Chapter 18 - WHAT DAVID KNEWDavid explained how Eleanor discovered fertility treatment.
Five months before his death, she had asked him why Northbridge Reproductive Medicine appeared in an old insurance summary.
He told her:
“Because Sarah and I needed help getting pregnant.”
Eleanor pressed.
She asked whether his cancer treatment affected fertility.
David refused to answer.
Two days later, Chloe asked him:
“Is the baby genetically yours?”
He told her:
“The baby is mine.”
Chloe repeated:
“Genetically?”
David ended the conversation.
Then he called Sterling.
On the recording, David said:
“I am not recording this because Sarah deceived me. She did not.”
My vision blurred.
“We used donor sperm because chemotherapy left me unable to father a child genetically. I consented before treatment. I participated in the process. I attended embryo transfer. I have considered this child mine from before conception.”
Eleanor began crying.
Not loudly.
David continued.
“I chose not to disclose infertility details to my family because my mother has repeatedly expressed the view that biological descent determines legitimacy. I reject that view.”
Chloe stared at the table.
Then:
“If my mother or sister later produces a genetic test excluding me as biological father, the test may be biologically accurate. It will not reveal a secret to me.”
There.
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The report had never been a bomb David feared.
It was a fact he had already built his legal life around.
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