Chapter 3 - THE BABY IS FINEThe baby was fine.
I needed to hear it five times.
Heart rate reassuring.
Placenta looked normal.
No bleeding.
No labor.
The contractions settled after fluids, rest, and time.
My obstetrician, Dr. Maya Fletcher, examined the red mark along my lower back where I hit the coffin.
“No direct abdominal trauma?”
“No.”
“You stayed standing?”
“Yes.”
“Any fluid leakage?”
“No.”
“Baby movement?”
“Constantly.”
“Good.”
Then she asked:
“What happened?”
I told her.
Not every estate detail.
Enough.
Mother-in-law.
DNA folder.
Sister-in-law removed ring.
Push.
Dr. Fletcher stared at me for a second.
“Funeral?”
“Yes.”
She wrote something.
“People are exhausting.”
Medical precision.
I stayed for several hours.
Sterling arrived at six with my ring.
I looked at it in the clear evidence-style envelope.
“I don’t want to put it on yet.”
“Then don’t.”
“Will that mean anything legally?”
“No.”
“Good.”
He sat.
I asked:
“What did David record?”
Sterling folded his hands.
“Before I answer, I need to know what Eleanor said.”
“She says the baby isn’t biologically David’s.”
“Anything else?”
“That I lied. That I won’t inherit.”
“Did she say where the test came from?”
“No.”
“Did you recognize the laboratory?”
“No.”
He nodded.
“David expected a parentage challenge.”
There.
My throat tightened.
“He told you?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Five months ago.”
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
Sterling looked uncomfortable.
“Because he believed you already had enough stress.”
I nearly threw a water cup.
“That sounds exactly like him.”
“Yes.”
“Infuriating.”
“Yes.”
I looked at my stomach.
Then:
“Is the recording about the baby?”
“Yes.”
“Play it.”
“No.”
I stared.
“Sterling.”
“David’s instructions require two things before full playback. Authentication of the recording and presence of designated counsel for the estate and Sarah.”
“I am Sarah.”
“You are not counsel.”
“I hate you.”
“That makes two Bennetts this week.”
I almost laughed.
Then he became serious.
“Sarah, I also need you not to assume the DNA report is legally meaningful until we examine chain of custody, methodology, and sample source.”
“I know what it probably says.”
Sterling watched me carefully.
I did not explain.
Not yet.
May you like
Because some truths belonged first to David and me.
Even after one of us was dead.
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