I Became a Surrogate for My Brother — But When He Saw His Newborn Baby, He Rejected Her, and the Reason Made Me Go Pale.

Then, because twins speak in leftovers, I wrote: Eat something.

He sent a photo of a vending-machine coffee.

It was the first joke of the new world, and it was a bad one, and I kept it.

In the morning a social worker came with a voice trained for rooms like mine.

She did not ask me to perform gratitude.

She asked whether I felt safe, whether David felt safe, whether the baby had a home that was not a contract.