Chapter 8 - THE EMBRYOS RICHARD LOST WITHOUT KNOWING
Richard’s embryos had been released six weeks earlier.
Not transferred.
Not discarded.
Moved to another cryostorage facility in Indiana.
Authorization bore his signature.
And Margaret’s.
Richard’s was false.
At least he said it was.
Margaret’s appeared genuine.
Mark stared at the record.
“Why would she move them?”
Richard looked exhausted.
“Ask her.”
He had not spoken to Margaret except through lawyers for four days.
They were still legally married.
Still jointly owned a home.
Still had two babies whose birth certificates listed Richard as father because no one had challenged paternity at delivery.
And yet every relationship in that family now required documentation.
Richard’s attorney obtained the transfer destination.
Heartland Cryogenic Storage.
The embryos were intact.
Good.
Not gone.
Moved.
Why?
Margaret eventually answered through counsel.
She feared Richard would destroy them after learning the twins were not his.
Richard laughed when he heard.
“So she forged my signature to protect embryos she didn’t want.”
Mark had no response.
Then Dana found another issue.
Claire and Mark’s embryo account had not been closed by a single disposition form.
There were two stages.
First:
Release from storage.
Second:
Directed donation acknowledgment.
Different dates.
Different electronic signatures.
The first signatures appeared to come from Mark and Claire’s normal home IP address.
That frightened Mark.
“Could Margaret access our Wi-Fi?”
Claire looked at him.
“She had a key.”
Before separation, Margaret often entered their Lincoln Park home.
Fed the cat.
Watered plants.
Dropped off food.
Mark had once praised her for treating their house like family.
Now the phrase felt obscene.
A home router log from nine months earlier was impossible to reconstruct perfectly.
But Google account security history existed.
Claire’s fertility portal password had been saved in Chrome on the kitchen desktop.
That computer remained at the house.
Margaret knew the Windows PIN.
Claire had given it to her while traveling.
So much access had been given for ordinary reasons.
Trust becomes invisible until someone abuses it.
Then every convenience looks reckless.
Mark and Claire agreed to let a forensic consultant image the computer.
Together.
Through counsel.
They barely spoke while technicians worked.
At one point Mark noticed Claire rubbing her thumb against her wedding ring.
She still wore it.
He looked away.
The forensic report found cached access to Lakeview’s portal on the transfer date.
Someone logged in from their home desktop.
Used Claire’s saved credentials.
Downloaded prior consent forms.
Uploaded new PDFs.
The system did not preserve a camera image or human identity.
But there was one clue.
A file used in the upload had been created on another device.
Filename:
MARGARET-MACBOOK-CONSENTFINAL.pdf.
Claire stared.
Mark said nothing.
Dana asked:
“Do you recognize the naming pattern?”
Claire nodded slowly.
“My mother names everything FINAL.”
Despite herself, she laughed once.
Then cried.
Margaret’s attorney received the report.
Two days later, Margaret asked to meet Claire.
Claire refused.
Then changed her mind.
Not privately.
Dana’s office.
Mark was not invited.
He found out later from Claire.
Margaret admitted she used Claire’s computer.
Admitted scanning old signature pages.
Admitted uploading the release.
“Why not ask me?”
Claire had said.
Margaret answered:
“Because you would say no.”
“That is not a misunderstanding.”
“No.”
“That is why consent exists.”
“I know.”
“Stop.”
Margaret cried.
Then said something Claire repeated to Mark later.
“I thought those embryos were frozen grief.”
Claire stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
“You and Mark stopped treatment. You couldn’t even say their names.”
“So?”
“I thought carrying them would turn something painful into something alive.”
Claire’s voice became cold.
“For you.”
“For all of us.”
“No.”
Margaret shook her head.
“I thought when they were born—”
“What?”
“You’d love them.”
Claire almost laughed.
“They’re my children. Of course I love them.”
Margaret flinched.
That was the trap.
Claire did love them.
When Lucy yawned, Claire felt something physical.
When Joseph wrapped his fingers around hers, she wanted to stay forever.
But she could not tell whether that feeling came from biology, from nine months of believing they were siblings, or simply because they were newborns she already loved.
Margaret used that confusion like retrospective justification.
“I knew once you saw them—”
Claire stood.
“No.”
Margaret stopped.
“You do not get to make my love proof that your theft was right.”
That sentence reached Mark through Dana’s written summary.
He read it three times.
Then Claire told Margaret to explain the affair.
Not just admit it.
Explain.
Margaret said she had been lonely.
Richard was emotionally absent.
Fertility treatment made her feel ridiculous.
Everyone treated her desire for motherhood as selfish.
Mark listened.
They talked.
One touch became another.
Claire asked:
“Did carrying my embryos make sleeping with my husband feel less wrong?”
Margaret looked horrified.
“No.”
“Did you think about it?”
Margaret whispered:
“Yes.”
There.
Not a plan.
Not seduction for genetic purpose.
Something psychologically uglier.
Margaret was already carrying embryos created from her daughter and son-in-law.
Then slept with the man whose genetic material was inside her.
She crossed every boundary in one family at once.
After the meeting, Claire called Mark.
“Come over.”
He froze.
“To Dana’s?”
“No.”
“My apartment.”
He went.
Claire stood at the window.
No greeting.
“I want a divorce.”
Mark closed his eyes.
“Okay.”
She turned.
“That’s all?”
“What am I supposed to say?”
“Fight.”
He looked at her.
“You want me to?”
“No.”
“Then I’m not going to turn remorse into another thing you have to manage.”
Her eyes filled.
“I hate you.”
“I know.”
She almost smiled bitterly.
Then he corrected:
“I understand.”
Better.
Claire sat.
“The twins.”
Mark waited.
“I want them.”
His chest tightened.
“Both?”
“They’re ours.”
“Yes.”
“But Margaret gave birth to them.”
“Yes.”
“She loves them.”
“Yes.”
“Richard loves them.”
“Yes.”
“I thought they were my siblings.”
“Yes.”
She looked up.
“And you’re their father.”
“Yes.”
Her eyes hardened.
“Do you want them?”
Mark answered immediately.
“Yes.”
Then wished he had waited.
Claire noticed.
“Because they’re yours?”
“Because they’re children.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
He took a breath.
“Yes.”
He looked at her.
“Knowing they’re genetically ours changes what I feel.”
Claire nodded.
“Me too.”
It was the first thing they had agreed on in weeks.
Then her phone rang.
Dana.
Claire answered.
Listened.
Her face changed.
“What?”
Mark stood.
Claire put the call on speaker.
Dana said:
“The clinic’s outside investigators located an internal email from Dr. Rowan.”
“When?”
“Two days before transfer.”
“To who?”
“Margaret.”
Claire went still.
Dana read:
I still need direct confirmation from Claire and Mark. I cannot rely only on old signatures.
Then Margaret’s reply:
Claire will never agree if you ask her now.
Mark’s stomach dropped.
Dana continued.
There was another sentence.
That is why the transfer must happen before anyone has time to reconsider.
Margaret had not fooled Dr. Rowan completely.
He had known consent was missing.
And transferred the embryos anyway.
May you like
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