Read The Choices We Make Online
Authors: Karma Brown
The Choices We Make
Following her bestselling debut novel
Come Away with Me
, Karma Brown returns with an unforgettable story that explores the intricate dynamics of friendship and parenthood
Hannah and Kate became friends in the fifth grade, when Hannah hit a boy for looking up Kate's skirt with a mirror. While they've been close as sisters ever since, Hannah can't help but feel envious of the little family Kate and her husband, David, have createdâcomplete with two perfect little girls.
She and Ben have been trying for years to have a baby, so when they receive the news that she will likely never get pregnant, Hannah's heartbreak is overwhelming. But just as they begin to tentatively explore the other options, it's Kate's turn to do the rescuing. Not only does she offer to be Hannah's surrogate, but Kate is willing to use her own eggs to do so.
Full of renewed hope, excitement and gratitude, these two families embark on an incredible journey toward parenthoodâ¦until a devastating tragedy puts everything these women have worked toward at risk of falling apart. Poignant and refreshingly honest,
The Choices We Make
is a powerful tale of an incredible friendship and the risks we take to make our dreams come true.
Praise for the novels of Karma Brown
“With effortless and beautiful writing, Karma Brown twists heartache and hope together in
The Choices We Make
, taking you on each character's complicated emotional journey and exploring how the worst-case scenario can still bring joy.”
âAmy E. Reichert, author of
Luck, Love & Lemon Pie
and
The Coincidence of Coconut Cake
“Laughing one minute, then fiercely blinking back tears the next, we tore through this novelâso gripping that we were both excited and scared out of our minds to turn the page. Karma Brown has proven herself to be a master at writing about the many facets of love in this stunning page-turner.”
âLiz Fenton and Lisa Steinke, authors of
The Status of All Things
“
The Choices We Make
describes one woman's desperate longing for a baby and her best friend's desire to help.⦠[A] story about friendship, and love, and sacrifice.”
âJulie Lawson Timmer, author of
Five Days Left
and
Untethered
“I was already emotionally invested in this beautifully written story of love and loss when an unexpected turn of events knocked the wind right out of me. Heart-wrenching yet hopeful,
Come Away with Me
had me smiling through my tears.”
âTracey Garvis Graves,
New York Times
bestselling author of
On the Island
“
Come Away with Me
tells the heartbreaking yet hopeful tale of a life lost and a life reclaimed. Fans of Elizabeth Gilbert's
Eat Pray Love
will flock to this novelâ¦. Karma Brown is a talented new voice in women's fiction.”
âLori Nelson Spielman, author of
The Life List
“
Come Away with Me
is full of lush locations, memorable characters, and a turn of events that is nothing short of jaw-dropping. Brown's work is as smart as it is effortless to read.”
âTaylor Jenkins Reid, author of
Forever, Interrupted
and
After I Do
“[A]dventurous, heartbreaking yet ultimately hopeful⦠This emotional love story will stick with you long after you've turned the final page.”
âColleen Oakley, author of
Before I Go
, on
Come Away with Me
“Brown's debut knocks it out of the parkâ¦. An impressive study of loss, reconciliation, and brave choices with a stunning, three-hanky ending. A strong ensemble of supporting characters fills out this impressive story that carries away the reader's heart and imagination.”
â
Publishers Weekly
on
Come Away with Me
“Brown's novel is cathartic and heartbreakingâ¦will leave you in tears, so definitely have a box of tissues handy.”
â
RT Book Reviews
, 4 stars, on
Come Away with Me
“A warmly compelling love story⦠Have tissues at hand for Brown's deeply moving debut.”
â
Booklist
on
Come Away with Me
For my sister, Jenna, because she made me a mother.
I am often told my daughter has my eyes and looks exactly like me. I love hearing this because it's a beautiful reminder to be grateful for how she came to be.
The first time my husband and I talked about having kids was the day I sat in my oncologist's office, raw and reeling from my shocking cancer diagnosis at the age of thirty. Along with words like
chemotherapy
and
radiation
, I was also told the lifesaving treatment would bring with it more than debilitating nausea, fatigue and hair loss. It also could cost me my fertility. So the first time my husband and I talked about kids was also the moment I learned I might never become a mother.
Luckily my oncologist was forward thinking and determined I would know motherhood. What followed were exhausting and rushed fertility procedures that left us with twenty-one embryos on ice, all set for when I was cancer-free and ready to start a family.
Despite our plentiful embryos and a boatload of determination, my body was too damaged from treatment, and pregnancy was impossible. However, my sister, Jenna, had promised she'd carry a baby for me if I ever needed her to, and so without hesitation that was exactly what she did. With this promise and one of our perfect embryos, Jenna made us parents in June 2008 through the incredible gift of gestational surrogacy.
It took 1,825 days for us to become parents. It was not an easy road, nor one I would wish on anyone despite our fairy-tale ending. But every injection, procedure, medication, worry, challenge and dollar spent was worth it. Because I am a mom.
The Choices We Make
is not our story. But my experiences are scattered throughout the pages, as is my gratitude for my sister and all the women who have helped others know parenthoodâit is a gift never to be taken for granted.
Contents
The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.
Ernest Hemingway
HANNAH
When the phone rings at seven o'clock on Tuesday night, I think it's odd but I don't worry. You save that for the calls that come in the middle of the night, the ones that wake you in a panic and surely mean someone has died. Normally I don't even answer our landlineâa relic from my high school days, so basic it doesn't even have a display screen. Ben thinks we should cancel the service, as no one calls us on it except telemarketers, my mother every so often, and my best friend, Kate, though generally by accident because she has an irrational fear of updating her contacts list.
Deciding it must be a telemarketer as Mom is at her bridge club night and I just spoke with Kate an hour ago, I continue chopping peppers for the fajitas and wait for the answering machineâcirca the same year as the phoneâto pick up.
“Hannah? Are you there?” The voice is strained, uncertain but familiar.
Tripping over the puppy, asleep in the middle of the kitchen floor, I wipe my hands on the thighs of my jeans and grab the phone.
“Hello? David?” The puppy, awake now, nips at my leg, her high-pitched attempt at a growl more amusing than annoying. “Get off, Clover!” I whisper, trying to sound like the leader the dog obedience instructor told me I need to be. Clover ignores me, continuing her assault on the hem of my jeans. I look over at Ben for help, but he's reading his tablet on the couch, oblivious to it all.
“Hannahâ” David says my name again, but this time in a rush. As if he's been holding his breath and is only just allowed to let it out. I gently shake Clover off my leg and throw a treat from my back pocket toward the couch. She promptly chases it before jumping up and snuggling her tiny, fluffy white body against Ben while she crunches the biscuit. He rubs her head, murmuring, “Good girl,” and I place my hand over the mouthpiece. “Remember who feeds you,” I say to her before speaking into the phone again.
“David, hey. When are you and Kate getting here? My impatient and apparently ravenous husband has already eaten most of the guacamole.” I glance at Ben, and he smiles before leaning forward to grab his cell off the ottoman, which was buried under a few magazines and stuffed dog toys. He frowns at the display screen and when he looks back at me his face is creased with concern. A ribbon of anxiety wraps around my chest as I think of my cell phone, forgotten upstairs on the bathroom vanity. I tap my baby finger against the curved plastic of the handset, not liking how my insides feel. “Wait, how did you get this number?”
Ben stands quickly, Clover tumbling off his lap.
It's then I realize David isn't responding because he's crying. Suddenly I hear a lot of other noises, too. Beeping, like an incessant alarm clock. A garbled voice over a loudspeaker. The sounds of busy people, doing important things.
“David, where are you?”
Ben is beside me now, showing me his phone's display. A string of missed calls from David.
“Hannah... I'm at the hospital... I don't know what happened... Everything was fine, and then she just...”
“What's wrong?” My heart pumps furiously. “Is it one of the girls?” Kate must be panicking, which is likely why David was calling instead of her. The ribbon of anxiety winds tighter.
And with his answer, I see the moment my life changes.