Chapter 9 - THE CONSENT PAGE
The court appointed separate guardians ad litem for June and Ava.
The attorneys represented the babies’ interests, not mine, Rebecca’s, or Luke’s.
That distinction became important when every adult began saying the words my child.
The guardians requested complete genetic testing, medical records, prenatal files, and clinic logs.
Northbridge resisted until the court threatened sanctions.
The clinic finally produced a scanned chain-of-custody page from the day our embryos were transferred.
Two lines had been overwritten.
The original entries could not be read.
A digital examiner found that the scan had been altered after the fact.
Dr. Holloway blamed a technician who had retired.
The technician, Naomi Quinn, was alive and working at a veterinary laboratory in Oregon.
She agreed to a video interview.
“I reported a barcode mismatch that morning,” she said.
“Between which patients?”
She looked toward her attorney.
“I need immunity before answering.”
“Did Dr. Holloway know?”
“Yes.”
“Did Luke Mercer know?”
“Later.”
“How much later?”
“Before either woman gave birth.”
The interview ended there.
Rebecca became furious.
“If Ava is not genetically mine, I still carried her.”
“No one said she isn’t yours.”
“You keep looking at June like someone may take her.”
“So do you.”
We stood in the kitchen with both bassinets between us.
The babies slept through the first fight between their mothers.
“I have one embryo,” Rebecca said. “One. If Northbridge gave it to you, June may be the only genetic child I will ever have.”
“And Ava may be mine.”
Silence followed.
The words felt like betrayal even though they were only possibility.
Rachel warned us not to make private custody promises before results.
I hated the legal language.
Still, it protected us from decisions made during panic.
Luke’s office files produced one more document.
It was a handwritten draft of the settlement agreement.
Beside the release clause, he had written:
No disclosure if infants leave under corrected identities.
Corrected.
Not switched.
Not stolen.
Corrected.
A second note read:
C. must never see transfer sheet.
The following morning, the final DNA report arrived under seal.
The judge scheduled an emergency conference.
Before entering, Rachel took both my hands.
“You need to hear the entire result before deciding what it means.”
Rebecca sat across the hall holding Ava.
I held June.
Luke entered in handcuffs for violating bond by attempting to contact Naomi Quinn.
The judge opened the report.
May you like
Then she looked at all three of us.
“The children were not switched first at the hospital,” she said. “They were switched before either pregnancy began.”
