In another life, I desperately wanted to have a child. The problem I faced, as do many single women, is that I hadn’t found a suitable life-partner and so the years were passing and I remained childless.

It wasn’t a common approach at that time, but I approached an old lover who still hovered at the periphery of my life, and explained that I wanted a child and asked if he would assist. to my shock, he said yes. I never really expected that he would.

As we lived on different sides of the continent, getting together in the usual way was problematic (though we tried). In the end, it was easier that he flew to my home city (Sydney) and left sperm with the only IVF clinic that at that time, would treat single women.

It took three cycles, but I fell pregnant. This was a miracle, given my ageing eggs. That was decades ago, and my son is approaching twenty nine. It has been a wild journey at times as a single mother, but we have still maintained contact with his donor father.

My experiences as a solo mother by choice, and that of friends who have gone through similar situations, have prompted me to write Plan B: Secret Donor Baby. It’s not biographic, but aspects of the storyline were influenced by comments I received or things that happened along the way. I hope you enjoy it. This book is published under the name of Rowena Wylde.

Who needs men anyway?

Pyper had long dreamed of the family she wanted to have. It takes two to tango, and when she hadn’t met the man of her dreams, she took matters into her own hands. South Coast Fertility Clinic came to her rescue and a last-minute fling with Charlie Jordan confirmed she’d made the right decision.

The Gods must have been laughing. She was barely 6 weeks pregnant, when her dream job came up. Of course, she applied. She could worry about logistics later. If she dressed carefully, she could hide her pregnancy for a while, until she had proven her worth at least.

Beecham Constructions was all that she hoped. Well almost. The Project Director was the last person she ever expected to work with. Not only did she have to hide her bump, she also had to conceal her secret liaison, not helped by his antagonistic attitude.

Pyper didn’t book the accommodation, so it wasn’t her that put them in the same room. She would hardly have done that, when she was hiding her growing bundle. Then she discovered she wasn’t the only one with a secret. There was a surprise of his own in Charlie’s past.