Chapter 10
Because I was finally beginning to understand how much of my life might have been stolen from me.
Two days later, Rebecca called me into her office.
An independent medical-records specialist had completed a preliminary review of the fertility documents obtained through the clinic’s legal process.
Rebecca placed a folder on the table.
“Jacqueline, I need you to prepare yourself.”
My heart began pounding.
“Just tell me.”
“The records indicate that your embryos were not both destroyed.”
I stared at her.
“One embryo was transferred out of storage.”
“When?”
She gave me the date.
It was four years earlier.
Several months before Paige became pregnant with Matty.
I pressed my hands against the edge of the table.
“Where was it transferred?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“To the same treatment program Paige used.”
My breath caught.
“No.”
“The records aren’t sufficient to establish what happened afterward. We need additional evidence.”
I shook my head.
“No. This isn’t possible.”
Rebecca reached across the table.
“Jacqueline.”
I couldn’t look at her.
For years, I had grieved for a child I believed I would never have.
I had spent countless nights imagining birthdays, first steps, and bedtime stories that would never exist.
I had eventually accepted that motherhood might not be part of my future.
And now the paperwork suggested that an embryo created during our treatment might have been transferred to another woman without my consent.
I stood up.
“I need some air.”
Outside, Minneapolis was bright with afternoon sunshine.
People walked past me carrying coffee and shopping bags.
Cars moved through the intersection.
The world continued as though nothing had happened.
But my world had stopped.
I looked at a mother pushing a stroller across the street.
And suddenly I remembered the little boy at the hospital.
His tiny hand reaching toward Alistair.
His voice calling out for Daddy.
I bent forward, gripping the railing outside Rebecca’s building.
What if the child I had mourned for four years had been alive the entire time?
Paige agreed to meet me again.
This time, we sat in a quiet conference room at Rebecca’s office.
I showed her the documents.
She read them slowly.
At first, she looked confused.
Then frightened.
Finally, she whispered, “Are you saying Matty came from your embryo?”
“We don’t know yet.”
She pushed the folder away.
“Alistair told me the embryo came from an anonymous donation program.”
“That’s what he told you.”
She began shaking her head.
“No. No, he wouldn’t…”
Her voice broke.
“He wouldn’t do that.”
I looked at her.
May you like
“Paige, I thought he wouldn’t have another family. I thought he wouldn’t try to steal my money. I thought he wouldn’t lie to me about losing our embryos.”
Tears filled her eyes.
