Ingrid was still at the dining-room table when we returned.
The candles had been extinguished.
Harold sat in the living room.
Sabine was on the phone with an attorney.
Elise had left with a friend after refusing to spend another minute inside the Blake house.
Laura remained with Caroline at Mercer Biomedical.
Nobody looked surprised when Felix and I walked in.
That told me the evening had passed beyond surprise.
I placed Claire’s documents on the table.
Ingrid looked at them.
“What now?”
“Evan.”
Her face changed.
One second.
That was all.
But I saw it.
“You know his name.”
She said nothing.
Felix stopped beside me.
“Mom.”
Ingrid looked at her son.
“You know about him?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Answer her.”
Ingrid folded her hands.
I had seen that gesture before.
At dinners.
At holidays.
Whenever she wanted to appear calm.
“Evan was never supposed to become part of this.”
I stared.
“He is part of it because someone stole one of my embryos.”
She closed her eyes.
“I know.”
Felix whispered, “Mom.”
She looked at him.
“I didn’t know at first.”
“At first?”
“I knew Martin was moving material.”
My stomach turned at the word.
Material.
My eggs.
Our embryos.
“During which cycle?”
She looked at me.
“The seventh.”
The cycle with three blastocysts.
The cycle Felix and I had been told produced none.
The night I sat on the kitchen floor crying.
“What did you do?”
Ingrid’s voice became quieter.
“Martin came to me after the retrieval.”
“Why you?”
“Because he said the trust timeline was failing.”
“Meaning I wasn’t pregnant quickly enough.”
“Yes.”
Felix moved away from the table.
He looked physically ill.
Ingrid continued.
“He said there was a way to preserve options.”
“What options?”
“Store embryos separately.”
“Without telling me.”
“Yes.”
“Without telling Felix.”
She looked at him.
“Yes.”
He laughed once.
“So you betrayed both of us.”
“I thought I was protecting you.”
“No.”
His voice sharpened.
“You were protecting money.”
Ingrid flinched.
I said, “Who decided to transfer the embryo to Claire?”
“Martin.”
“Did you know?”
“Not until later.”
“How much later?”
“After the pregnancy.”
“Did you stop him?”
“I tried.”
I almost laughed.
Everyone had tried after the damage.
“What did trying look like?”
“I contacted Margaret.”
The room went still.
Harold appeared in the doorway.
“You contacted Mother?”
Ingrid turned.
“Yes.”
“You told me you didn’t know she was alive.”
“I didn’t know where she was.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Ingrid’s face hardened.
“For years you lied to me about your own mother.”
Harold stopped.
“Don’t make yourself the victim.”
“I’m not.”
“You declared her dead.”
“I know what I did.”
“And I discovered she was alive because Martin panicked when the embryo transfer was challenged.”
I leaned forward.
“How?”
“Martin said someone claiming to be Margaret Blake had contacted the clinic.”
“And?”
“I found an old number among Harold’s papers.”
Harold closed his eyes.
“You called.”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
“That if I had any decency left, I would help her stop the transfer.”
“Did you?”
Ingrid looked at me.
“I gave her the location of the recipient.”
Claire.
That was how Margaret found Evan.
Not by accident.
Ingrid told her.
“You saved him from being taken away from Claire.”
“Yes.”
“After helping create the situation.”
“Yes.”
Her answer contained no defense this time.
Felix sat.
“Why didn’t you tell us Evan existed?”
Ingrid looked at him.
“Because Martin said if you knew, you would claim him.”
Felix stared.
“Did you believe that?”
“At the time?”
“Yes.”
He looked hurt.
I understood why.
Then I remembered what Felix had been willing to do with Elise’s baby.
Ingrid’s belief had not been entirely unreasonable.
“You also needed another succession child,” I said.
Her eyes moved toward me.
“Yes.”
“So Elise.”
“I did not tell Felix to sleep with her.”
“No. You just made sure she was available.”
Ingrid looked away.
Felix stared at his mother.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing at first.”
“What does that mean?”
“I told Martin where Elise was living.”
Felix stood.
“You found her.”
“I knew where she was.”
“You gave Martin her location.”
“Yes.”
“And then he encouraged me to contact her.”
“I didn’t know exactly what he intended.”
“Stop.”
Felix’s voice shook.
“Stop pretending ignorance is innocence.”
Ingrid fell silent.
That sentence could have been spoken to half the room.
Maybe all of us.
I opened Claire’s custody rider.
“They planned to take Evan before his first birthday.”
Ingrid nodded.
“Martin believed once the trust certified the child, nobody would challenge it.”
“And Margaret stopped him.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t she expose everything then?”
Ingrid looked at Harold.
“Because Harold threatened her.”
Harold’s head snapped up.
“No.”
Ingrid turned toward him.
“Yes.”
“What threat?”
Felix asked.
Harold said nothing.
Ingrid answered.
“He told Margaret if she surfaced publicly, he would have her declared mentally incompetent.”
Margaret had suffered a stroke.
Her son controlled her estate.
Her identity had already been erased.
The threat would have been credible.
“He would have locked her away again,” Ingrid said.
Harold’s face hardened.
“I was trying to contain chaos.”
Sabine entered.
“You were trying to contain Grandmother.”
Harold looked at his daughter.
“I made terrible choices.”
“That is becoming the family motto.”
She placed her phone on the table.
“My attorney verified the codicil.”
Everyone looked at her.
“It’s valid.”
Harold sat.
Sabine continued.
“Distribution is formally suspended.”
Ingrid closed her eyes.
Felix asked, “What happens next?”
“An independent trust review.”
“How long?”
“Months.”
Harold whispered, “We don’t have months.”
“The company debt.”
“Yes.”
Sabine looked at him.
“I’m sorry.”
He laughed bitterly.
“No, you’re not.”
“I am sorry for the employees.”
That silenced him.
I turned back to Ingrid.
“What happened to the other embryos?”
Her face changed.
“I don’t know.”
My stomach tightened.
“There were three.”
“I know.”
“One became Evan.”
“Yes.”
“Where are the other two?”
“I don’t know.”
“Martin?”
“Probably.”
Felix whispered, “Jesus.”
I felt cold.
Another child?
Two?
Stored?
Used?
Destroyed?
No answer was harmless.
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
I almost hated the sound now.
Two embryos remain.
One message.
ONE WAS DESTROYED AFTER MARGARET INTERVENED.
Then:
THE OTHER WAS MOVED.
I typed:
WHERE?
No response.
Again:
WHERE?
Nothing.
Felix watched.
“What did they say?”
I showed him.
His face tightened.
“One remains.”
“Or remained.”
He looked toward Ingrid.
“Where would Martin move it?”
She shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
“Mercer had multiple storage facilities.”
“Which one did he use for private trust material?”
She flinched at the word material now.
Good.
“I don’t know.”
Harold said, “Baltimore.”
Everyone turned.
“What?”
He looked exhausted.
“Martin maintained private cryogenic storage through a research facility outside Baltimore.”
Caroline was still on speaker through Sabine’s phone.
She heard.
“What facility?”
“St. Catherine Research Center.”
Keyboard sounds followed.
Then Caroline said, “It closed two years ago.”
“Records?”
“Transferred.”
“To where?”
A pause.
Then:
“Mercer Biomedical.”
Of course.
Everything returned there.
Caroline continued searching.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“I have a transfer inventory.”
My pulse quickened.
“Any NWB codes?”
“Yes.”
Felix gripped the table.
“How many?”
“One.”
“Status?”
Silence.
“Caroline.”
She answered carefully.
“Not in storage.”
My stomach dropped.
“What does that mean?”
“It was released.”
“For destruction?”
“No.”
I stopped breathing.
“For implantation?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Fourteen months ago.”
Felix stared at me.
Fourteen months.
The pregnancy would already have ended.
“There’s another child.”
Nobody said it.
Nobody needed to.
I asked, “Recipient?”
Caroline searched.
“Code only.”
“What code?”
She read it.
“EH-04.”
Elise Hartmann.
The room disappeared around me.
“No.”
Felix stood.
“That can’t be right.”
“Elise is pregnant now.”
Caroline said, “This transfer was fourteen months ago.”
“Did it fail?”
“I’m looking.”
Pages turned.
Then silence.
My chest tightened.
“What?”
“Pregnancy confirmed.”
Felix sat again.
“Then where is the baby?”
No one answered.
I thought of Elise’s medical records being cleaned.
Addresses disappearing.
Employment history altered.
Martin controlling clinics.
The trust needing a succession child.
“Elise was pregnant before.”
Felix looked at me.
“She never told me.”
“Maybe she didn’t know the truth.”
I called her.
She answered on the second ring.
“Nora?”
“Were you pregnant last year?”
Silence.
Then she whispered, “Who told you?”
Felix closed his eyes.
So she knew.
“Yes or no?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“I lost the baby.”
“When?”
“Seven months.”
A stillbirth.
My stomach turned.
“Did you see the baby?”
Silence.
“Elise.”
“No.”
Every person in the room went still.
“Why?”
“They told me she died during delivery complications.”
“Who told you?”
“Dr. Keller.”
“Did you see her?”
“No.”
“Birth certificate?”
“I signed paperwork.”
“Death certificate?”
“Martin handled it.”
Of course.
My voice dropped.
“Elise, that baby may have been created from one of my embryos.”
She stopped breathing.
“What?”
“And Felix’s.”
Felix covered his face.
On the phone, Elise began crying.
“No.”
“I need you to listen.”
“No, Nora.”
“You were implanted fourteen months ago.”
“No.”
“Without consent.”
She made a broken sound.
“Where is she?”
I could not answer.
Because I suddenly understood what the records might mean.
A seven-month pregnancy.
A baby Elise never saw.
A death Martin handled.
Another child created from us.
Another child who might have been taken.
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
I opened it.
THE BABY DID NOT DIE.
Then:
HER NAME IS LILY.
And finally:
MARTIN KNOWS EXACTLY WHERE SHE IS.
Click here to continue reading: PART 19: The Baby Elise Had Been Told Was Dead Was Alive, and Finding Her Forced Felix to Confront What His Family Had Done to Both Women
At His Family’s Dinner Table, My Husband Said One German Sentence He Never Expected Me to Understand
Part 18 of 35
