The coordinator, Mara, appeared distressed. She said Dr. Whitaker claimed the documentation was handled privately between the “intended parents.” On transfer day, Mara had questioned whether I’d signed a third-party consent, but he assured her everything was signed. She hadn’t personally examined it and had allowed the procedure to continue.
“I should have asked you,” she said quietly.
“You should have,” I replied. “But you didn’t create this.”
Naomi discovered another impossible date in an agreement involving Audrey Miller’s relatives. Audrey had died years before the contract was supposedly signed. Her parents, Ellen and George, joined Naomi on video that night. According to Peter, Audrey’s preserved eggs had produced an embryo and I’d volunteered to carry their grandchild. He’d even mailed them an ultrasound photo labeled with Audrey’s name.
Ellen struggled to speak.
“He told us our daughter’s final wish was to have a child. We wanted to believe we could help make that happen.”
