Chapter 3 - 22 PATERNAL MATCHESNadia did not take June away that morning.
She wanted to.
Every instinct said leave Foxmere House, lock the door behind her, and refuse to return until every secret was documented.
But family-law panic was not a plan.
June had school.
Routine.
A birthday party the following afternoon.
A father she adored.
Nadia refused to make her daughter experience abandonment because adults had behaved dishonestly.
Instead, she called her own attorney.
Not a Fairmont attorney.
Elena Park, forty-six, a Philadelphia lawyer who handled medical negligence and reproductive-rights litigation.
Nadia knew her through a college friend.
She called from the car after dropping June at school.
“I need you to tell me whether I’m overreacting.”
Elena listened for ten minutes.
Then:
“You are not overreacting.”
Nadia closed eyes.
“What do I do?”
“First: preserve records.”
“Do not give clinic original documents.”
“Download every portal message.”
“Get your consent forms.”
“Get donor profile.”
“Request complete treatment record in writing.”
“Do not accuse publicly.”
“Do not sign confidentiality.”
“DNA?”
“Independent clinical confirmation.”
“Not only consumer service.”
Nadia told her Wesley’s 24-percent match.
Elena became quiet.
“That is highly significant.”
“Could it be something else?”
“Yes.”
“Genetic relationships can overlap.”
“But combined with known Kline parentage, your hypothesis is plausible.”
“Can I test June without Wesley?”
“Medical/genetic testing of minor gets complicated depending purpose.”
“You’re both legal parents.”
“Better approach jointly unless urgent.”
“We can arrange genetic counselor.”
Nadia did not want war over June.
Good.
“Clinic called me.”
“Who?”
“A compliance officer.”
“Maribel Torres.”
“Call back through counsel.”
“What about police?”
“Not yet from us.”
“We need facts.”
“Fertility fraud laws vary and historical conduct complicates.”
“There may be civil, licensing, regulatory, criminal implications.”
“Don’t let legal labels outrun evidence.”
Nadia appreciated.
Facts first.
That afternoon, Maribel joined call with Elena.
She sounded exhausted.
“Mrs. Fairmont, the clinic initiated review after multiple former patients reported inconsistent donor-conceived sibling matches.”
“How many?”
“We currently know of twenty-two children linked genetically to same paternal source.”
“Simon Kline?”
Silence.
Elena intervened:
“You can state whether internal investigation identified source.”
Maribel replied carefully:
“We have reason to believe Dr. Kline may be genetically related to several offspring, but confirmatory procedures are ongoing.”
Nadia gripped phone.
“June?”
“We have not clinically tested June.”
“Records?”
“Your chart lists donor D-417.”
“Was D-417 real?”
“Yes.”
“We have inventory records showing donor D-417 existed.”
“Did his sample reach me?”
“That is question.”
“What went wrong?”
“We discovered discrepancies in cryostorage logs from period when Dr. Kline retained direct supervisory access.”
Elena asked:
“Were logs altered?”
“Yes.”
Nadia felt sick.
“By him?”
“We cannot yet state.”
“Who else?”
“Two embryology staff members had system access.”
“One deceased.”
“One retired.”
“What about Priscilla Fairmont?”
Maribel paused.
“I do not recognize name.”
“Check visitor records, donor instructions, billing, private correspondence.”
“We will through counsel.”
Nadia asked:
“Did Dr. Kline have any authorization to substitute donor?”
“No.”
That word mattered.
No.
“Would any husband authorization permit without mine?”
“No.”
Another no.
Nadia exhaled.
Consent belonged to both intended parents, not mother-in-law.
After call, Elena said:
“Do not confront Kline.”
“Why?”
“Because he may destroy evidence.”
“Clinic already preserving.”
“We can send litigation hold.”
Nadia agreed.
Then she contacted two women from private donor-sibling registry.
They consented to speak.
Megan Holloway, mother of a thirteen-year-old conceived at Kline Reproductive Center.
Donor profile:
D-233.
Tall, blue eyes, engineer.
Her son had brown eyes, average height not meaningful.
DNA matched ten children.
Another, Carla Ruiz, used donor D-901.
Her daughter matched Megan’s son as paternal half-sibling.
Both families recently learned likely Kline connection.
Megan said:
“I thought maybe sperm-bank mix-up.”
“Then one of siblings matched Kline’s acknowledged nephew.”
Carla:
“Clinic told us not contact media.”
“I thought they were protecting kids.”
“Now I think they’re protecting themselves.”
Nadia listened.
“How many mothers?”
“More than twenty.”
“Some children adults.”
“Cases span almost thirty years.”
Thirty years.
Kline’s pattern began long before June.
Possibly around Wesley’s conception.
Nadia asked:
“Any connection to wealthy families?”
Megan laughed bitterly.
“Some.”
“Some not.”
“Teachers.”
“Nurses.”
“One military family.”
“This doesn’t look selective by money.”
Important.
Not grand breeding conspiracy across elites.
Maybe Kline’s own misconduct broad.
Then what was Priscilla’s role?
Perhaps she knowingly requested his sperm for June for different reason.
The group had not seen this.
Nadia returned Foxmere at five.
June ran into her arms.
“Mommy!”
Everything stopped.
Nadia hugged child.
Whatever DNA said, June’s life was not evidence board.
She smelled shampoo.
Crayons.
Strawberry lotion.
“Did you have good day?”
“I got star.”
“Show.”
They spent twenty minutes on school paper before Nadia looked at Wesley.
He had been standing in hall.
Watching.
His eyes swollen.
June ran to him too.
“Daddy!”
He lifted her automatically.
For a second his face broke.
Then he smiled.
“Hey, Junebug.”
Nadia watched.
He was her father.
That fact existed alongside biology.
No test could erase bedtime, fevers, first steps.
But secrecy could damage trust.
Later, once June slept, Nadia and Wesley sat in library.
Priscilla had gone to Philadelphia for foundation event, or claimed.
Nadia said:
“I spoke clinic.”
Wesley looked.
“They believe Kline may be paternal source for several children.”
He closed eyes.
“Twenty-two.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
“That isn’t enough.”
“I know.”
“Tell everything.”
Wesley stared into unlit fireplace.
“When I was twenty-nine, I learned Kline was biological father.”
“I confronted my mother.”
“She told me Charles was infertile.”
“They used experimental donor insemination.”
“Kline was junior physician.”
“She said donor anonymous.”
“Then she found out years later donor had been Kline.”
“How?”
“She and Kline had affair?”
“No.”
He answered immediately.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“She said he confessed after my father died? Actually Charles died nine years ago, Wesley found nine years ago around same time? Could work.”
“He told her after I was born that a ‘designated donor’ sample had failed and he used his own.”
Nadia stared.
“So Priscilla was victim too?”
Wesley hesitated.
“Maybe at first.”
“What changed?”
“She kept secret.”
“Kline became family doctor for years.”
“He came to events.”
“My father thought Kline had helped them.”
“I don’t know what he knew.”
“Photo.”
“Yes.”
“Why thirty years ago if secret?”
“Kline was close to parents.”
Nadia felt disgust.
“Your mother continued relationship with doctor who used his own sperm without consent?”
“She says she didn’t know until I was older.”
“Do you believe?”
“I did.”
“Now?”
He looked toward door.
“I don’t know.”
“What happened when we needed donor?”
“My mother said Kline’s clinic best.”
“She said he understood our history.”
Nadia’s skin crawled.
“What history?”
“My infertility.”
“Did she know before me?”
“Yes.”
Nadia stared.
Wesley had been diagnosed before they started trying?
He explained:
“At twenty-six, after DNA shock, I had testing.”
“Severe oligospermia.”
“I knew likely difficulty.”
“You married me knowing and waited until two years of trying to tell?”
“I was ashamed.”
Nadia felt another betrayal.
“This family uses shame as filing cabinet.”
He flinched.
She continued:
“When we chose donor, did you ask your mother?”
“No.”
“She inserted.”
“She reviewed profiles without us?”
“She asked.”
“I told her broad.”
“Did you tell Kline?”
“No.”
“Did she?”
“I don’t know.”
Nadia leaned closer.
“When did you first suspect June was Kline’s?”
Wesley whispered:
“Last year.”
“Why leave alone?”
“Because if she is his biological daughter, then genetically she is my half-sister.”
His voice cracked.
“I couldn’t look at that.”
“I hated it.”
“I hated myself for caring.”
“I looked at June and felt like something had been stolen from us.”
“Then she called me Daddy and I decided biology could go to hell.”
Nadia’s anger softened but did not disappear.
“You decided for me.”
“Yes.”
“For June someday.”
“Yes.”
“For every other family.”
“Yes.”
Tears fell.
“I was wrong.”
Nadia sat back.
Finally.
Not defense.
Wrong.
Then he said:
“There’s something else.”
She looked.
“My mother asked me last year if I had ever tested June against my DNA.”
Nadia went cold.
“She asked without you telling?”
“Yes.”
“What exactly?”
“‘Have you ever compared your results with hers?’”
“Why would she ask?”
“I didn’t realize.”
Nadia stood.
Priscilla knew.
Not just Kline’s history.
She knew enough to fear a match between Wesley and June.
Nadia whispered:
“She arranged it.”
Wesley said nothing.
She looked at husband.
“Your mother arranged for Kline’s sperm to be used.”
He whispered:
“I think she may have.”
And for the first time, Wesley no longer asked Nadia to leave it alone.
May you like
He said:
“We need to prove it.”
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