Chapter 7 - THE DOCTOR WHO WAS ELENA’S DAUGHTER
Nobody told Amelia immediately.
Elena refused.
“She’s saving your children. You drop this on her now and she loses focus.”
Lawson disagreed.
“She deserves the truth.”
“So did I.”
That ended the argument.
For three hours.
Then Amelia entered with new test results.
“There may be another path.”
Lawson looked up.
“What?”
“A haploidentical transplant protocol. It’s aggressive, but we could use a relative donor.”
Elena stared at her daughter without being allowed to say the word.
Amelia continued.
“I want to test extended family.”
Lawson and Elena exchanged a look.
“How extended?” Lawson asked.
“Anyone with biological ties.”
Elena’s voice shook.
“Test me again.”
Amelia frowned.
“We already have your profile.”
“Run the deeper panel.”
“Elena—”
“Please.”
Something in her voice made Amelia agree.
Then Lawson said, “Test yourself.”
Amelia looked at him.
“For what?”
“Compatibility.”
“I’m not related.”
Silence.
Elena looked away.
Amelia noticed.
Her professional expression vanished.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Nobody answered quickly enough.
Amelia’s face hardened.
“Lawson.”
He glanced at Elena.
She nodded once.
So he told the truth.
Not all of it.
Enough.
“Your adoption records may have been altered.”
Amelia went completely still.
“What?”
“Your birth mother’s name may have been Elena Ward.”
Amelia looked at Elena.
“No.”
Elena’s tears began before her words.
“I called you Maya.”
Amelia stepped backward.
“No.”
“You had a birthmark behind your left knee.”
Amelia’s face changed.
“You were six pounds, eleven ounces. You hated being wrapped tightly. You screamed every time the nurse covered your hands.”
“Stop.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop!”
Amelia left.
Elena collapsed into a chair.
Lawson wanted to comfort her.
He did not know how.
He simply stayed.
An hour later, Amelia returned.
Her eyes were red.
But she held a lab sheet.
“I tested myself.”
Elena stood.
Amelia looked directly at her.
“The DNA confirms you’re my biological mother.”
Elena covered her mouth.
Amelia kept going because stopping would break her.
“And I’m a near-perfect marrow match for both twins.”
Lawson’s knees almost gave out.
Hope filled the room so quickly it hurt.
But Amelia’s expression remained grim.
“What’s wrong?” Lawson asked.
“There’s something in their latest bloodwork.”
“What?”
She placed the results down.
“The leukemia is real. But part of what we thought was treatment failure may be exposure-related.”
Elena frowned.
“Exposure to what?”
Amelia looked toward the medication storage room.
“A compound that suppresses marrow recovery.”
Lawson’s face hardened.
“Someone has been poisoning them?”
Amelia answered carefully.
“Someone has been giving them something they should never have received.”
May you like
And only four people had access to those medications.
One of them was Prescott Hale.
