Chapter 93
Jonathan’s POV
Living Room-Townhouse – Continued.
I took the file and came back upstairs.
I took a seat at the table and placed the file in front of me.
Raymond followed me as Vance, John and the doctor stayed back to check the other files.
Raymond didn’t say a word as he knew,
I had waited for seven years to know who was Adrian’s father.
Seven years of questions that kept troubling me.
Seven years of lies I lived thinking I was Adrian’s father.
I slowly turned the cover of the file as my gaze fell on the first paper.
The file was truly Imelda’s.
A full year of records.
The file contained Imelda’s medical records.
Her consultation record.
Her fertility evaluations, and full record of her pregnancy trimester.
Every detail in the file was legit.
It was official and detailed.
Verified by the city hospital.
Nothing was forged.
And by the end of the file p>
I froze as I realized Adrian was never part of any affair, let alone love.
Adrian was nothing but p>
A planned pregnancy and probably Imelda’s plan.
I leaned back into my chair.
For seven years, I believed Adrian was my son.
Even today I can remember the first time I held him in my arms.
He felt so small, so small I was afraid of touching him.
I was already Janet’s father, and when I held her, even though she was small, I felt like I wanted to protect her.
Imelda even laughed at me or thought he was too fragile to be touched.
But he was way too small at the time.
Then his first day at school.
His first bicycle ride.
The first time he called me Dad in front of guests, something I didn’t allow my daughter at the time.
Back then I thought they were part of being father and son.
Seven years later, I found out he wasn’t my son and nothing more than a painful memory and the reason I almost lost my own family.
From then on I began to question everything.
Every smile I got.
Every memorable photo we took.
Not because Adrian wasn’t mine.
I never blamed him or that.
But because I believed it was the place of another man.
Either Imelda betrayed him, or he betrayed her.
And now p>
It seemed that man never existed as a father does.
For years while I used to attend Adrian’s school events p>
Once I knew Adrian wasn’t mine,
I often thought about who was Adrian’s father.
I thought he was a man who betrayed Imelda and left a child as a target to ruin my life.
For fifteen years I hated a stranger I never met.
I blamed an invisible man for being incompetent in owing up to his child.
But now p>
I realized there never was a man, as in a man.
He was never part of Imelda’s life.
He was only an unknown contributor and he didn’t even know about it.
There were some notes attached as well.
The notes were written in Lori’s handwriting.
They were related to her appointments.
No mention of any husband accompanying.
No mention of a boyfriend accompanying.
No mention of a friend accompanying.
The notes were clear on this fact,
She was an independent applicant.
And another shocking fact p>
Maybe Fredrick didn’t know about Adrian until he was born.
Among the notes were Lori’s personal notes about Imelda.
According to her observation,
Imelda was p>
A young, frightened, isolated and determined young woman.
It was clear during the pregnancy, Lori sympathized with Imelda.
There were notes reminding Imelda to eat on time.
Notes reminding her to not stress during her pregnancy.
Notes on her appointments outcome.
From the notes, it was clear Imelda wasn’t just a patient for Lori.
She was helping someone whom she believed had no one to rely on.
And, for a brief moment p>
I felt unexpected sadness on knowing this.
Then I found a small notepad.
It contained statements written by Lori.
They weren’t daily entries p>
But interview entries.
Clinic interview questions answers.
I began reading them.
From the notes, I found out Imelda was under constant fear of her father marrying her off to a random stranger.
She feared she would lose control over her life and her freedom.
She was most fearful of being dependent on Fredrick for the rest of her life.
I exhaled as I realized Adrian was a choice she made for herself.
Raymond sat beside me.
“I remember Imelda,” he said as I looked up at him.
“Mom would often help her around the clinic p>
“Imelda also would often bring lunch for Mom and sit beside her at her bench p>
“She would call Mom Ma’am out of respect, instead of Mrs. Lori like the rest p>
“Now that I look back He trailed off a bit.
“I wonder how much of that was true p>
“She was the only patient Mom was close or sympathetic towards p>
“She would often come over to meet Mom,” he continued.
“She would often cry and would appear to be helpless p>
“She was almost like a family member p>
He trailed off a bit.
“Who knew she would ruin my family to a no-return level p>
What shocked me was the doctor did fertility treatments.
He got recipients matched with their desired match.
He did the fertility process.
And pregnancies were confirmed.
The same was with Imelda.
She got matched.
Her fertility process was done.
Her pregnancy was confirmed.
Overall, everything was legal and on paper.
But there was one thing that bothered me.
And I just couldn’t let go.
Apart from the donors physical, mental, and personal characteristics,
There was no other information, unlike the ones in the outer files.
I noticed the outer executed files had full names.
Photos, and full details.
But the vault files p>
At first I thought it was to protect the mother’s identity.
I soon understood it was to protect the father’s,
And the reason was the young boys didn’t know they were part of those women’s pregnancies.
One thing I knew by now was,
The files in the basement were donors.
The ones in the vault box were the ones who were used.
The executed donors didn’t have any name.
No photo.
No identity details.
Just a donor number or a code.
And that page was missing.
“Someone deliberately removed the donor’s details p>
Lori had handwritten the annotations.
It was clear the donors were unaware.
There was no legal and official from them in any form,
Verbal, or written.
Either they were missing/torn.
The boys were given no information as to why a cancerous screening was required.
The donors were unaware of the secondary extractions.
After the process they were totally unaware of what had happened to them.
None of them were told about the process.
Jonathan realizes Lori was actively investigating before arrest.
This makes Lori more heroic.
Not on Imelda, but the clinic.
She suspected the executed donors never knew they were being matched to unknown women.
Their records were moved,
Reclassified and kept hidden.
But that didn’t mean the donor’s information might not be still available somewhere in some way.
That’s when I noticed a coded identifier.
It was the donor’s number.
Overall, it was nothing else.
Not a name.
Just a plain number.
But the number kept appearing throughout her fertility process p>
Had to mean it was one person.
I and Raymond went through additional files Raymond found at the back of the cupboard.
Dust covered the boxes and files.
Raymond dusted one file and recognized his mother’s handwriting.
He got emotional on seeing her handwriting.
I could understand it for fifteen years p>
Fifteen years these papers had been waiting to be touched.
To be known… they existed.
He also found another ledger.
It was a separate one from the doctor’s.
I slowly understood everything.
These weren’t just medical files.
They were indexes.
A backup which Lori maintained.
And made sure it was kept confidential.
Even the doctor didn’t know about them.
This explained how this truth managed to survive for so long.
It was something Lori had created secretly.
And again the number in Imelda’s file, appeared in the list.
I froze for a brief moment before I turned towards the corresponding entry.
The pages were still intact, unlike some of the other entries.
Somehow whoever wanted to destroy it…must have missed it.
My fingers paused as I leaned in closer.
Again the donor number matched.
I began turning the page and every time p>
The donor number would appear next to Imelda’s.
Like they were linked together from day one.
And both were a truth away.
The truth Adrian’s bloodline depended on.
Finally, I found a list and as I reached the number I’ve been facing throughout Imelda’s records, would finally be in front of me.
My hands began to shake as I held the file.
I exhaled.
For seven years, I had been trying to find Adrian’s father who had been nothing but a mind image.
Sometimes I wondered if it would be worth it or not.
At times I wondered p>
If he was even alive?
Did he know his son existed in this world?
If he knew about Adrian, would he accept him?
Would he want to have Adrian as his son?
These questions never left my mind.
But now p>
I could finally find the answers.
I looked at the page, and then held my breath.
As If I was hesitating to know.
I had spent seven years wanting to know this.
Yet, here I was hesitating on reading the name.
I knew once I read the name p>
I could no longer pretend not to know him.
No more uncertainty in my mind regarding his father.
I would now know that one man.
Then like a realization p>
I was no longer afraid of finding out who Adrian’s father was.
Raymond leaned forward as silence fell in the room.
Years of waiting had finally come to an end.
My heartbeat seemed louder than any sound around me.
I felt like I was all alone in the room.
Raymond, Vance, John, the doctor p>
For that matter even the house seemed to have disappeared.
Fifteen years p>
For fifteen years, I thought I would never know.
And now p>
It sat on a desk right in front of me.
One name.
The real name of Adrian’s father.
One glance p>
And I would know who Adrian’s real father is.
But I was still a little uncertain of what would happen once I knew it.