to fight me one second and protect me the next? That you say one thing and mean another? I can’t… I can’t live like this, not right now!”
And then I walked into the guest bedroom, slamming the door on his face, leaving him standing there, calling my name, and the echo of his pleas followed me into the quiet of the room.
I climbed into the cold, unfamiliar bed, wrapping the covers around me ightly until the sound of his voice was just a faint memory, and even then, my chest heaved with the weight of disbelief and exhaustion.