Chapter 5 - MARGARET’S OBSESSION
Margaret finally agreed to a formal deposition.
Her attorney prepared her well.
She answered narrowly.
Yes.
She knew Daniel and I were undergoing fertility treatment.
Yes.
She knew Daniel’s motility results worried him.
Yes.
She knew Richard had participated in Mercer’s study.
No.
She never instructed Dr. Mercer to use Richard’s sample.
No.
She never physically handled reproductive material.
No.
She did not know substitution occurred until after Lily’s birth.
That last answer was the opening.
Our attorney asked:
“How did you learn?”
Margaret stopped.
Her lawyer objected.
The question remained.
Margaret said:
“Lawrence told Richard.”
“When?”
“After Lily was born.”
“Why?”
“He was proud.”
I felt sick.
“Proud of what?”
Margaret looked at me.
For the first time, shame appeared.
“Of solving a problem.”
Daniel’s voice broke.
“A problem?”
His attorney warned him not to interrupt.
He ignored the warning.
“I was the problem?”
Margaret said:
“No.”
“My fertility was.”
“No.”
“Then explain.”
She began crying.
I had seen Margaret cry before.
At funerals.
Weddings.
When Vanessa moved across the country for six months.
Her tears had always activated Daniel.
This time, he remained still.
Margaret finally said:
“You were devastated after Claire miscarried.”
“That doesn’t answer me.”
“Your father called Lawrence.”
There it was.
Richard.
“What did he ask?”
“To help.”
“How?”
“I don’t know what was said.”
“Did you know Richard had samples stored?”
“Yes.”
“Did you suggest they could be used?”
Silence.
The attorney objected again.
Margaret looked at her hands.
Then whispered:
“I said if there was any way to keep it within the family, Lawrence should find it.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
That was enough to expose her moral involvement.
Not enough to prove she authorized a specific procedure.
But the ideology was clear.
Keep it within the family.
Bloodline.
Margaret had spent seven years treating Lily’s legitimacy as a biological question while knowing the circumstances of her conception were not what Daniel and I believed.
Then another question.
“Why did you allow Vanessa to test Lily?”
Margaret answered:
“Because I thought Claire had discovered the truth and was preparing to leave Daniel.”
I stared.
“What?”
Margaret looked at me.
“You became distant.”
“I became distant because all of you treated me like garbage.”
“You started asking Richard questions.”
“About family medical history for Lily!”
Margaret had interpreted ordinary questions as discovery.
Fear drove the test.
She wanted to know whether Lily was actually Richard’s before I could supposedly use that fact against the family.
The cruelty at dinner had emerged from panic.
Again:
May you like
Explanation.
Not excuse.
