Chương 10
She wanted witnesses, lawyers, and a security officer outside the room.
She also wanted to see Margaret without a door between them.
The meeting took place in a conference room at Naomi’s office.
Margaret arrived first.
She wore another cream-colored jacket.
Pearls again.
Emily almost resented the consistency.
Owen was not there.
Emily had left him with her mother in the apartment upstairs from Naomi’s office, a temporary arrangement chosen because Emily refused to tell Margaret where she was staying.
Margaret looked at Emily as she entered.
For a second, neither spoke.
Then Margaret stood.
“You look better.”
Emily sat.
“Don’t do that.”
Margaret remained standing.
“Do what?”
“Act like we know each other.”
Margaret sat.
Her attorney began saying something about confidentiality.
Emily raised a hand.
“I’m not signing anything today.”
Naomi said, “She won't be.”
Margaret’s eyes stayed on Emily.
“Where is he?”
“You don’t get to ask me that.”
“He’s my grandson.”
“He’s my son.”
Margaret’s mouth tightened.
“There’s the problem.”
Emily leaned back.
“No. The problem is that you hit a hospital door while I was holding a newborn.”
Margaret looked away.
“I should not have done that.”
“You think?”
“I had been awake almost two days.”
Emily gave a short laugh.
“So had I.”
Margaret looked back.
“That is not an excuse.”
“No.”
“I was told he was about to be discharged.”
“By who?”
Margaret glanced at her attorney.
Emily saw it.
“Was it the man in the dark suit?”
Margaret’s composure shifted.
A small change.
Same as the hospital.
“You knew him.”
“I had met him.”
“Who is he?”
Margaret's attorney interrupted.
“My client has provided everything she knows to law enforcement.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Margaret folded her hands.
“I hired a firm to investigate North Lake after they refused to give me information about Laura’s embryos.”
“A firm.”
“Yes.”
“Did you hire that man?”
“I hired someone who employed or retained him. I was never given a verified name.”
Emily stared.
“That sounds convenient.”
“It is not convenient for me.”
“You tried to get into my room with him.”
“No.”
“He was behind you.”
“I did not know he would be there.”
“Why were you there?”
Margaret’s jaw tightened.
“Because I was told the hospital had changed the baby’s file to reflect a pending claim and that I could speak with you before discharge.”
“Who told you?”
“The consultant.”
“So you listened to a man whose name you don't know.”
“I had been trying to get answers for three weeks.”
“And that made forcing my door reasonable?”
“I said it did not.”
Emily leaned forward.
“You said, ‘That baby was never hers to keep.’”
Margaret went still.
Naomi glanced at Emily.
Emily continued.
“You didn't say there may have been an embryo mistake. You didn't say we need to talk. You said he was never mine to keep.”
Margaret looked down.
When she spoke, her voice was quieter.
“I had just received the genetic inventory report.”
“You wanted me to hand him over.”
“Yes.”
The honesty landed harder than denial would have.
Emily swallowed.
“Because your daughter is dead.”
Margaret’s eyes snapped up.
“Yes.”
“And you think that means I owe you my son.”
“I think North Lake took the last living part of my daughter and put it into someone else without permission.”
Emily flinched.
Margaret saw.
For the first time, something like regret crossed her face.
But she did not take the sentence back.
“She had a laugh that embarrassed her,” Margaret said. “Too loud. She hated it. Michael loved it.”
Emily said nothing.
“Laura wanted children.”
“Then why did she tell the clinic to discard the embryos?”
Margaret’s hands tightened.
“Because she was angry with me.”
Emily frowned.
Margaret looked toward the window.
“After Michael died, Laura changed.”
Emily glanced at Naomi.
Naomi had told her both Laura and Michael died, not that they died at the same time.
Margaret noticed.
“Michael died first. A pulmonary embolism after surgery. Laura died fourteen months later.”
“From what?”
“An aneurysm.”
Margaret said it flatly.
A fact worn smooth from repetition.
“After Michael died, Laura decided she would never use the embryos. I told her she was grieving. She told me I had spent her entire life telling her what her feelings really meant.”
Emily almost smiled despite herself.
Margaret saw that too.
“She was not wrong.”
The room changed slightly.
Not softened.
Changed.
Margaret continued.
“She wanted the embryos destroyed. I begged her not to. We stopped speaking for months. When we did speak, it was ugly.”
“So this isn't only about Owen.”
Margaret flinched at the name.
Emily noticed.
“His name is Owen.”
Margaret looked at her.
“Owen.”
“Yes.”
Margaret repeated it once under her breath.
Emily hated how natural it sounded.
“You think if you get him,” Emily said, “you get to undo how things ended with her.”
Margaret’s eyes hardened again.
“You know nothing about my daughter.”
“That wasn't a no.”
Margaret sat back.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then she said, “And you think keeping him keeps your husband alive.”
Emily felt as if she had been slapped.
Naomi moved.
Emily raised a hand.
“No.”
Margaret’s face had gone pale.
Emily stared at her.
There it was.
The ugly symmetry.
Emily had turned Owen into Aaron’s continuation before he was born.
Margaret had turned him into Laura’s return before she had ever held him.
Neither story belonged to Owen.
Emily stood.
The movement pulled at her healing body.
She steadied herself against the table.
“This meeting is over.”
Margaret looked up.
“Emily.”
“Don't.”
Margaret's voice cracked for the first time.
“I don't know what I'm supposed to do.”
Emily looked at her.
For one dangerous second, she felt sorry for her.
Then she remembered the door handle jumping.
“Neither do I,” Emily said. “But I didn't try to steal a baby.”
She left.
May you like
The investigation into North Lake grew worse before it became clearer.
The clinic had migrated to a new records system two years earlier. During the migration, an old inventory label for Laura and Michael Hale’s remaining embryo had been paired with a physical storage position associated with the Carter case.
