Dragon's Heir

Chapter 1-2

“This is wrong,” her father said with a shake of his head. There was nothing he liked about this. There was nothing about this entire affair that he appreciated. For some reason, he couldn’t get behind what it was that she was doing. He was the kind of man who had worked his entire life at an insurance company, finding customers who would save him from the threat of mortgage, bills, and other things that ate up money like it was candy. It was hard for her father, but he spent his entire time looking for something that would save his family, but at a cost. He would always keep things in check and according to his noble and strange principles. Everything about him was taken into consideration under the rosy lenses of his virtuous glasses.

“I’m tired of talking about it,” Tamara said with a somber, serious tone.

“Well, I’m not,” her father said sternly.

She didn’t want to hear about it again. All she had done was listen to him telling her that he thought it was morally and ethically wrong. She supposed that it was probably hard for him to comprehend that soon, his daughter was going to be wealthier than he was without struggling and toiling at a desk for decades. It probably disturbed him that his daughter was going to be a millionaire in just a matter of months. Looking at everything before him, she knew that he was having a hard time coming to terms with everything that was happening.

“Dan, leave her alone,” Tamara’s mother said in a soft voice.

All of Tamara’s beauty had come from her mother, but it was easy to see that Tamara surpassed her. For the past three years, Tamara had been surpassing all of their expectations. Well, maybe not her father’s.

Since graduating college, Tamara only had a few part-time jobs, living at home and making the most of everything that her parents had to offer, biding her time for the right moment. As far as she was concerned, college had done more than give her a piece of paper to hang on her wall. She didn’t want to climb the corporate ladder. She wanted to take care of herself and she wanted to bide her time until there was a perfect opportunity. Patience and caution had bought her all the time she needed and now it was time for her to reap the benefits.

“I will not,” her father said sternly. “Your brother is working hard in the city and your sister is going to college to get everything out of life that she can. Why do you think that you deserve anything different than they do? You’re prostituting yourself out so that you can make a fast fortune, but I assure you, it’ll be more trouble than you’ll want. I can promise you that.”

“I’m not prostituting myself out,” Tamara shouted at him, tired of having the same old conversation. He believed that there was nothing good about what she was doing, only because he had absolutely no idea what it was that she was planning.

“They’re paying me to be a surrogate. They want someone to have their baby for them and who is capable of doing so, without any bodily harm or physical complications. I’ve never had alcohol, drugs, or even smoked a cigarette in my life. I’m young and I’ve never even had a child, so all the doctors that I’ve spoken to say that it’s going to be quick and painless.”

“They are using you as you would a common w***e,” her father said in his fierce, Bible belt ignorance that she’d adapted to when she was a child.

Growing up in his house was always a constant sermon about a virtue or a righteous person becoming a victim of debauchery and the sodomy of the common ways. It was incessant and it was something that Tamara was used to.

“I’m helping a couple have a child, Dad,” Tamara said, feeling nothing but rage and anger swelling inside of her. “Yes, they’re paying me for my time and my service to them, but that’s fair to me. I’m okay with being the one who helps them have a child. If you’ve can’t get over that, then I don’t know what to tell you.”

“You strut around in your tight clothes and in your fancy makeup,” her Dad shook his head. “You make all these boys want to have s*x with you and then you go ahead and have s*x for a living. That’s a prostitute, Tamara. We raised you better than that.”

“I can’t have this conversation anymore,” Tamara threw up her hands in defeat. There was no getting through to him. “I’m getting on my plane tomorrow, I’m going to New York, I’m going to nail the last part of the audition process, and I’m going to help a couple give birth to a child like a decent human being.”

“Well don’t expect a congratulations from me,” her Dad shouted at her from the kitchen table. “A woman shouldn’t give up her child. It’s against God to do something like that. You don’t want to be that kind of woman, Tamara.”

Outside on the porch, Tamara listened to the door slam and looked up at the stars that she could see all across the heavens. There was no getting through to him. There was nothing on her mind right now but rage. She wanted to scream at her father and tell him how ignorant he was, but that would do absolutely nothing and she knew it. There was no way that he would ever understand what surrogacy was or what it was that she was trying to do for these people.

Sure, she was getting paid for what she was doing, but that didn’t mean that she was going to be a prostitute. It meant that she was a good person who actually cared about the well-being of herself and others. She wasn’t going to just give up on everything she could possibly have. She wanted more for herself and she wanted more from others who could benefit her. Hopefully, there would be someone who wished more for her later on down the road, should she need it.

“Dad giving you crap again?” Kendra asked, sitting on the hanging rocker, wrapped up in a blanket as she looked out across the yard. She looked at her sister, pretty as a painting, but always living in the shadow of her older sister’s beauty and radiance.

There was something bitter deep inside of Kendra and it was festering for years, but going forward, she knew that Kendra would be happier. After all, it was Tamara who was giving Kendra the mantle of golden child now.

“As always,” she said with a heavy sigh.

“He’ll get over it,” Kendra said with a grin, scooting over for Tamara to sit down next to her. Walking over, Tamara took her spot next to her sister and smiled at her. “He always gets over whatever you do.”

“This isn’t a C on my math test,” Tamara shook her head. “He’s never going to forgive me for something he doesn’t understand.”

“Sure he will,” Kendra grumbled. “He will.”

“Well, enjoy being in his good graces,” Tamara exhaled, feeling like there was a burden hanging over her, invisible and lethal.

“Oh, I will,” Kendra smiled.