Chapter 8 - THE FERTILITY CLINIC
Elise and I had struggled to conceive.
That part I knew.
A year of trying.
Basic testing.
Then, suddenly, pregnancy.
She told me it happened naturally.
I believed her.
The fertility clinic records complicated that.
Elise had consulted privately.
Not full IVF.
Not donor conception.
She underwent monitored ovulation and one intrauterine insemination cycle.
With whose sperm?
Mine.
The record showed specimen:
Cedric Harrow.
Collection authorization signed by me?
No.
Because she used a frozen sample I had banked during a fertility evaluation months earlier.
I remembered giving it.
I did not know she later used it.
Was that legal under clinic consent?
My original storage authorization permitted use in treatment with spouse during one year.
Broadly written.
Not ideal.
But not secret donor.
No mysterious father.
Why hide it?
An email to her doctor:
Cedric is becoming consumed by his mother’s comments about masculinity and fertility. I do not want conception to become another family referendum.
That hurt.
Again, Elise protected herself from Odette by withholding something from me.
Not healthy.
Understandable.
Human.
Then another note:
Patient worried mother-in-law may challenge legitimacy if she learns assisted conception occurred.
There.
Odette’s obsession predated Maelis.
Why?
Family identity.
Bloodline.
Control.
Maybe money later.
Not one motive.
Then Odette’s new insinuation collapsed partly.
The fertility clinic had chain-of-custody records linking my stored sample to Elise’s procedure.
That did not independently prove the resulting child was mine.
But it made her “circumstances” much less sinister.
Naomi said:
“She may be trying to turn assisted reproduction into scandal.”
“Because she thinks people won’t understand.”
“Likely.”
That made me angrier than the original rumor.
Elise had been ashamed of needing medical help because my mother treated fertility like family property.
Still, I did not release anything publicly.
Those were Elise’s medical records.
Court could review under seal.
No gossip reward.
Then investigators searched Odette’s old laptop.
They found the original Word file.
Created under her user account.
Title:
PaternityReportTemplate.docx.
That sounded decisive.
It wasn’t.
Could another person use her laptop?
Yes.
Could metadata survive migration inaccurately?
Possible.
Need corroboration.
Then an email to her former assistant:
Need this formatted to resemble the sample report I sent. No names in file history.
The assistant, Helen Ward, was located.
Retired.
She hired counsel.
Then admitted:
Odette asked her to create a “mock paternity document” four years earlier.
Why?
She was told it was for confronting Elise privately and that actual testing would follow.
Did Helen know it would be used in probate years later?
“No.”
Did she make the final report?
“Yes.”
Did Odette give names?
“Yes.”
Did Odette know it was fake?
“Yes.”
There.
Central fraud almost confirmed.
But Chapter 10 remained for full reveal because we still needed why.
Why create it at all?
Money from Alaric’s estate was years away.
Unless Odette already knew his will.
She did.
Executors often know estate planning.
And Alaric had recently amended the grandchildren clause after Maelis’s birth.
Odette saw exactly what one child changed.
Not control.
Distribution.
Half of $7.4 million.
The lake property.
Family future.
Helen gave investigators one more email.
ODETTE:
Once Cedric accepts the result, Dad will revise the grandchildren section.
He never did.
Because Alaric did not accept it.
May you like
Odette’s plan had failed four years ago.
Then she waited until he died and tried again.
