Chapter 6 - THE DINNER AFTER THE GLASS BROKEThree weeks after the first dinner, Foxmere House hosted another family meal.
This one had no chandeliers glowing for elegance.
No June.
No staff within hearing.
Only Nadia, Wesley, Priscilla, Elena Park, Graham Pritchard, and a stenographer? That's too legal for dinner. Maybe meeting in dining room. But title dinner after glass broke can be a private confrontation.
Priscilla insisted:
“If we discuss family, we do it without lawyers.”
Nadia responded:
“Then we do not discuss evidence.”
Eventually they agreed adults-only dinner with one condition:
No recording secretly.
No threats.
No June.
Wesley wanted closure.
Nadia wanted observe.
Priscilla wanted regain control.
They sat same table.
The wine stain had been professionally removed.
That irritated Nadia.
Foxmere could erase almost anything from carpet.
Priscilla began:
“I have apologized to Wesley.”
Nadia looked at husband.
He said:
“She did.”
“For what exactly?”
Priscilla’s mouth tightened.
“For interfering where I should not.”
Nadia waited.
“That is not enough.”
“I do not owe you public confession.”
“This isn’t public.”
Priscilla looked around empty room as though ghosts counted.
Nadia opened notepad.
“Did you ask Simon Kline to substitute his genetic material for donor D-417?”
Priscilla replied:
“I asked whether June could be genetically related to Wesley.”
“Did he propose his stored sperm?”
“Yes.”
“Did you agree?”
“I said if medically lawful and possible.”
Nadia stared.
“That is not what continuity memo says.”
Priscilla’s face changed.
“You have private consulting files.”
“Yes.”
“You had no right.”
“Kline produced through legal request.”
Priscilla looked at Wesley.
He did not rescue.
Nadia continued:
“The memo says neither Wesley nor I authorized substitution.”
“I never told him to violate law.”
“Did you tell him to preserve continuity despite our donor choice?”
“Yes.”
“Did you pay $75,000?”
“For consultation.”
“Why so much?”
“Simon’s private genetics work was expensive.”
“What genetics work?”
Priscilla hesitated.
“Family testing.”
Wesley looked sharply.
“What testing?”
Priscilla closed eyes.
“Nadia, you enjoy dramatic revelations.”
“No.”
“I’m exhausted.”
Wesley:
“Mother. What testing?”
Priscilla whispered:
“Your DNA.”
He froze.
“You gave Kline my DNA?”
“You gave me ancestry report when you were twenty-nine.”
“I showed.”
“You emailed.”
“Did you send to him?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To confirm paternity.”
Wesley laughed once in disbelief.
“You knew he was father.”
“I wanted certainty.”
“Without telling me.”
“Yes.”
Again.
Priscilla had sent his raw data to Kline.
Privacy.
Consent.
Another boundary.
Kline compared.
Confirmed parent-child.
Then Priscilla began planning genetic continuity years later.
Nadia said:
“So when Wesley and I selected anonymous donor, you knew Kline was Wesley’s biological father and had Kline’s confirmation.”
“Yes.”
“You wanted Kline sperm.”
“I wanted a biologically related donor.”
“Why not ask Wesley whether he wanted a half-brother or Kline relative as donor?”
“Because he would refuse.”
“Exactly.”
Priscilla looked almost frustrated at obvious.
“He was ashamed.”
“No.”
“He was entitled to refuse.”
Wesley stared at his mother.
“Did you ever consider asking Kline’s legitimate son?”
Kline had no public son? Could have adult nephew. But irrelevant.
Priscilla:
“No.”
“You went straight to Simon?”
“Yes.”
Nadia asked:
“Did you know he had used sperm in other patients?”
Priscilla paused too long.
This mattered.
“I knew he had donated when young.”
“Did you know he later used his own sperm without consent?”
“Only mine.”
“Only your case?”
“I believed.”
“What about twenty-two?”
“I did not know.”
Maybe truth.
Nadia watched.
Priscilla’s shock at 22 matches had been subtle but perhaps real.
She knew Kline might use himself for June at her request, not that he had broad pattern.
That made story richer.
Wesley asked:
“Did you think he would substitute without our signatures?”
Priscilla whispered:
“I thought he would find a legal way.”
“What does that mean?”
“He said paperwork could be handled.”
Nadia’s skin crawled.
“Did you sign anything pretending to be me?”
“No.”
“Did you authorize?”
“I am not patient.”
“I could not.”
“Did you tell him I objected?”
“Yes.”
“And still paid.”
Priscilla did not answer.
The moral line clear.
She may not have physically switched vial.
She knowingly encouraged outcome without parents’ consent.
Wesley said:
“You cared more about genetic link than Nadia’s right over her body.”
Priscilla’s face tightened.
“I thought she would never know.”
“No harm.”
Nadia stared.
There it was.
No harm.
“The child is healthy.”
Nadia replied:
“You keep describing harm only as disease.”
“I was inseminated with genetic material I did not choose.”
“My husband was denied choice.”
“June’s medical history was falsified.”
“She has dozens of siblings we were not told.”
“That is harm.”
Priscilla looked away.
Nadia continued:
“You accused me of cheating.”
Priscilla looked back.
“Why?”
Priscilla’s eyes narrowed.
“I was angry.”
“At what?”
“You were digging into things that should stay private.”
“So you humiliated me to make me defensive.”
Silence.
“Yes.”
Wesley closed eyes.
Nadia almost laughed.
“You thought if you accused me, I would focus on proving faithfulness instead of asking DNA questions.”
Priscilla:
“I wanted conversation stopped.”
“That is cruelty as strategy.”
Priscilla flinched.
Good.
Wesley asked:
“Did Father know Kline was biological?”
Priscilla:
“No.”
“Never?”
“No.”
“Did Kline ever threaten?”
“Yes.”
First new twist.
Nadia listened.
“When?”
“After Charles died.”
“Simon wanted investment in clinic expansion.”
“He implied public genetics could complicate Fairmont estate.”
Wesley went pale.
“Blackmail.”
Priscilla hesitated.
“Not explicit.”
“What did you do?”
“I invested through family office.”
“How much?”
“Two million.”
Wesley stood.
Nadia stared.
Priscilla had funded Kline.
Perhaps enabling clinic.
“You gave two million to man who secretly fathered you through misconduct?”
“He was respected physician.”
“You knew.”
“I knew my case.”
“I did not know pattern.”
Wesley turned away.
Nadia’s anger shifted.
Priscilla was perpetrator in June’s case.
But also prior victim who responded to violation by secrecy, money, and repetition rather than accountability.
She tried to regain control by becoming collaborator.
That did not excuse.
It explained.
Priscilla whispered:
“When someone takes choice from you, you spend rest life trying make sure you are never powerless again.”
Nadia stared.
“And you became person who took choice from me.”
Priscilla’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
The first real admission.
The room stayed silent.
No forgiveness.
Wesley sat.
“Then help us.”
Priscilla looked.
“Give every letter.”
“Every payment.”
“Every conversation.”
“Testify.”
Her face changed.
Against Kline.
Against her own complicity.
Against family reputation.
Wesley said:
“If you mean apology, help.”
Priscilla looked around dining room.
Foxmere.
Portraits.
Silver.
Name.
Her whole life had been spent preserving this.
Finally she whispered:
“I need a lawyer.”
Nadia almost laughed.
Wesley said:
“Get one.”
“Then tell truth.”
May you like
Priscilla nodded.
And for first time, the Fairmont family dinner ended without anyone pretending everything was fine.
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