I answered with difficulty.
“He used my pregnancy to make you believe that.”
“We’re so sorry,” Ellen said.
They’d saved all of Peter’s paperwork. A laboratory notification among it confirmed Audrey’s preserved material had never been used. Her purported agreement was fabricated. Ellen and George had held onto those papers because they thought they preserved a connection to their daughter. I realized Peter had exploited not only my desire to become a mother but also their longing to remember Audrey.
The clinic also identified three more embryos made from my eggs and Peter’s sperm. Although records marked them discarded, inventory couldn’t establish their destruction. The most recent transfer request involving them used an unfamiliar name.
That night, the contractions intensified and quickened. Doctors monitored me, administered medicine intended to postpone birth, and warned premature babies might require intensive care. Peter’s lawyer meanwhile petitioned the court urgently, alleging I’d agreed to carry children for three different families and should not make decisions concerning them without notifying those families.
