Chapter 6 - Riverside Had Been Reviewing Our IVF Cycle
Riverside called it a quality-control review.
That phrase sounded harmless until attorneys became involved.
Six months after our embryo transfer, the clinic discovered inconsistencies in old cryostorage records.
Barcodes duplicated.
Manual corrections.
One embryology technician documenting work under another technician’s login.
Most records were eventually reconciled.
A small number were not.
Our fertilization cycle was one of them.
The clinic had not concluded that our embryo was wrong.
It had concluded there was enough inconsistency to warrant discussion and potentially genetic confirmation after birth.
They contacted Michael first because the storage contract for his frozen sperm was in his name.
He never told me.
“Why?”
Maya asked him later through formal discovery.
Michael’s answer:
He panicked.
He thought the email meant his cancer treatment had somehow made the sperm unusable.
That did not make medical sense.
Fear rarely does.
He forwarded the email to Robert.
Robert replied within six minutes.
DO NOT DISCUSS THIS WITH SARAH UNTIL I KNOW WHAT THEY HAVE.
That email became important.
So did what happened next.
Robert contacted Riverside’s board chair.
Not unusual.
He knew him.
The Mercer family’s investment group had financed construction of Riverside’s second laboratory building.
Robert requested information.
The clinic refused to give patient-specific details without authorization.
Then Robert spoke with Michael.
Nobody recorded the conversation.
Michael said his father told him:
“It’s probably administrative.”
Robert said he told Michael:
“Wait until the clinic explains.”
One of them was lying.
Because three days later, Robert emailed a private attorney:
If Sarah claims infidelity, Riverside exposure becomes secondary. Need to know whether Michael has independent proof.
Infidelity.
Before the paternity report even came back.
Maya read the sentence twice.
“This isn’t about a mother-in-law going crazy.”
I stared at the email.
“Then what is it?”
“We don’t know yet.”
That answer was correct.
And infuriating.
Robert had known Riverside was reviewing our IVF records.
He also knew a paternity test was being conducted.
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Instead of asking whether those two events might be connected, he had already begun thinking about what an accusation of infidelity would mean legally.
The hole in the garden suddenly felt like only one part of something larger.
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