Chapter 9
Bennett Fertility was supposed to be closed.
It was not.
Detective Collins found a private branch operating under a new name.
Family Continuity Center.
Margaret sat on the board.
So did Dr. Alan Voss, the doctor who had signed Serena’s prenatal reports.
The same doctor listed in Poppy’s adoption file.
I felt sick.
Lydia petitioned for all records involving Poppy, Serena, Grant, and Claire.
The clinic fought.
Hard.
That told us the records mattered.
Serena agreed to DNA testing through an independent hospital.
So did Claire.
So did Poppy, after I explained in the gentlest language I could.
“Does this mean I’m not yours?” she asked.
I pulled her into my lap.
“No test can make you less mine.”
“Then why do it?”
“Because grown-ups lied, and we need truth to keep everyone safe.”
She thought about that.
“Truth is like a night-light.”
I cried after she left the room.
The first result came back in three days.
Claire was Grant’s half-sister.
Robert Bennett was her father.
Margaret had hidden her.
The second result came the next morning.
Serena’s baby was not Grant’s.
It was Dr. Voss’s.
Serena vomited when she heard.
“He said the donor paperwork was routine,” she sobbed.
Donor paperwork.
The room went cold.
Lydia gripped her pen.
“Audrey, we need Poppy’s results.”
I wanted to refuse.
I wanted to throw every paper into the ocean.
Then Detective Collins called.
Her voice was careful.
“We found a link between Poppy’s birth records and Dr. Voss.”
I closed my eyes.
May you like
“Tell me.”
“Poppy may be Robert Bennett’s biological granddaughter.”
