JAMIE’S HEAD WAS spinning as she followed Lenora from Mr. Abernathy’s office and sat on the sofa across from her desk. She took a deep breath in an effort to calm herself and mentally replayed the conversation with Mr. Abernathy while Lenora made phone calls and gave instructions to her assistant.

One hundred thousand dollars! That was far more than had been suggested on any of the surrogate mother Web sites she’d visited. And, in addition to that, she would have an annual income for the rest of her life-not enough to live on but certainly enough to give her wonderful options as to how she would manage her life.

Taxes would take part of the money, of course, but she could pay off her credit cards and have more than enough money to finish her undergraduate degree. And it made going to medical school not seem like a pipe dream.

It was overwhelming. So much so, she began to tremble. She took several deep breaths and put her shaking hands between her knees to still them.

But to earn this bonanza and get on with the rest of her life, she would have to take the better part of a year off to have a baby, she reminded herself.

A baby.

Even though she had done all that research online, perhaps she had not completely thought through what being a surrogate mother entailed. She touched her stomach. A baby growing inside of her that didn’t belong to her. By knowing from the very beginning that it was not hers to love and raise, she could deal with it, though. She was certain of that. After all, she didn’t want a baby of her own. Not yet. Not until she could have a baby that was conceived because she and a man loved each other and wanted to have a family together. And she was a long way from that.

She wondered what Mr. Abernathy thought of her-of a woman willing to have a baby for strangers. Was he appalled that a seemingly decent young woman would even consider such a thing? Jamie found the idea of surrogate motherhood rather appealing, however. It seemed like a beautiful thing to do for a childless couple. She’d read on one of the Web sites that some women even volunteer to be surrogate mothers for free. They like being pregnant and having babies. Some of them even have lifelong relationships with the parents and the child.

Of course that wasn’t going to be the case if she carried a baby for Mr. Abernathy’s clients. They would never want to see their child’s surrogate mother again after the baby was born, which might be better for all concerned. How confusing it would be for a child to have two mothers.

But what about all those other stipulations to which she would have to agree? Was not having to mortgage her future in order to complete her education worth becoming a virtual prisoner for up to a year of her life?

Then she thought how glorious it would be to attend the university without having to hold down a job and worry about money all the time.

She watched Lenora put a sheaf of papers in her briefcase and take her purse from the bottom drawer of her desk. Jamie followed her out of the office. On the elevator ride to the underground garage, Jamie dug around in her purse for a tissue.

“Are you all right?” Lenora asked.

Jamie blew her nose. “Just a bit overwhelmed,” she admitted.

“What you need is a nice lunch at the Driskill Grill,” Lenora said. “Then we are going to have manicures and pedicures on the boss’s dollar before we settle down for the afternoon in your hotel room to go over this contract.”

Her grandmother’s Chevrolet, packed with all of Jamie’s possessions, was parked across from Lenora’s late-model BMW. Jamie followed Lenora as she navigated her way through the midday downtown traffic.

She parked behind Lenora in front of the entrance to the historic hotel, which made Jamie think of a huge, overdecorated wedding cake. A young man in livery came hurrying over to open her door.

“You know, it wasn’t so many years ago that a black person would have had to enter from the rear-and then only if he or she was employed by the hotel,” Lenora mused as they walked through the lavishly decorated lobby with marble floors and soaring columns. “My grandmother worked here as a chambermaid back in the fifties. I bring her here every year on her birthday. She wears her best church hat and white gloves and carries herself like a queen.” Lenora paused, and then added, “Your grandmother raised you, didn’t she?”

Jamie nodded, thinking how wonderful it would have been to bring Granny to a place like this.

The restaurant, with its paneled walls and ceiling, was more sedate than the lobby. The other diners were dressed like Lenora-in smart outfits and expensive shoes. Jamie self-consciously crossed her feet, which were shod in twelve-dollar sandals from Wal-Mart, and shoved them under the table.

She envied Lenora, who exuded self-confidence. And for good reason. With her hair pulled sleekly back in a tight chignon, perfectly fitting suit, velvety brown skin, flawless makeup, bare silky legs, and obviously expensive sling-back pumps, she looked like a professional model. Or a successful executive. Jamie wondered if Lenora had ever driven around on bald tires or wondered where her next meal was coming from.

Jamie had no expectations of ever being rich. It would be nice, however, not to be poor.

A waiter brought them goblets of water and placed a breadbasket between them.

“Are there lots of other candidates for this…this position?” Jamie asked.

“I am not at liberty to say.”

“Have you taken any other candidates to lunch at the Driskill?”

Lenora smiled. “No, I haven’t.”

Jamie nodded knowingly. “Mr. Abernathy seemed to think that his clients would like me.”

“Well, then, you must think this through and decide if being a surrogate mother is something you would always regret or something you could look back on with satisfaction.”

“Do you know the clients?”

Lenora shook her head. “Not really. In the three years I’ve been with Bentley Abernathy, the woman has come to the office only once. Bentley has known her and her brother for years, however. They are quite wealthy, as I am sure you already realize. The woman lost her only child in an accident and apparently can no longer have children, and she recently married a younger man who has never had children.”

“And this woman and her husband really want this baby more than anything?” Jamie asked.

“I think you can assume that a baby is a high priority for them,” Lenora said. “Why else would they go to all this trouble?”

Jamie thought how only people who were well off financially could afford to hire a surrogate mother, which was unfair, of course. But she had figured out a long time ago that life was not about fairness. It was about making the best of what came one’s way. While her grandmother was dying, she decided that she was not going to wait for life to come to her; she was going to go use what few assets she had and meet it on her own terms. Which was why the surrogate-mother idea appealed to her in the first place.

“What you need to do is read the contract and do the arithmetic,” Lenora said. “Determine just how meaningful the money would be in your life. Then have the medical workup and meet with the couple. You can walk away at any point up until you sign the agreement. And-as I am sure Bentley explained-even though some surrogate mothers do change their minds and decide to keep their baby, that could turn out to be one very bad decision. In fact, you must not even entertain such a notion. You must think of the terms of this contract as being cast in stone.”

Jamie sighed. “I keep wondering what my grandmother would think.”

Lenora placed her hand on top of Jamie’s. “Our grandmothers grew up in a different time. This is a decision for a young woman of this time.”