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'Sister Wives' surrogacy? Kody makes up Meri's mind for her

Will she or won't she? That's been the burning question for "Sister Wives" viewers ever since Kody Brown's fourth wife, Robyn, offered to act as a surrogate for his first wife, Meri, back in the show's second season. Since then, Meri has struggled to make up her mind about it, but on Sunday night, she finally decided.Sort of.Actually, it was Kody, who has long seemed hopeful that Meri would accept
Image: Kody and Meri Brown.
Will Kody Brown and his first wife, Meri, have another child? The \"Sister Wives\" patriarch said it's up to her — just before he said no.Today

Will she or won't she? That's been the burning question for "Sister Wives" viewers ever since Kody Brown's fourth wife, Robyn, offered to act as a surrogate for his first wife, Meri, back in the show's second season. Since then, Meri has struggled to make up her mind about it, but on Sunday night, she finally decided.

Sort of.

Actually, it was Kody, who has long seemed hopeful that Meri would accept the offer, who made the call. And it wasn't the call anyone was expecting.

"If she says 'Honestly, I want to try,' it puts me in an interesting place," Kody explained to the camera before his decision-making picnic with Meri," because my gut-check isn't affirming that."

Still, once they arrived at Red Rock Canyon, Kody insisted that Meri was the one who had to say one way or the other.

"Because you'd have to carry it and because it's your body, the responsibility of it lands more on your shoulders," he told her, forgetting that it might be Robyn's body that would carry it. "Do you understand that? The responsibility to the child isn't any less mine. The responsibility of the choice becomes more you."

But when Meri asked what he really thought, he didn't hold back.

"I would do it if nature just did it," he explained. "If God just … it just happened. No problem. In fact … it would just be absolutely wonderful. But because of the stakes, I'm not burning in my gut to do it. You know what I'm saying? I say no."

Meri wasn't quite convinced, and suggested that they still "think on it."

"Let's think on this as the 'no' and we stew on that thought," Kody was quick to reply.

Despite Kody's original claim that the decision was hers to make, he made it, and it wasn't until Meri had a chat with sister wife Robyn later that viewers — if not Kody — finally learned what she really wanted.

"I had actually planned to tell him I wanted to start (the process of having a baby)," a teary-eyed Meri confessed. But now? "It just is what it is."

Robyn felt guilty for even bringing up the question of surrogacy, given how things turned out. As for Meri, she's just concerned about where she fits in the always-growing family now. When her daughter Mariah moves away to college this year, she'll be an empty nester, and that's not an experience she can share with Kody. After all, he has three other wives and 16 other children, so his nests will be full for a while.

"Sister Wives" airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on TLC.