{"id":25860,"date":"2026-09-30T01:44:56","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T01:44:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=25860"},"modified":"2026-09-30T01:44:56","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T01:44:56","slug":"part-22-the-number-was-never-seven-and-two-unrecorded-eggs-led-back-to-the-procedure-leonard-vale-most-wanted-everyone-to-forget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=25860","title":{"rendered":"PART 22 \u2013 The Number Was Never Seven, and Two Unrecorded Eggs Led Back to the Procedure Leonard Vale Most Wanted Everyone to Forget"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cNine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I repeated it because the number refused to settle.<\/p>\n<p>Michael stopped halfway through pouring water.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas remained silent on the phone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re sure?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI saw Leonard\u2019s laboratory worksheet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThirty years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd you never told Patricia?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDaniel?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEventually.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy mother?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMe?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Silence.<\/p>\n<p>That was answer enough.<\/p>\n<p>I stood.<\/p>\n<p>I had spent so much time angry that anger itself now felt exhausted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened to the other two?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know completely.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTell me what you do know completely.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne was designated X8.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I wrote it down.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe other?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cX9.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWere they fertilized?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cX8 was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith your sperm?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhose?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI never knew.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd X9?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas paused.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think it was fertilized conventionally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The phrasing was terrible.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLeonard was experimenting with nuclear transfer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Michael put the pitcher down.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat kind of nuclear transfer?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas spoke carefully.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMoving nuclear material between oocytes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I remembered Patricia explaining cytoplasmic transfer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was different?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMore invasive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat was he trying to do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStudy whether compromised eggs could be rescued using donor cytoplasm and transferred nuclear material.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHuman eggs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWithout permission.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I pressed my fingertips against the table.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid this produce a pregnancy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Daniel?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of course.<\/p>\n<p>Another dead man holding answers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you tell us when we asked about the retained eggs?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause I hoped X8 and X9 had never left the lab.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHoped.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is not evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy are you telling me now?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause Natalie\u2019s confirmation changes the accounting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas explained.<\/p>\n<p>The five documented fertilized embryos had been coded E7-1 through E7-5 internally.<\/p>\n<p>Jake.<\/p>\n<p>Two that failed.<\/p>\n<p>Maya.<\/p>\n<p>Natalie.<\/p>\n<p>The two supposedly unfertilized eggs had become the source of later experimental work.<\/p>\n<p>One likely became Ethan.<\/p>\n<p>That accounted for seven.<\/p>\n<p>But if nine were retrieved, X8 and X9 had never appeared in Patricia\u2019s patient chart at all.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey were hidden from the beginning,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot misplaced later.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVale planned to keep them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas hesitated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Michael sat beside me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat made those two different?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cQuality?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPossibly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGenetic characteristics?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPossibly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I hated the word.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did Leonard write about them?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas went silent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThomas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cX8: high viability.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd X9?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A longer pause.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPreferred maternal phenotype.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I felt sick.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI asked him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did he say?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe said you had unusually favorable oocyte morphology.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat sounds medical.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was not entirely.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat else?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was interested in family traits.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My mother\u2019s obsession echoed through everything.<\/p>\n<p>Lawson features.<\/p>\n<p>Continuity.<\/p>\n<p>Selection.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid Margaret tell him to choose those eggs?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re sure?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe knew about the extra retrieval?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot until later.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen this part was Vale.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Good.<\/p>\n<p>Not good.<\/p>\n<p>Clear.<\/p>\n<p>I needed responsibility assigned accurately.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened to X8?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI saw a fertilization notation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPaternal source?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCoded.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat code?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDV-2.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDoes that mean anything?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cX9?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo fertilization entry on the sheet I saw.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen what?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cResearch transfer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo where?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBlank.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Michael leaned forward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCould research transfer mean another laboratory rather than a patient?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCould it mean a pregnancy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot directly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One uncertainty, at least.<\/p>\n<p>I called Emily.<\/p>\n<p>She answered sleepily.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThomas says nine eggs were retrieved.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She became instantly awake.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSearch Daniel\u2019s archive for X8, X9, and DV-2.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Keyboard sounds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m looking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas said, \u201cAlso search Vale Experimental.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily heard him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThomas?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou knew?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her anger sounded like mine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou let my father spend years reconstructing this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI gave him what I had.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow late?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToo late.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily muttered something under her breath.<\/p>\n<p>Then typing resumed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s an X9 reference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My heart jumped.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGive me a second.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We waited.<\/p>\n<p>Emily read.<\/p>\n<p>X9 material forwarded under research partnership authorization. No patient consent located. Vale claims nonviable for clinical use.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat sounds like laboratory research,\u201d Michael said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes,\u201d Emily replied.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere was it sent?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRidgeway Biomedical.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas inhaled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI remember them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat was Ridgeway?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA private reproductive research company.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStill exists?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cClosed after federal scrutiny.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAbout twenty-four years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRecords?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe archived somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily kept searching.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She found Daniel\u2019s note from several years after Ridgeway closed.<\/p>\n<p>X9 samples believed destroyed following facility closure. No evidence of clinical transfer.<\/p>\n<p>I felt a small amount of relief.<\/p>\n<p>Not certainty.<\/p>\n<p>But evidence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo X9 may never have resulted in a child.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCorrect,\u201d Emily said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat about X8?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Typing.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing.<\/p>\n<p>Then:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWait.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She had found DV-2.<\/p>\n<p>Not under Vale.<\/p>\n<p>Under Harris.<\/p>\n<p>Her father.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does it say?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily became quiet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDV-2 was a semen sample.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhose?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere has to be a donor file.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPossibly sealed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas asked, \u201cCollection date?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily read it.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas made a strange sound.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know that date.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was the day of the foundation research program.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The same circle again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat program?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMale fertility screening.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho participated?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHospital staff. Research volunteers. Donors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWas Daniel one?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Silence.<\/p>\n<p>Emily whispered, \u201cMy father?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thomas said, \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily searched harder.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI found DV.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDonor Volunteer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So DV-2 meant Donor Volunteer 2.<\/p>\n<p>Not initials.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCan you identify number two?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s an index.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pages turned.<\/p>\n<p>Then Emily stopped.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her breathing changed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDV-2 was Daniel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>No one spoke.<\/p>\n<p>Emily\u2019s father.<\/p>\n<p>The doctor who spent decades trying to expose Vale.<\/p>\n<p>Had provided the sperm sample used to fertilize one of my hidden eggs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid he consent to reproductive use?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily\u2019s answer was immediate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe volunteer form says research analysis only. Explicitly no reproductive application.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another violation.<\/p>\n<p>Another person\u2019s biological material taken beyond consent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat happened to X8 after fertilization?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily searched.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have an embryo notation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My heart pounded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTransferred?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCryopreserved.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRidgeway.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The same company as X9.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo both went there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWere they destroyed?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel\u2019s later note had mentioned X9 samples.<\/p>\n<p>Not X8.<\/p>\n<p>I asked Emily to search for X8 after the Ridgeway closure.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas said, \u201cTry DV-2 embryo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily did.<\/p>\n<p>A document appeared.<\/p>\n<p>She went silent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is from my father.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTwenty-two years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does it say?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily read slowly.<\/p>\n<p>Evidence suggests DV-2 embryo removed from Ridgeway inventory prior to closure. Destination unknown.<\/p>\n<p>I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n<p>Another missing embryo.<\/p>\n<p>Created from my egg.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel\u2019s sperm.<\/p>\n<p>Not Thomas.<\/p>\n<p>Not Michael.<\/p>\n<p>A child could exist.<\/p>\n<p>Or not.<\/p>\n<p>We did not know.<\/p>\n<p>Jake called while we were still processing it.<\/p>\n<p>He had apparently been unable to sleep.<\/p>\n<p>I told him.<\/p>\n<p>He listened without interrupting.<\/p>\n<p>Then said, \u201cSo potentially another half sibling.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo we have a birth record?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA transfer record?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen we don\u2019t know there\u2019s a person.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCorrect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He was quiet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat feels important.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We were finally learning not to turn possibility into fact.<\/p>\n<p>The next morning brought something concrete.<\/p>\n<p>Natalie.<\/p>\n<p>We met her in a park beside a lake.<\/p>\n<p>She arrived with her mother, Diane Reed.<\/p>\n<p>I recognized Natalie before she introduced herself.<\/p>\n<p>Not because she looked exactly like me.<\/p>\n<p>She didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>But she had Jake\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n<p>My mother\u2019s chin.<\/p>\n<p>Family resemblance was a dangerous thing to overinterpret.<\/p>\n<p>This time DNA had already confirmed it.<\/p>\n<p>Natalie stopped several feet away.<\/p>\n<p>We stared at each other.<\/p>\n<p>Then she laughed nervously.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is weird.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCan I hug you?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The question mattered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She stepped forward.<\/p>\n<p>The hug was brief.<\/p>\n<p>Careful.<\/p>\n<p>Not mother and daughter.<\/p>\n<p>Not strangers either.<\/p>\n<p>Something unnamed.<\/p>\n<p>When she stepped back, Diane stood beside her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m Diane.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I shook her hand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThank you for coming.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI almost didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI understand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, I don\u2019t think you do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her voice was not hostile.<\/p>\n<p>Protective.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe clinic told us the donors had willingly given embryos.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy husband and I believed we were giving a home to an embryo that would otherwise remain frozen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe would never have agreed if we knew.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Diane\u2019s eyes filled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNatalie is my daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I answered immediately.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not here to challenge that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her shoulders lowered.<\/p>\n<p>Natalie looked between us.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCan we establish one rule?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We waited.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo one argues over who gets to call whom family.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jake smiled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s a good rule.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Natalie turned to him.<\/p>\n<p>Then punched his shoulder lightly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re taller than your profile picture.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jake blinked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s your first observation?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had five years to prepare better questions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He laughed.<\/p>\n<p>They walked toward the lake together.<\/p>\n<p>Diane and I followed more slowly.<\/p>\n<p>For the first time, I saw how this story could have unfolded differently.<\/p>\n<p>Diane had been deceived.<\/p>\n<p>So had I.<\/p>\n<p>But neither of us had to turn that deception into competition.<\/p>\n<p>After lunch, Natalie asked about Thomas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo you like him?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I thought about it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know him well enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s your father.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBiologically.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She smiled faintly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRight. We\u2019re all learning qualifiers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cApparently.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo you think I should meet him?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is your decision.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She studied me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou really mean that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then she said, \u201cBecause I already emailed him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I laughed.<\/p>\n<p>Jake nearly choked on his drink.<\/p>\n<p>Natalie shrugged.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI told you I\u2019ve been looking for years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She was not waiting for us to construct her identity.<\/p>\n<p>Good.<\/p>\n<p>Later that afternoon, Emily called again.<\/p>\n<p>I stepped away from the group.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI found Daniel\u2019s last note about X8.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My body tightened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was written four months before he died.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid he find the embryo?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe found the person who removed it from Ridgeway.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVale?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCarol?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily hesitated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCharles Lawson.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My legal father.<\/p>\n<p>The man who had raised me.<\/p>\n<p>I stared across the lake at Natalie and Jake walking beside each other.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat did my father do with it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Emily answered quietly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s what Daniel was trying to find out when he died.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/?p=25861\">Click here to continue reading: PART 23: Charles Lawson Had Removed the Last Hidden Embryo Himself, and Thomas Finally Explained the Promise That Bound Both Fathers to Silence<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cNine.\u201d I repeated it because the number refused to settle. Michael stopped halfway through pouring water. Thomas remained silent on the phone. \u201cYou\u2019re sure?\u201d \u201cYes.\u201d \u201cHow?\u201d \u201cI saw Leonard\u2019s laboratory &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25860"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25904,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25860\/revisions\/25904"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}