Chapter 8 - THE FAMILY TREE
By that afternoon, everything was moving too fast.
Detectives interviewed Rachel.
Then Grant.
Then Evelyn.
Dr. Vale refused to speak without an attorney.
The state medical board issued a statement.
Riverstone’s remaining administrators turned over decades of archived records.
And someone leaked the story.
By six o’clock, news vans were parked outside Rachel’s house.
FERTILITY DOCTOR INVESTIGATED IN POSSIBLE DONOR FRAUD.
By seven, Grant’s name appeared online.
LOCAL DEVELOPER LINKED TO EXPANDING FERTILITY SCANDAL.
By eight, Evelyn was at Rachel’s kitchen table crying.
Grant stood at the window watching reporters.
Walter Whitmore sat silently beside his wife.
Rachel had never seen Walter silent before.
It made him look old.
Evelyn finally said, “I’m sorry.”
Walter stared at her.
“For what?”
She couldn’t answer.
“Evelyn.”
“I didn’t know for sure.”
Walter stood.
“Know what?”
Grant turned from the window.
“Dad.”
“No. I want to hear it from her.”
Evelyn covered her mouth.
Walter’s voice broke.
“Is Grant mine?”
Rachel looked away.
Some moments were too private even when they happened directly in front of you.
Evelyn whispered, “He is your son.”
“That is not what I asked.”
“I don’t know.”
Walter closed his eyes.
Grant looked like he had been punched.
Walter asked, “What about Daniel?”
Grant’s younger brother.
“And Claire?”
His sister.
Evelyn shook her head.
“They were conceived naturally.”
“How do you know?”
“Because we stopped treatment after Grant.”
Walter laughed once.
A horrible sound.
“So I spent thirty-eight years bragging about my firstborn son while you knew there was a chance—”
“I didn’t know!”
“You suspected.”
“Yes.”
Walter walked toward the door.
Grant stepped in front of him.
“Dad.”
Walter couldn’t look at him.
That hurt Grant more than anything Vale had said.
Rachel saw it.
“Dad, I didn’t do anything.”
Walter’s face twisted.
“I know.”
“Then look at me.”
Walter tried.
He failed.
Grant stepped back.
Rachel hated him in that moment.
Not Grant.
Walter.
Because biology was turning grown men into cowards everywhere she looked.
Grant laughed bitterly.
“Unbelievable.”
He grabbed his keys.
Rachel followed him outside.
“Where are you going?”
“Anywhere else.”
“You’re not driving like this.”
“Stop managing me.”
“Stop acting like a grenade.”
He turned.
“You think I’m the bad guy in every room now?”
Rachel stared at him.
“No.”
“Could’ve fooled me.”
“I think what happened to you is horrifying.”
Grant’s anger vanished.
Rachel continued.
“And I also think what you did to Maddie was horrifying.”
His eyes filled.
“Can you separate those two things?”
He looked away.
“That’s the problem, Grant. You keep thinking pain gives you permission.”
He wiped his face.
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Start by not making other people bleed because you are.”
Grant leaned against the car.
For once, he listened.
Rachel’s phone rang.
Nora.
“Rachel, I need you inside.”
“Why?”
“Now.”
They returned to the kitchen.
Nora had opened a legal database.
“There’s something you all need to see.”
On the screen was an old lawsuit.
Filed twenty-two years earlier.
Plaintiff: Marianne Cole.
Defendant: Dr. Adrian Vale.
Allegation: unauthorized genetic material used during fertility treatment.
Case dismissed.
Grant frowned.
“Why was it dismissed?”
Nora clicked another document.
“Confidential settlement.”
Rachel leaned closer.
Then she saw the name of the law firm that represented Vale.
WHITMORE, HALE & PIERCE.
Walter went white.
Grant looked at his father.
“Dad?”
Walter sat down.
Rachel suddenly understood.
“You knew Vale had been accused before.”
May you like
Walter closed his eyes.
And whispered, “I buried the case.”
