Chapter 6 - The Man Behind the Donor Number
Grant did not believe the laboratory report until Julia placed the certified copy in front of him.
He read the relationship estimate four times.
Rachel watched his eyes return to the same line.
Twenty-four point nine percent shared autosomal DNA.
Strongly consistent with a half-sibling relationship when evaluated with supplied ages, sex, and maternal exclusion data.
Grant pushed the paper away.
"There has to be another explanation."
Julia sat across from him in her office.
"There are other theoretical relationships at that percentage."
Grant looked hopeful for one second.
"Which ones?"
"Grandparent-grandchild, aunt-niece, uncle-niece, and certain double-cousin structures."
His hope vanished.
Rachel leaned back in her chair.
"None of those fit."
Julia nodded.
"Not without another major undisclosed relationship in the family."
Grant gave a humorless laugh.
"At this point, don't rule it out."
Rachel said nothing.
Julia opened a second folder.
"The genealogist has also confirmed Grant's match to Celia Vale."
Grant looked down.
"I already knew about Celia."
"You knew the percentage."
Julia corrected him.
"You did not know how it connected to the donor cluster."
She turned the diagram toward them.
Adrian Vale sat at the top.
His late brother Michael appeared beside him.
Celia was Michael's daughter.
Under Adrian were two branches marked Unknown Biological Child Group A and Unknown Biological Child Group B.
Grant's name sat under one.
Maddie's sat under the other.
Rachel hated seeing her daughter's name on a chart built around a stranger's secret behavior.
"What do we need to prove Vale is the father?"
Grant asked.
"Direct DNA is best."
"He won't give it."
Julia looked at Rachel.
"Lauren Pike's attorney is seeking a court order in a separate civil case."
"How long?"
"Could be months."
Rachel shook her head.
"There has to be another way."
The genetic genealogist, a woman named Priya Shah, joined by video call.
She had been working with several Northlake families for almost a year.
"There is another route."
Priya shared her screen.
"Celia Vale's DNA is already enough to place both Grant and Maddie inside the Vale family."
Grant frowned.
"Inside the family doesn't prove Adrian."
"Correct."
Priya clicked to another diagram.
"But Celia's father, Michael, died in 2006."
"So?"
"Michael had two biological sons."
"Wouldn't one of them be possible?"
"They were twelve and fourteen when Grant was conceived."
Grant stared at the screen.
Priya continued.
"Adrian's father died in 1979."
"Then Adrian is the only adult male in that immediate branch old enough to father Grant."
Rachel said it quietly.
Priya nodded.
"For Grant, yes."
"And Maddie?"
"For Maddie, Adrian's adult sons could theoretically be candidates."
Grant looked up sharply.
"Vale has sons?"
"Two legally recognized sons from his marriage."
Priya changed the chart again.
"However, Maddie shares DNA with them at levels consistent with half siblings or paternal uncles depending on which hypothesis we test."
Rachel felt her stomach turn.
"Have they tested?"
"One has."
"Which one?"
"Daniel Vale."
Priya's expression became careful.
"He joined our project yesterday."
Grant leaned forward.
"Why?"
"Because he received a letter from his father's attorney telling him not to speak with donor-conceived families."
Rachel blinked.
"That made him suspicious."
"Very."
Priya opened a relationship table.
"Daniel shares approximately twenty-five percent with Grant."
"Half brothers."
"Most likely."
"And with Maddie?"
Priya looked directly into the camera.
"Also approximately twenty-five percent."
The room went quiet.
Rachel understood before Grant did.
If Daniel Vale was Adrian's known son and shared half-sibling levels with both Grant and Maddie, Adrian fit as the common father for all three.
Grant leaned back.
"No."
Priya did not react.
"The probability is extremely high."
"Not proof."
"Not yet direct proof."
Grant stood.
"I need air."
He walked out of Julia's office.
Rachel stayed seated.
She wanted to follow him.
She also remembered every time he had left her alone with a painful truth because he could not tolerate being the one under scrutiny.
This time she let him go.
Julia muted the video call.
"Are you all right?"
Rachel laughed softly.
"No."
"That was a stupid question."
"At least it was honest."
Julia folded her hands.
"We need to discuss Maddie's privacy."
Rachel nodded.
"I don't want her name anywhere public."
"Good."
"And I don't want Vale contacting us."
Julia's eyes moved toward her computer.
"About that."
Rachel's pulse jumped.
"What?"
"My office received a letter this morning."
She pulled out an envelope.
The return address belonged to a law firm downtown.
"Adrian Vale's counsel."
Rachel read the first paragraph.
The letter claimed Dr. Vale denied any misconduct and considered public accusations defamatory.
The second paragraph offered to coordinate "private family-history clarification" if Rachel agreed to confidentiality.
Rachel looked up.
"He wants an NDA before he tells me whether he is my child's biological father."
"That appears to be the offer."
"No."
"I assumed."
Rachel pushed the letter back.
"Tell him no."
Julia nodded.
Then her phone rang.
The receptionist said someone named Daniel Vale was downstairs.
Julia looked at Rachel.
"Do you want to meet him?"
Rachel hesitated.
This was a man who might be Maddie's biological half brother.
He might also be Grant's.
"Yes."
Daniel Vale was forty-one, tall, and thinner than his father.
Rachel recognized Adrian's eyes immediately.
Daniel noticed her noticing.
"That's usually the first thing people see."
Rachel stood.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be."
Daniel sat opposite her.
"I spent my whole life being told I looked exactly like him."
He glanced at Grant's empty chair.
"Is Grant here?"
"He stepped out."
Daniel nodded.
"Probably wise."
Rachel frowned.
"Have you met him?"
"Once."
The answer stunned her.
"When?"
"Three years ago."
Rachel's pulse quickened.
"After his DNA test?"
Daniel nodded.
"He came to my father's house."
"Grant told me he contacted Adrian."
"He did more than contact him."
Rachel stared.
Daniel leaned forward.
"He sat in my father's library for almost two hours."
"What did they talk about?"
"I don't know everything."
"What do you know?"
Daniel looked toward Julia.
"I heard my father say Evelyn's name."
Rachel's hands went cold.
"What else?"
"Grant asked whether Thomas Bennett knew."
"Knew what?"
"My father told him that some truths only hurt the dead."
Rachel closed her eyes.
That sounded exactly like the evasive cruelty of the man whose letter now demanded silence.
"Did Grant leave with anything?"
Daniel nodded.
"A sealed envelope."
Rachel opened her eyes.
"Did you see it?"
"Yes."
"What was in it?"
"I don't know."
Daniel paused.
"But it had my father's personal archive stamp on the back."
Grant returned to the office at that moment.
He saw Daniel and stopped in the doorway.
Daniel stood.
"Hello, Grant."
Grant's face went blank.
Rachel did not look away from him.
"What was in the envelope Adrian Vale gave you three years ago?"
Grant's eyes moved from Daniel to Rachel.
"Nothing."
Daniel frowned.
"It wasn't nothing."
Grant's jaw clenched.
Rachel rose.
"What was in it?"
Grant said nothing.
Daniel reached into his coat.
He placed a photocopy on Julia's desk.
"Maybe this will help."
It was a page from Adrian Vale's private appointment ledger.
The date matched Grant's visit three years earlier.
May you like
Beside Grant Bennett's name, Vale had written two words.
SON - CONFIRMED.
