Chapter 15
Sometimes he hid behind Paige’s legs.
Other times he climbed onto the couch beside me and asked me to read the same story three times.
Every moment felt extraordinary.
But I reminded myself not to rush him.
I had lost years with my son. I wasn’t going to make him carry the burden of my grief.
One afternoon, several months after the truth came out, Paige invited me to Matty’s birthday party.
He was turning four.
The living room was decorated with blue balloons and paper dinosaurs.
A chocolate cake sat on the kitchen counter.
Matty ran around the room wearing a little green dinosaur hat.
When he saw me, he smiled.
“Jacqueline!”
He ran toward me.
I knelt to hug him.
For a moment, I had to close my eyes.
I had missed his first birthday.
His second.
His third.
But I was here for his fourth.
And there would be more.
Paige watched us from the kitchen doorway.
Later, while Matty played with his new toys, she sat beside me.
“I’ve been thinking about something,” she said.
I looked at her.
“What?”
“I don’t want him growing up thinking he has to choose between us.”
My throat tightened.
“Neither do I.”
She nodded.
“I’ve spoken to my attorney. I want us to work toward a long-term arrangement that protects his relationship with both of us.”
I reached for her hand.
“Thank you.”
She looked toward Matty.
“He deserves the truth about where he came from. When he’s old enough to understand it.”
“He does.”
“And he deserves to know that both of us love him.”
I couldn’t speak.
Paige squeezed my hand.
For the first time, I realized that the future I had imagined after discovering the affair had changed completely.
I had thought my husband’s betrayal would leave me alone.
Instead, it had brought me face-to-face with the child I had believed I would never meet.
Alistair eventually pleaded guilty to charges arising from the forged financial documents and his role in the unauthorized embryo transfer.
George and Martha faced their own legal consequences for their documented participation in the related schemes.
The former medical director lost his license following disciplinary proceedings and was held accountable for his part in the medical-consent violations.
The civil litigation took longer.
But the guarantees I had never signed were not enforceable against me, and the disputed transactions involving my assets were resolved through the legal process.
I obtained my divorce.
I sold the house Alistair and I had shared.
May you like
For a long time, I couldn’t bear to look at our wedding photograph.
Eventually, I put it in a box with the other remnants of our marriage.
