Read Maternal Harbor for Free Online

Steinberg’s hasty disappearance, Erica savored the surge of power exerted over a perpetrator.  Her son would know this same adrenaline rush, one that pumped through your very essence.  His testosterone would naturally provide a strong, athletic body to handle it.  Molding his mind into perfection was a challenge she yearned for.  Helping a man live up to his potential and guiding one into adulthood would be quite a reward.
    Mrs. Steinberg stepped back into the customer area.  “Well, I feel better.  Are you sure you’re all right?”
    It took a moment for Erica to register where she was and what was said.
    Mrs. Steinberg stood before her, wide-eyed and wondering.
    “ You need to turn your calendar,” Erica said.
    Screaming sirens ended with a screech of tires.  The laundry door burst opened and several officers charged inside.  Erica endured the motions necessary to relinquish her prisoner, and finally slid into her Blazer.  Still hyped, she rested for a moment to be calm now for Derek’s sake.  Even though he was a strong baby with exceptional genes, he’d been through enough for one day.
    Erica recalled the hours spent in front of the computer selecting the perfect donor from the web pages of different sperm banks.  She’d finally opted to use a man listed as six-feet four-inches, blonde and blue-eyed, a retired Navy Seal, and now politically active.  The info page didn’t list the state of residence or name, but Erica sensed he was a stoic north easterner.
    Even Dr. Klassen thought so at her first visit to the pregnancy clinic nine months ago.  He performed the preliminary examination and returned to the small medical room for a talk.
    “ Everything looks normal and you should have no problems carrying a child.  Are you sure you want to?  It’ll change your life completely.”
    “ It’s the one thing I regret about dedicating my life to the police department.  I want to fulfill that need before I get too old.”  Until that moment, Erica never realized how much she really wanted a child.  “I will be a good mother.”
    “ Have you chosen the donor?”
    She handed him the printout.
    Dr. Klassen scanned the paper.  The lines around his brown eyes crinkled and he smiled.  “Good choice.  His strong genes should blend well with yours.  I’ll order the sperm from the bank, but first you must take medications that will force your ovaries to produce multiple eggs.  We need lots of embryos to make sure.”
    Steel determination helped Erica endure the close monitoring of her eggs until they reached perfection just before ovulation.  Then she had lain vulnerable with instruments coldly inside her, feeling the needle aspirate her eggs, harvesting her hopes for a son.
    Dr. Klassen finally withdrew the needle.  “We have three.  I’ll put them in the growth media and add the sperm.”
     
    “When will I know?”
    “ Tomorrow morning.  It takes time to detect if fertilization happened.”
    The next day, a technician’s voice confirmed the miracle.  Her eggs were embryos and ready.
    The implantation procedure invaded her womanhood.
    “ I’m going to numb your soft tissue,” Dr. Klassen said, “but entrance through your cervical canal and into your uterus will be uncomfortable.”
    The prick of the needle hurt.  Cramping attacked deep in her lower abdomen.  She didn’t utter a sound.  Instead, she let her mind slip to where crystals sang in a breeze.
    “Almost there.”  The needle slid deeper.  “Okay, I’m inserting the embryos.”
    Ten days later the cramps were worth it when Dr. Klassen told her she was pregnant.  His voice contained pure satisfaction, same kind as Erica now enjoyed.
     
     

Chapter 4
     
     
    “ Even pregnant nanny goats don’t climb hills,” Doretta scolded Teagan on the sidewalk in front of Wang’s Deli.
    “ They do if they’re bullied into stuffing themselves.  That sandwich has to be walked off.  Next time we will share one .”  Teagan