Chapter 4: What Grant Chose Not to Know
Grant stared at the tablet.
“I never authorized that.”
Dr.
Mercer enlarged the record.
“The request came from your private email, and the security code was sent to your phone.”
“Jocelyn had access to both.”
Jocelyn shifted the baby to her other arm.
“You gave me access because you wanted the problem gone.”
I stepped between them.
“What problem, Grant?
My records—or the possibility that you were the reason we couldn’t have children?”
His mouth opened, but no answer came.
“Say it.”
“I knew there might have been a mistake.”
The wall behind me seemed to move.
My hand found the back of a chair.
Evan pulled it out.
“Sit down, Laurel.”
“No.
I want to hear him say it while I’m standing.”
Grant rubbed both hands over his face.
“Jocelyn showed me a preliminary note.
It suggested the sample attached to your name might not have been yours.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I was afraid.”
“You watched me cry after every appointment.”
“I didn’t know the final answer.”
“You knew enough to ask questions.”
Jocelyn gave a bitter laugh.
“He didn’t want questions.
He wanted someone to blame.”
Grant turned on her.
“You told me the note was meaningless.”
“And you were relieved to believe me.”
I pressed my palm against the chair.
“You called me broken.”
“I never used that word.”
“You didn’t need to.
You packed a suitcase the morning after my last appointment and said, ‘I can’t build a future around disappointment.’”
Grant’s eyes filled, but I felt Evan’s hand steady the chair beside me.
“I am sorry,” Grant whispered.
“No.
You are sorry the paper reached me.”
My knees buckled.
Evan caught my elbow, and Dr.
Mercer brought the chair behind me.
Jocelyn watched me sit.
“There,” she said.
“This is what she does.
She makes everyone feel guilty until they rescue her.”
A woman’s voice came from behind us.
“That is enough, Jocelyn.”
Eleanor Bellamy stood near the reception desk.
Grant’s mother had never once defended me during our marriage.
She walked directly to me and placed her coat around my shoulders.
“I should have protected you years ago,” she said.
“I will not stand silent again.”
Grant looked stunned.
“Mother, why are you here?”
“Evan called me.”
“You knew he was back?”
“I paid for his hotel when he returned last week.”
Jocelyn’s face tightened.
“You always disliked me.”
“I distrusted you.
There is a difference.”
Eleanor knelt beside my chair.
“Laurel, I owe you the truth.
Grant asked me whether I knew anyone on the hospital board.
He wanted the old test removed before the divorce.”
Grant stepped forward.
“I asked for privacy, not deletion.”
“You said, ‘If Laurel finds out, she’ll use it to destroy me.’”
He stopped.
I pulled Eleanor’s coat tighter around me.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I protected my son when I should have protected the person he was hurting.”
A tear slid down her cheek.
She took my hand instead of wiping it away.
Jocelyn moved toward the elevator.
“This family can tear itself apart without me.”
Evan blocked the doors.
“My son stays here.”
“You don’t know he’s yours.”
“Then agree to a test.”
“No.”
Grant looked at the sleeping boy.
“If I’m not his father, somebody deserves to know who is.”
Jocelyn pressed the elevator button.
“You don’t deserve anything.”
Two hospital security officers approached, and Dr.
Mercer raised his hand.
“No one is keeping you here, Ms.
Price.
But the compliance office needs your current contact information.”
“My attorney will call.”
The elevator opened.
Jocelyn entered with the baby and faced me as the doors began to close.
“You think that report restores what you lost?” she said.
“Wait until everyone sees the consent form with your signature.”
The doors met between us.
Dr.
Mercer went still.
“What consent form?” I asked.
He turned his tablet toward me.
May you like
A document had just appeared in my medical file.
At the bottom was my name, written in handwriting that looked exactly like mine.
