Chapter 3 - Dr. Vale
I arrived at the fertility clinic with Maddie on my hip and Claire beside me.
Grant was already there.
That alone told me he knew more than he'd admitted.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“They called me.”
The administrator appeared before I could question him.
Her name was Melissa Hart.
She led us into a conference room and closed the door.
A thick file sat on the table.
“There was an internal audit,” Melissa said. “Several archived cases required secondary review.”
“Several?”
“Yes.”
Grant shifted in his chair.
I noticed.
Melissa opened my file.
“The physician supervising your cycle was Dr. Nathan Vale.”
I remembered him.
Calm voice. Silver glasses. Expensive watch.
He had been recommended by Evelyn.
That memory suddenly felt different.
“Where is Dr. Vale?”
Melissa hesitated.
“He left this practice fourteen months ago.”
“Why?”
“I can't discuss another employee’s confidential matter.”
Grant stood.
“This is going nowhere.”
“Sit down,” I said.
He stared at me.
For the first time in our marriage, he actually did.
Melissa slid two pages toward me.
One was my copy.
The other was the clinic’s electronic record.
The donor numbers were different.
But that wasn't the worst part.
The electronic change had been approved at 11:43 p.m. the night before my procedure.
“Who approved it?”
Melissa swallowed.
“Dr. Vale.”
“Who requested it?”
“We're still determining that.”
Then Claire leaned forward.
“What's that?”
At the bottom of the audit page was an old contact entry.
An emergency number connected to the amendment.
I recognized the last four digits.
So did Grant.
His eyes dropped immediately.
I pulled out my phone and searched my contacts.
Then I turned the screen toward him.
The number belonged to Evelyn.
My mother-in-law had been contacted the night before my embryo procedure.
And she had never told me.
Grant whispered, “Mom…”
I looked at him.
That single word told me something important.
He hadn't known about the number.
Maybe Grant had lied.
May you like
But perhaps he wasn't the architect of the biggest lie.
👉 Evelyn’s number was buried inside the altered clinic record—and when I confronted her, she finally admitted why Dr. Vale knew her personally.
