Chapter 6 - The Fertility File Elowen Locked AwayDr. Vale agreed to meet Dashiell in person.
She was sixty-two now, semi-retired, with silver-framed glasses and an expression that suggested she disliked family secrets almost as much as Dashiell did.
Naomi came with him.
Dr. Vale brought a thin file.
“Most records are digital,” she explained. “This is separate.”
“Why?”
“Elowen requested it.”
Dashiell’s chest tightened.
“What’s inside?”
Dr. Vale looked at him.
“Before I answer, I need to be clear that I cannot disclose protected medical information simply because you were her husband.”
Dashiell’s frustration rose.
Naomi touched his arm.
Dr. Vale continued:
“But Elowen signed a specific authorization naming you.”
She opened the file.
Dashiell stared at his wife’s signature.
Eight years earlier.
Release to Dashiell Holloway if records are requested by Roxanne Vale, Calder Holloway, or any representative acting on their behalf.
Dashiell’s skin prickled.
“Roxanne Vale?”
Dr. Vale frowned.
“Roxanne’s maiden name.”
Dashiell looked up.
“You’re related?”
“No.”
Same surname.
Coincidence.
Dr. Vale continued.
“Elowen was concerned someone might alter the story of her pregnancy.”
“What story?”
Dr. Vale paused.
“She became pregnant shortly after you both stopped fertility treatment.”
“I know.”
“What you may not know is why.”
Dashiell leaned forward.
“Elowen had frozen embryos.”
“What?”
“You and she created embryos during treatment.”
“I know that.”
“You believed all remaining embryos were nonviable.”
“Yes.”
Dr. Vale’s expression became careful.
“One was viable.”
Dashiell stared.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“Elowen knew.”
His chest tightened.
“She arranged a transfer?”
“Yes.”
“Without me?”
Dr. Vale nodded slowly.
Dashiell stood.
“That’s not possible.”
“It was legally and procedurally complicated even then. I’m not defending every choice made.”
“Whose embryo?”
Dr. Vale looked confused.
“Yours and Elowen’s.”
Dashiell stopped.
“What?”
“Maisy is biologically yours.”
Relief hit so hard his knees nearly weakened.
Naomi exhaled too.
Dashiell sat again.
“Then what the hell is Calder hiding?”
Dr. Vale opened another page.
“Because Calder once believed something different.”
Dashiell stared.
“How?”
“Elowen did not arrange the transfer herself.”
“Who did?”
“A staff coordinator.”
“Name?”
Dr. Vale hesitated.
“Roxanne.”
Dashiell went cold.
“What?”
“Roxanne worked for the fertility network at the time.”
Everything inside him shifted.
He knew Roxanne had worked in medical administration.
He never knew where.
“She handled Elowen’s file?”
“She should not have.”
Dr. Vale’s voice hardened.
“That was part of the problem.”
“What happened?”
“Elowen discovered that Roxanne had accessed records without authorization.”
“Why?”
“Initially, Roxanne claimed she was helping.”
Dashiell laughed bitterly.
Of course.
Always helping.
Dr. Vale continued.
“Then Elowen discovered correspondence suggesting Roxanne had discussed your fertility case with Calder.”
Dashiell’s jaw tightened.
“Why would Calder care?”
Dr. Vale handed him a copy of an old complaint.
Elowen had written it.
Dashiell read.
I believe my aunt disclosed private information about my treatment to Calder Holloway and attempted to persuade me to conceal the final embryo transfer from my husband.
Dashiell’s hands began shaking.
“Why?”
Dr. Vale said:
“That is where things become personal rather than medical.”
Naomi looked at Dashiell.
“Keep reading.”
He did.
Elowen wrote that Roxanne had argued Dashiell would be devastated if another transfer failed.
She encouraged Elowen to attempt it privately.
Elowen agreed initially.
Then became suspicious of Roxanne’s motive.
The final paragraph:
Roxanne later suggested that if the pregnancy succeeded, I should allow Dashiell to believe it happened naturally. She said Calder would help me ‘keep the timeline simple.’
Dashiell looked up.
“What timeline?”
Dr. Vale shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Dashiell felt fury.
“Did Calder know about the embryo transfer?”
“Possibly.”
“Did he help?”
“Not medically.”
“Then what?”
Dr. Vale produced one final note.
Written by Elowen.
Calder told me Roxanne had a plan involving Dashiell’s father’s estate and that the pregnancy could complicate it. He refused to explain further.
Dashiell stared.
His father’s estate.
His father, Everett Holloway, had died nine years ago.
One year before Maisy was born.
Everett had owned a regional real-estate company.
Dashiell and Calder inherited equally.
Or so Dashiell believed.
“What does Maisy have to do with my father’s estate?”
Naomi asked.
Dashiell thought.
Then remembered.
There had been a bloodline provision.
An old-fashioned clause Everett insisted on.
Grandchildren received shares from a family trust at age eighteen.
Maisy was currently the only grandchild.
If Dashiell died, Maisy’s future inheritance was substantial.
Naomi understood.
“Someone questioning her biological paternity could challenge her interest.”
Dashiell felt sick.
“But she is biologically mine.”
“Yes.”
“So the medical records prove it.”
Dr. Vale nodded.
“Which may be why Calder wanted them.”
Dashiell stared.
“What did Elowen mean by the timeline?”
No one knew.
Then Dr. Vale slid one final envelope across the table.
“Elowen left this with me.”
Dashiell stared.
Cream-colored.
Unopened.
The same type he remembered seeing in Elowen’s hand eight years earlier.
“Is this the letter?”
Dr. Vale shook her head.
“No.”
“It’s addressed to you.”
Dashiell turned it over.
Elowen’s handwriting.
Dashiell — if Roxanne or Calder ever start asking about Maisy’s birth, read this before you believe either of them.
His hands shook.
Naomi whispered:
“Open it.”
Dashiell tore the envelope.
Inside was only one page.
May you like
The first sentence made him stop breathing.
Calder did not betray you with me. But he did betray you.
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