For the first several seconds after Cole spoke, Claire could not make sense of the date.<\/p>\n
Three weeks after Lily's transfer.<\/p>\n
The Daltons' final embryo had supposedly been lost during thawing three weeks after Megan received an embryo from Claire and Ryan's storage account.<\/p>\n
That timing did not prove anything.<\/p>\n
Claire knew enough by now to distrust coincidence without worshiping it.<\/p>\n
Still, something in her body reacted before reason caught up.<\/p>\n
Her hands went cold.<\/p>\n
"Who authorized the Dalton thaw?"<\/p>\n
Cole looked back at the information on his phone.<\/p>\n
"Laura Dalton."<\/p>\n
"Did she intend to transfer?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"And the clinic said the embryo failed?"<\/p>\n
"According to the current record."<\/p>\n
Claire glanced toward Angela.<\/p>\n
"What exactly does 'lost during thawing' mean?"<\/p>\n
Angela shook her head.<\/p>\n
"We need an embryologist."<\/p>\n
Cole was already calling Westbridge.<\/p>\n
The next hour happened in fragments.<\/p>\n
Dr. Reed joined them remotely.<\/p>\n
Then Westbridge's current laboratory director, Dr. Maya Chen.<\/p>\n
Chen's manner was precise in a way Claire immediately trusted.<\/p>\n
She did not soften technical facts, but she did not dramatize them either.<\/p>\n
"If an embryo is reported as nonviable after thaw," she explained, "that ordinarily means it did not survive the warming process sufficiently for transfer."<\/p>\n
Claire sat beside Angela in a police conference room while Cole listened from the opposite side.<\/p>\n
"Could a mislabeled embryo be mistaken for another embryo during thawing?"<\/p>\n
Chen paused.<\/p>\n
"Under modern witnessing procedures, it should be extraordinarily difficult."<\/p>\n
"Should."<\/p>\n
"Correct."<\/p>\n
"What about the period we're discussing?"<\/p>\n
"Westbridge used electronic witnessing then as well."<\/p>\n
Claire looked toward Cole.<\/p>\n
"Except somebody had already found a database problem."<\/p>\n
Chen's expression tightened.<\/p>\n
"I was not employed at Westbridge at that time, so I cannot speak from personal knowledge. I can tell you what the system was designed to prevent."<\/p>\n
"Designed," Claire repeated.<\/p>\n
Another word that sounded safe until human beings interfered.<\/p>\n
Dr. Reed joined in.<\/p>\n
"We have now ordered a complete physical inventory and chain-of-custody audit of every embryo record linked to both patient accounts."<\/p>\n
"Both meaning mine and Laura Dalton's."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
Claire leaned closer.<\/p>\n
"Has anyone physically verified my remaining embryo?"<\/p>\n
Dr. Reed hesitated.<\/p>\n
"Not yet."<\/p>\n
Her pulse jumped.<\/p>\n
"Why not?"<\/p>\n
"Because opening cryogenic storage and manipulating the specimen unnecessarily carries risk. We are first reconciling records."<\/p>\n
Claire understood the caution.<\/p>\n
She hated it anyway.<\/p>\n
"What about the Dalton embryo that supposedly failed?"<\/p>\n
Dr. Chen answered.<\/p>\n
"There should be embryology photographs and thaw records."<\/p>\n
"Should."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Do they exist?"<\/p>\n
Another pause.<\/p>\n
"Some records do."<\/p>\n
Claire heard what was missing.<\/p>\n
"Which don't?"<\/p>\n
Chen glanced away from the camera as if checking notes.<\/p>\n
"The routine image captured immediately before disposal is absent."<\/p>\n
Angela sat forward.<\/p>\n
"Is that normal?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
Claire's stomach turned.<\/p>\n
Cole asked, "Who handled the Dalton thaw?"<\/p>\n
Dr. Chen gave the name.<\/p>\n
"Dr. Stefan Hall was supervising embryologist. The technician on duty was Marissa Vale's sister, Jenna Vale."<\/p>\n
Claire looked sharply toward Cole.<\/p>\n
"Marissa had a sister working in the lab?"<\/p>\n
"Apparently."<\/p>\n
Angela whispered, "That's new."<\/p>\n
Cole asked Chen, "Is Jenna still employed there?"<\/p>\n
"No. She left approximately six months after the events we're discussing."<\/p>\n
Claire rubbed her palms against her knees.<\/p>\n
Another Vale.<\/p>\n
Another employee.<\/p>\n
Another person positioned inside the clinic.<\/p>\n
"Did Marissa ever tell you about her sister?" Claire asked Cole.<\/p>\n
"Not to me."<\/p>\n
"Then ask."<\/p>\n
He was already writing.<\/p>\n
Dr. Reed looked stricken.<\/p>\n
"We had no reason to believe the administrative irregularities extended into embryology."<\/p>\n
Claire turned toward him.<\/p>\n
"You had no reason because the same people who created the irregularities kept hiding them."<\/p>\n
Reed accepted that without argument.<\/p>\n
By evening, Cole had reached Marissa's attorney.<\/p>\n
Marissa agreed to a second interview.<\/p>\n
The next morning, she admitted what she had concealed.<\/p>\n
Jenna knew about the database discrepancy.<\/p>\n
Claire listened as Cole summarized the statement in Angela's office.<\/p>\n
"Marissa says she discovered the mismatch because a storage identifier connected to your account returned two conflicting electronic histories."<\/p>\n
"When?"<\/p>\n
"Four days before Megan's transfer."<\/p>\n
Claire's chest tightened.<\/p>\n
"Four days."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"What did she do?"<\/p>\n
"She checked older migration logs."<\/p>\n
"And?"<\/p>\n
"She found one identifier that had briefly been attached to the Dalton account during a software migration."<\/p>\n
Angela asked, "Briefly meaning what?"<\/p>\n
"Nine hours."<\/p>\n
Claire frowned.<\/p>\n
"Nine hours years earlier?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"And she believed that created the possibility of a mix-up."<\/p>\n
"Correct."<\/p>\n
"Did she physically verify the embryo?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
Cole looked at her.<\/p>\n
"Because she didn't have authority to access the laboratory inventory directly."<\/p>\n
"But Jenna did."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
Claire already knew what came next.<\/p>\n
"Marissa asked her sister."<\/p>\n
Cole nodded.<\/p>\n
"According to Marissa, yes."<\/p>\n
Claire closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
"What did Jenna say?"<\/p>\n
"That the physical cryostorage label matched your account."<\/p>\n
Claire exhaled.<\/p>\n
"So the remaining embryo is ours."<\/p>\n
"Not necessarily."<\/p>\n
She opened her eyes.<\/p>\n
"Why not?"<\/p>\n
"Because Jenna reportedly checked only one straw."<\/p>\n
Claire stared at him.<\/p>\n
"One."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"There were two embryos."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"So she checked the remaining one or the one they transferred?"<\/p>\n
"We don't know."<\/p>\n
Claire felt anger rise.<\/p>\n
"How can they not know?"<\/p>\n
"Marissa says she never asked."<\/p>\n
"Of course she didn't."<\/p>\n
Angela leaned against the desk.<\/p>\n
"Did Jenna know a transfer was scheduled?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Did she know consent was questionable?"<\/p>\n
"Marissa says no."<\/p>\n
Claire no longer trusted any version built on what Marissa claimed someone else knew.<\/p>\n
"What does Jenna say?"<\/p>\n
Cole's expression darkened.<\/p>\n
"We haven't spoken to her."<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"She's missing."<\/p>\n
Claire stared.<\/p>\n
"Missing?"<\/p>\n
"Not officially a missing person. We can't locate her at her listed addresses, employment history goes dark eighteen months ago, and her phone is disconnected."<\/p>\n
Angela asked, "Last known location?"<\/p>\n
"Arizona."<\/p>\n
Claire sat back.<\/p>\n
Every path produced another person.<\/p>\n
Another layer.<\/p>\n
Another absence.<\/p>\n
"What about Laura Dalton?" she asked.<\/p>\n
Cole nodded.<\/p>\n
"We contacted her."<\/p>\n
Claire's heart quickened.<\/p>\n
"And?"<\/p>\n
"She's willing to speak."<\/p>\n
"When?"<\/p>\n
"Tomorrow."<\/p>\n
Laura requested that Claire attend.<\/p>\n
That surprised everyone.<\/p>\n
The meeting took place in a private room at Angela's office because Laura refused to return to Westbridge.<\/p>\n
She arrived carrying no files.<\/p>\n
She looked around Claire's age, perhaps slightly older, with short auburn hair and a posture that suggested she had spent years preparing herself for bad news.<\/p>\n
When Claire entered, Laura stood.<\/p>\n
Neither woman knew how to greet the other.<\/p>\n
A handshake felt absurdly formal.<\/p>\n
A hug would have been impossible.<\/p>\n
They settled for names.<\/p>\n
"I'm Claire."<\/p>\n
"Laura."<\/p>\n
Then silence.<\/p>\n
Laura looked at her for several seconds.<\/p>\n
"They told me your daughter might have come from one of my embryos."<\/p>\n
Claire's chest tightened at the wording.<\/p>\n
Your daughter.<\/p>\n
Might have.<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
Laura folded her hands.<\/p>\n
"My husband was Michael."<\/p>\n
Claire nodded.<\/p>\n
"Cole told me he died."<\/p>\n
"Pancreatic cancer."<\/p>\n
"I'm sorry."<\/p>\n
Laura looked down.<\/p>\n
"We did IVF because treatment was going to make him infertile."<\/p>\n
Claire immediately understood something she had not expected.<\/p>\n
The embryos had been created under a deadline too.<\/p>\n
Different reason.<\/p>\n
Different grief.<\/p>\n
Same glass tanks.<\/p>\n
"We had three embryos," Laura said. "Two transfers failed. One remained."<\/p>\n
"The one Westbridge says didn't survive thaw."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
Laura stared toward the window.<\/p>\n
"Michael was alive then."<\/p>\n
Claire looked at her.<\/p>\n
"Three weeks after Lily's transfer."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Did you know something was wrong?"<\/p>\n
"At the time? No."<\/p>\n
Laura took a breath.<\/p>\n
"They called me that morning and said the embryo had degenerated during warming. No transfer. Just gone."<\/p>\n
Her voice cracked slightly on the final word.<\/p>\n
Claire knew that particular violence.<\/p>\n
Hope disappearing through a phone call.<\/p>\n
"Did they offer an explanation?"<\/p>\n
"They said it happens."<\/p>\n
Dr. Chen had said the same.<\/p>\n
It did happen.<\/p>\n
That was what made deception easier.<\/p>\n
Real misfortune provided cover for manufactured loss.<\/p>\n
Laura reached into her purse.<\/p>\n
"I brought this."<\/p>\n
A photograph.<\/p>\n
Not of an embryo.<\/p>\n
Of Michael.<\/p>\n
He stood beside a lake holding a fishing rod, smiling toward whoever took the picture.<\/p>\n
Claire looked at him.<\/p>\n
Brown eyes.<\/p>\n
Dark hair.<\/p>\n
A narrow dimple on his left cheek.<\/p>\n
Her heartbeat changed.<\/p>\n
Laura noticed.<\/p>\n
"What?"<\/p>\n
Claire put the photograph down carefully.<\/p>\n
"Lily has a dimple."<\/p>\n
Laura did not move.<\/p>\n
"So do I."<\/p>\n
Claire spoke quickly.<\/p>\n
"That means nothing."<\/p>\n
"I know."<\/p>\n
"It could come from me."<\/p>\n
"I know."<\/p>\n
Neither woman sounded convinced by their own restraint.<\/p>\n
Laura closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
"Do you have a photo?"<\/p>\n
Claire hesitated.<\/p>\n
Then she opened one on her phone.<\/p>\n
The yellow overalls.<\/p>\n
Lily on the blanket.<\/p>\n
Laura looked.<\/p>\n
Her face did not transform dramatically.<\/p>\n
She simply stopped breathing for a second.<\/p>\n
Claire watched carefully.<\/p>\n
"She looks like you," Laura said.<\/p>\n
Relief and pain arrived together.<\/p>\n
"People say that."<\/p>\n
"Her eyes aren't Michael's."<\/p>\n
Claire almost hated how grateful she felt.<\/p>\n
Then Laura enlarged the image.<\/p>\n
"What color are they?"<\/p>\n
"Gray-blue right now."<\/p>\n
"Michael's were brown."<\/p>\n
"Ryan's are dark hazel."<\/p>\n
Laura handed the phone back.<\/p>\n
"We're doing something ridiculous."<\/p>\n
Claire nodded.<\/p>\n
"Trying to solve genetics by staring at a baby's face."<\/p>\n
"Exactly."<\/p>\n
They almost smiled.<\/p>\n
Then Laura became serious.<\/p>\n
"If Lily is yours, I don't want to disturb her life."<\/p>\n
Claire felt unexpected gratitude.<\/p>\n
"And if she's yours?"<\/p>\n
Laura's eyes filled.<\/p>\n
"I don't know."<\/p>\n
The honesty made Claire trust her.<\/p>\n
"I don't know either."<\/p>\n
Laura looked at her.<\/p>\n
"Would you test?"<\/p>\n
Claire had asked herself that question all night.<\/p>\n
"If it's medically appropriate and the court allows it."<\/p>\n
"She's a baby."<\/p>\n
"I know."<\/p>\n
"I don't want her treated like evidence."<\/p>\n
"Neither do I."<\/p>\n
Laura looked relieved.<\/p>\n
Claire continued.<\/p>\n
"But if there's a real possibility her genetic parents aren't who everyone believes, she deserves accurate medical history."<\/p>\n
Laura nodded.<\/p>\n
"My husband's family has Lynch syndrome."<\/p>\n
Claire sat straighter.<\/p>\n
"Hereditary cancer risk?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
That changed the calculus immediately.<\/p>\n
This was no longer curiosity.<\/p>\n
"Then we need to know."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
Angela, who had remained quiet, finally spoke.<\/p>\n
"We can ask the court for narrowly tailored genetic testing focused on parentage and relevant medical markers."<\/p>\n
Laura nodded.<\/p>\n
Claire did too.<\/p>\n
Then Laura looked at her.<\/p>\n
"If she is mine genetically…"<\/p>\n
Claire felt her throat tighten.<\/p>\n
Laura's voice shook.<\/p>\n
"I'm not asking to take her."<\/p>\n
Claire looked directly at her.<\/p>\n
"I know."<\/p>\n
"I've had twelve hours to think about this, Claire. You've had months of trying to understand how you fit into Lily's life. I don't want to become another person pulling at her."<\/p>\n
Claire's eyes filled.<\/p>\n
"Thank you."<\/p>\n
Laura wiped one cheek.<\/p>\n
"But I need to know if Michael has a daughter."<\/p>\n
There was no answer Claire could give except the truth.<\/p>\n
"I understand."<\/p>\n
The emergency testing petition was filed that afternoon.<\/p>\n
Ryan objected immediately.<\/p>\n
Not because he denied the medical relevance.<\/p>\n
Because he did not want Laura involved.<\/p>\n
His attorney called the proposed testing "speculative and destabilizing."<\/p>\n
Angela read the filing with open contempt.<\/p>\n
"He was happy to destabilize everything when it benefited him."<\/p>\n
Claire looked toward the stack of records.<\/p>\n
"We don't say that in court."<\/p>\n
Angela smiled faintly.<\/p>\n
"You're learning."<\/p>\n
The judge scheduled a hearing for Monday.<\/p>\n
Before that could happen, Cole called Sunday morning.<\/p>\n
"We found the pre-transfer embryology image."<\/p>\n
Claire stood.<\/p>\n
"I thought it was missing."<\/p>\n
"For the Dalton thaw, yes. This is from Megan's transfer."<\/p>\n
Her pulse accelerated.<\/p>\n
"What does it show?"<\/p>\n
"An embryo labeled with your account number."<\/p>\n
Claire exhaled.<\/p>\n
"Then Lily is mine."<\/p>\n
"Claire."<\/p>\n
She stopped.<\/p>\n
"What?"<\/p>\n
"The account number is yours."<\/p>\n
"Right."<\/p>\n
"The laboratory identifier isn't."<\/p>\n
Claire's chest tightened.<\/p>\n
"What do you mean?"<\/p>\n
Cole spoke slowly.<\/p>\n
"Embryos have multiple tracking fields. The patient-facing label shows Bennett-Parker."<\/p>\n
"And the other field?"<\/p>\n
"A legacy cryostorage code."<\/p>\n
Claire waited.<\/p>\n
Cole said, "That code appears in the old Dalton records."<\/p>\n
Claire sat down.<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"We haven't confirmed what happened yet."<\/p>\n
"Lily could be theirs."<\/p>\n
"Possibly."<\/p>\n
Claire pressed one hand against her forehead.<\/p>\n
Across town, Lily was probably eating breakfast.<\/p>\n
Dropping cereal.<\/p>\n
Pulling Megan's hair.<\/p>\n
Existing without any knowledge that adults were about to argue over the letters and numbers attached to the microscopic beginning of her life.<\/p>\n
Claire closed her eyes.<\/p>\n
For months she had fought to be recognized as Lily's mother because biology had been used without her consent.<\/p>\n
Now biology itself might change.<\/p>\n
And she discovered, with terrifying clarity, that the possibility did not make Lily feel any less like her daughter.<\/p>\n
For the first several seconds after Cole spoke, Claire could not make sense of the date. Three weeks after Lily's transfer. The Daltons' final embryo had supposedly been lost during … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27806","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\/27806","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=27806"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27841,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27806\/revisions\/27841"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}