{"id":25850,"date":"2026-09-30T01:44:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T01:44:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=25850"},"modified":"2026-09-30T01:44:40","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T01:44:40","slug":"part-16-the-count-of-seven-eggs-never-balanced-and-thomass-next-confession-revealed-why-margaret-feared-my-body-could-expose-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=25850","title":{"rendered":"PART 16 \u2013 The Count of Seven Eggs Never Balanced, and Thomas\u2019s Next Confession Revealed Why Margaret Feared My Body Could Expose Everything"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We called Patricia from the hotel parking lot.<\/p>\n<p>I did not want to wait until we got home.<\/p>\n<p>Emily remained with us.<\/p>\n<p>Michael sat behind the steering wheel but did not start the car.<\/p>\n<p>Jake sat beside him.<\/p>\n<p>I stood outside with the phone, needing cold air.<\/p>\n<p>Patricia answered on the third ring.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you meet Emily?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A pause.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo you saw Daniel\u2019s letter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou sound angry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am past angry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI understand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, you don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That answer kept me from hanging up.<\/p>\n<p>I said, \u201cYou told me seven eggs were retrieved.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFive were fertilized.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened to the other two?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Patricia went silent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t tell me you don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know what the record said.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did it say?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cResearch discard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat they were considered unsuitable for fertilization and designated for disposal or approved research, depending on consent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI never consented to research.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWere they discarded?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Vale keep them?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Patricia\u2019s voice became smaller.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI suspected he did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause the laboratory count never matched.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My heart pounded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat count?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe number of oocytes logged for destruction was zero.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I leaned against the car.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo where were they?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRemoved from the active case sheet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy whom?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVale.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI asked him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe said they had been relabeled for quality-control work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat kind of work?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe never explained.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWas that normal?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily stood nearby with her arms folded tightly across her chest.<\/p>\n<p>I put the phone on speaker.<\/p>\n<p>Patricia continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLeonard was fascinated by maternal-line inheritance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I felt cold despite the humid air.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMitochondrial inheritance. Egg-cell characteristics. Cytoplasmic factors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jake leaned forward from inside the car.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCould he have used parts of Mom\u2019s eggs in other procedures?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Patricia inhaled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn theory.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn practice?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere were experimental methods at the time involving cytoplasmic transfer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily closed her eyes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<p>Patricia explained carefully.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaterial from one woman\u2019s egg could be introduced into another woman\u2019s egg in an attempt to improve viability.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I gripped the phone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUsing my eggs as donor material.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPotentially.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWithout consent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf that happened, yes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow many children could result from that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Patricia\u2019s voice was cautious.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt would not make them your genetic children in the ordinary sense. Most nuclear DNA would come from the intended parents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut some biological material would come from me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMitochondrial DNA, potentially.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jake whispered, \u201cAnother connection.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily looked toward him.<\/p>\n<p>Her face had changed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy father mentioned mitochondrial testing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Everyone turned toward her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn his notes about my case.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Patricia heard.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEmily?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Daniel test you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did he find?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily looked at me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA mismatch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My pulse jumped.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBetween you and your recorded maternal line?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Patricia whispered, \u201cOh my God.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy mother\u2019s mitochondrial profile did not fully explain mine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jake frowned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow can that happen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily answered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNormally it shouldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Patricia interrupted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnless there was cytoplasmic transfer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The parking lot seemed suddenly too bright.<\/p>\n<p>I stared at Emily.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou could carry mitochondrial material from one of my eggs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPossibly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s why Daniel connected our cases.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The family relationship shifted again.<\/p>\n<p>Emily was not my daughter.<\/p>\n<p>Not my sister.<\/p>\n<p>Not in the ordinary sense related to me through nuclear DNA.<\/p>\n<p>But some tiny biological contribution from my body might have been used in creating her without my knowledge.<\/p>\n<p>I felt nauseated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Vale do this to other women?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Patricia did not answer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPatricia.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow many?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMore than one?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMore than five?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A long pause.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProbably.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Michael got out of the car.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat was the ethics investigation actually about?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Patricia answered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConsent failures. Experimental procedures. Sample tracking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd it was buried.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy Charles Lawson.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPartly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I stared at the pavement.<\/p>\n<p>My legal father.<\/p>\n<p>The man who raised me.<\/p>\n<p>The man who knew Thomas was my biological father.<\/p>\n<p>The man who later asked Thomas to provide sperm for me.<\/p>\n<p>He had protected the clinic that ultimately used my body without consent.<\/p>\n<p>The betrayal spread backward through my entire life.<\/p>\n<p>I asked Patricia, \u201cDid my mother know about the egg material?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think she knew at first.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen did she learn?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter Daniel\u2019s audit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did she do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe threatened Leonard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat fits.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did he tell her?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat nothing remained.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut she didn\u2019t believe him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That explained Daniel\u2019s line.<\/p>\n<p>Margaret believes Susan\u2019s ovaries must never be accessed again because Leonard did not return everything he took.<\/p>\n<p>Not medical fear alone.<\/p>\n<p>Evidence.<\/p>\n<p>My mother feared any future reproductive treatment might expose the earlier unauthorized retrieval and experimental use.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs that why she pushed sterilization in 2008?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Patricia sounded shaken.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt may have been part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Part.<\/p>\n<p>Always part.<\/p>\n<p>I ended the call after asking her to send copies of every notebook entry mentioning egg counts, research, or cytoplasmic transfer.<\/p>\n<p>Then I called Thomas.<\/p>\n<p>He answered immediately.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wondered when you\u2019d call again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you know Vale kept my unfertilized eggs?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Silence.<\/p>\n<p>I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou knew.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI knew something had been retained.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow long?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince shortly after Jake was born.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My anger came fast.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have one chance to stop editing your answers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI understand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, you don\u2019t. Tell me everything you know about the eggs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas exhaled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLeonard contacted me after Patricia questioned the lab count.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause of my work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMolecular genetics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did he want?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn what?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA procedure involving cytoplasmic transfer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily leaned against the car.<\/p>\n<p>Jake became perfectly still.<\/p>\n<p>I said, \u201cHe used material from my eggs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow many patients?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was told two.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTold by Vale?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you believe him?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause Leonard lied whenever a smaller number made him safer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The sentence was terrible because it sounded practiced.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did you do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI told him to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s all?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI threatened to report him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I laughed once.<\/p>\n<p>Of course not.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas\u2019s voice broke.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause Charles begged me not to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy father.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour legal father.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I hated the correction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy did Charles care?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe had financed the clinic. Public exposure would have implicated him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo he protected himself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat about my mother?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe wanted Leonard destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFinally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut she did not want you told.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There it was.<\/p>\n<p>Even righteous anger filtered through control.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe wanted Vale punished without exposing what she had done to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConvenient.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas no longer defended her.<\/p>\n<p>I asked, \u201cWas Emily one of the two?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho was the other?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWas there a child?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid the procedure use an entire egg?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened to the rest?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas went silent.<\/p>\n<p>My skin prickled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened to it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe froze material.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat kind of material?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOocyte fragments. Possibly an intact egg.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPossibly?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI never saw the inventory.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Daniel?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEventually.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did he find?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas took a long breath.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA vial associated with your case.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn a private research freezer Leonard maintained after leaving the hospital program.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Michael stared at the phone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat would have been illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas said, \u201cMany things he did were.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen was the vial found?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYears later.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore 2008?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened to it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDaniel demanded destruction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWas it destroyed?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The word thought made my stomach tighten.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat do you know now?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas was quiet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter Daniel died, I found a reference in one of his old emails.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat reference?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo a transfer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA transfer of my reproductive material?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I almost threw the phone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThomas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe destination was coded.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGive me the code.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He hesitated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVL-4.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jake wrote it down.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does it mean?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI never decoded it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCould Patricia?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily said, \u201cMy father used VL codes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas heard her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily was already opening files on her tablet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLegacy Vale.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The words stopped us.<\/p>\n<p>She searched through scanned records.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVL was how Dad labeled documents originating from Vale\u2019s private archive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen four?\u201d Jake asked.<\/p>\n<p>Emily shook her head.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at Thomas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat date?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He gave it.<\/p>\n<p>Nineteen years ago.<\/p>\n<p>One year before my overdose.<\/p>\n<p>I felt the pattern tighten.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomething was transferred one year before 2008.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd then my mother suddenly became desperate to make sure I could never undergo fertility treatment again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas was silent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid she know about the transfer?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think she learned shortly before your overdose.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Everything inside me went still.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is why she panicked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProbably.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat was transferred?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I believed he truly did not.<\/p>\n<p>For once, uncertainty had a different sound.<\/p>\n<p>I asked, \u201cCould it have been an egg?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCould someone have used it to create another embryo?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCould another child exist?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jake closed his eyes.<\/p>\n<p>One sister we could almost prove.<\/p>\n<p>Another possible sibling.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe more.<\/p>\n<p>Emily whispered, \u201cThis is bigger than Dad told me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I looked at her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas spoke again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is something else about the date.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe transfer happened three days after Leonard met Margaret.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My pulse quickened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy did they meet?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI only know what Margaret told me later.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe said Leonard wanted money.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBlackmail?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor what?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo keep quiet about Jake\u2019s conception and the experimental work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My mother had paid for silence before.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid she pay him?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did she do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas hesitated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe threatened to expose him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat sounds more like her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe responded by telling her she no longer knew where all of your biological material was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My skin crawled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe threatened her with me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe still didn\u2019t tell me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen a year later I overdosed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas\u2019s voice softened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd she saw the hospital as an opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo prevent future pregnancies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo prevent future fertility treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo keep me from discovering what Vale had done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Michael leaned against the car.<\/p>\n<p>The affair had still been real.<\/p>\n<p>My overdose had still been my act.<\/p>\n<p>But the consequences around it had been manipulated into serving an older secret.<\/p>\n<p>My mother had taken the worst night of my life and used it to close a door she feared I might someday open.<\/p>\n<p>I stared at the hospital in the distance beyond the highway.<\/p>\n<p>Then Jake said, \u201cMom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLook at the code.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>VL-4.<\/p>\n<p>He had searched Emily\u2019s copied records.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are VL references in Daniel\u2019s letter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily moved beside him.<\/p>\n<p>Together they compared pages.<\/p>\n<p>Then Emily stopped.<\/p>\n<p>Her face drained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She pointed to a line in one of her father\u2019s notes.<\/p>\n<p>VL-1: Harris discrepancy.<\/p>\n<p>VL-2: Carter embryo transfer.<\/p>\n<p>VL-3: Lawson retained material.<\/p>\n<p>And beneath those:<\/p>\n<p>VL-4: Live birth verification pending.<\/p>\n<p>No one spoke.<\/p>\n<p>I read the final line twice.<\/p>\n<p>Live birth.<\/p>\n<p>Not storage.<\/p>\n<p>Not research.<\/p>\n<p>A child.<\/p>\n<p>Somewhere, nineteen years ago, Leonard Vale had transferred something originating from my reproductive material.<\/p>\n<p>And Daniel Harris believed it had resulted in a birth.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=25851\">Click here to continue reading: PART 17: The Code VL-4 Meant a Child Had Been Born, and Daniel Harris Had Left One More Trail Toward the Person Who Raised Them<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We called Patricia from the hotel parking lot. I did not want to wait until we got home. Emily remained with us. 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