Chapter 12 - The Lie About Lily

I turned so quickly my burned skin stung.

“What did you say?”

Walter wore a dark suit, spotless despite the smoke drifting from his property. “There are things about your marriage you don't understand.”

Daniel went rigid. “Don't do this.”

“Then come inside.”

“No,” I said. “He doesn't get to trade my daughter for a secret.”

Walter gave me a thin smile. “You always did inherit your mother's temper.”

Ellis stepped between us. “Mr. Harrington, we need you to answer questions about records recovered on your property.”

“Through my attorney.” He turned and went inside.

At Dad's house, Lily slept with her shoes beside the bed, ready to leave in a hurry. I sat on the floor until the shaking in my hands stopped. Monica assured me that Walter's insinuation changed nothing about the immediate safety concerns or the need for evidence.

In the morning Daniel called. I almost ignored him, but Monica suggested recording a clear account through counsel rather than entering another argument.

“Lily is my daughter,” Daniel said when I answered.

“Then why did your father say that?”

“Because he knows you don't remember the night we went to the fertility clinic.”

“I remember it very well.”

“Not the paperwork. We used an embryo screening service through a foundation clinic. Dad paid for it. A donor consent page was slipped into the packet.”

“Are you saying you weren't told?”

“I found out afterward. Dad said it didn't matter. I should have told you.”

I sat down hard. He'd withheld information about my own treatment, my own family, and Lily's beginnings. Whatever the legal truth, I felt sick that he'd made decisions about my body and then called it protection.

Monica told us to obtain the actual clinic records and independent professional advice rather than trust Daniel's account. We submitted a preservation request that morning.

By afternoon the clinic director called me herself. “Mrs. Harrington, we have a problem. The consent form bearing your signature doesn't match the version in our secure archive.”

“Which one is real?”

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“I can't answer yet,” she said. “But the archived document has a handwritten note. It says: DO NOT RELEASE TO WALTER.”