Righteous Lies (Book 1: Dancing Moon Ranch Series) (2 page)

After they were
seated at a table in the conference room—Jack, Sam and Susan on one side of the
table, Grace on the other—two men entered the room. One she recognized as Dr.
Crombie. The other, she'd never seen, but he was wearing a dark suit, white
shirt, expensive looking tie and was carrying a black brief case, and had
attorney
written all over him. She
looked across the table at Jack, whose face was dark with concern, and at Susan,
who was clutching Sam's arm.

The man in the
suit opened his brief case and removed a sheaf of what appeared to be legal
documents. And Grace had a sudden urge to go around the table and squeeze
between the brothers, or sit beside Susan and hold onto her arm the way she was
holding onto Sam's arm. Nothing about this smacked of a documentary film.

When the man
finished arranging papers, he introduced himself as Don Gray and said he
represented the clinic in a matter they greatly regretted, after which he went
on to say, "Cryopreservation utilizes liquid nitrogen as the storage
medium for donor sperm, and the samples are carefully labeled and stored in
small vials that hold up to one milliliter of sperm..."

Grace stared
across the table at the others, who looked as baffled with what the man was
saying as she. Clearly, he had not come to the part they greatly regretted,
they being the fertility clinic, but was biding time before hitting them with
whatever it was...

"Sperm
introduced into the intrauterine cavity by artificial insemination is the same
as sperm introduced through sexual intercourse," Gray said, somewhat
cryptically, since it was information they'd all been given before signing the
contract with the clinic...

 
"In most cases the sperm donor doesn't
become the legal father of a child produced through artificial
insemination," Gray went on to say. "However, on occasion, the
commissioning parent or parents may need to go through an adoption
procedure..."

At this point,
Jack stood, braced his palms against the table, leaned toward the man, and said
in a curt voice, "What in hell is going on? You're giving us a fertility tutorial
that I suspect hasn't got a damn thing to do with why we've been called in here,
so why not cut the crap and get to whatever's really going on." When he
remained standing, Susan jerked on his shirt and he sat down again, a disgusted
look on his face.

Looking decidedly
uncomfortable, Don Gray reached into a folder and removed three envelopes, and
said, "In your contracts, each of you waived certain privacy rights
regarding anonymity, so we called in everyone involved in order to disclose a
problem we have." He looked at Dr. Crombie, who gave a shrug of resolve.

"The thing
is," Don Gray said, "on the day of the insemination procedures, there
was an unfortunate misdirection of the sperm samples. The vials were accidentally
switched, so your sperm, Mr. Hansen," he said, looking at Jack, "was
injected into Mrs. Templeton, which means you, Mrs. Templeton, are carrying Mr.
Hansen's child," the man said to Grace. "And your deceased husband's
sperm was injected into you, Mrs. Hansen," he said, turning from Grace to Susan,
"which means you are carrying the child of Mrs. Templeton's deceased
husband. Unfortunately we're all human, and subject to error," he said in
a contrite voice. "But the technician who made the error has been
dismissed."

There was dead
silence for a moment before the room seemed to explode.

Susan started
screaming incoherently, Jack slammed his fist down on the table and started
shouting at Dr. Crombie, Sam shoved his chair back, sending it tumbling over, and
joined Jack, both of them threatening, in terms laced with colorful expletives,
to shut down the clinic. And Grace found herself collapsed with her head on her
folded arms against the table, her limbs weak. It was some moments before she
realized she was saying over and over, "No... no... no... no..."
while pounding her fist against the table.

By then, Sam
was holding Susan to calm her down, and Jack had Dr. Crombie by the lapels and
looked primed to heave the man back against the wall when the attorney, also a
large man, grabbed Jack's arm, and said, "I don't think you want to do
that. It'll cost you a lot of money and it won't solve anything."

"Of course
we can't begin to express our regrets for the mix-up," Dr. Crombie said,
straightening his shirt, which was bunched where Jack had grabbed it.

Jack shrugged
away from both men, and said, with irony, "You can't begin to express your
regrets? Do you have any idea what's happened because of your so-called mix-up?
This woman's carrying my child," he said pointing a stiff finger at Grace,
"and this woman's carrying the child of her dead husband," he said
pointing first at Susan, then at Grace. "Do you have any idea what the
ramification of
that
is, beyond the
monetary settlement I'm certain you gentlemen have waiting in those
envelopes?"

"It was an
unfortunate mistake," Dr. Crombie said, in a repentant voice.

"An
unfortunate mistake that could result in the death of a child because the baby
my sister-in-law is carrying has no chance of being a genetic match for her
sick son. That's how unfortunate your damn mistake is!" Jack bellowed.

Grace pressed
her fingers to her temples and closed her eyes, hoping she might emerge from a
bad dream. She'd awaken to find everything a dream. Marc hadn't died of cancer.
They were expecting
their
baby in
five weeks. He was a fine, healthy baby boy...

But when she
opened her eyes, Jack was staring at her, as if absorbing the reality of it at
the same time as she. She was carrying
his
child. A child that came to her because of a mistake. Just like her parents
predicted the whole artificial insemination idea would be, although they'd been
opposed to it because they wanted her to get on with her life, not have the
child of a dead man. But her life was Marc's child. Or had been... Until now.

The baby inside
her turned, and what felt like a foot moved against Grace's belly, drawing a
gasp from her, along with the feeling that she had to go to the bathroom.
Pushing her chair back, she stood and felt herself swaying.

Jack came
around the table and took her elbow again. "You'd better sit down,"
he said.

"I
can't," Grace replied. "I have to go." She started to pull away
from him.

His fingers remained
on her elbow. "Go where?"

She looked at
him, miffed. "To the bathroom, if it's any of your business."

"I'll walk
with you then." He edged her toward the door.

"I don't
need your help," Grace snapped, annoyed that the man seemed to be making
some kind of claim on her.

"You're
carrying my son and you're unsteady on your feet so I'll walk with you,"
the man said, his hand still wrapped around her arm.

Grace snatched
her elbow from his grasp, and said, "I may be carrying your son because of
no fault on either of our parts, but you have absolutely no claim on him just
because you deposited semen into a cup. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go
to the bathroom since
my
son is
resting on my bladder." She started down the hallway.

"Depositing
semen in a cup holds as much sway in determining parenthood as sexual
intercourse," Jack said, following behind. "I'm still your child's
biological father."

Grace stopped
in front of the restroom and turned to face the man. "I'm afraid your
legal claim begins with the false assumption that a mix up in a fertility
clinic equals a sort of quasi-property claim, when in fact, you have absolutely
no claim on the child I'm carrying." She marched into the restroom and
shut the door, locking it quickly to keep the man from coming in. She was
certain it wouldn't bother him in the least to carry on an argument with a
pregnant woman sitting on a toilet.

After she'd
finished, she took more time than necessary to wash her hands, hoping Jack
would have returned to the conference room, but to her annoyance, he was
waiting when she opened the door. "I have a biological right to be connected
with my son," he continued on the same treadmill. "If necessary, I'll
sue to establish paternal rights."

"And I
know about artificial insemination rights and they favor the mother,"
Grace snapped, although she knew nothing at all about insemination law. But she
did know that this man would not be telling her how to raise her son. She
quickened her pace.

Jack matched
her strides while ramming his point home. "Oregon law doesn't favor the
mother if the man is a father without consent," he said, "and whereas
I gave up my rights to my brother and sister-in-law, I never gave up my rights
to a stranger!"

"Then get
used to the idea," Grace said, "because that's the way it's going to
be!"

"The hell it is!"

Damn, but the
man was persistent. So much for Marc's jovial personality. Grace stopped and
turned, her eyes sweeping down the length of the man, returning to his face...

Which had
nothing of Marc's blond hair and blue eyes...

Tears welled,
and before she could stop herself, she burst out crying. Jack put his hand on
her shoulder, but she shook it off. "Don't touch me," she sobbed.
"Because of you my child won't look anything like my husband." She
raced back into the restroom, closing herself inside until she was exhausted
from crying. After pressing a wet paper towel against her eyes, and blotting
another to her face, she blew her nose, then sucked in a long breath to steady
her nerves, and prepared to face the father of her child... And the parents of Marc's
child.

But if Susan
Hansen gave birth to a son who looked exactly like Marc...

Grace cut that
thought short in order to stem the tears.

When she
reentered the conference room, Susan was slumped against Sam, and she looked
drained. But then, she and Sam were mourning the potential loss of their
critically ill child, while Susan was now carrying the child of a dead man. A
child that should belong to Grace...

Cutting that
thought short, Grace sat at the table while avoiding Jack's stare by focusing
on the attorney, who was saying to Sam, "Under Oregon Artificial
Insemination Law, a man married to an artificially inseminated woman is the
legal father, so the child your wife is carrying is your legal child."

"And the
child Mrs. Templeton's carrying," Jack asked. "Who's that child's
legal father?"

"It can be
difficult for a sperm donor to establish paternity if the mother doesn't want
him involved, since being a donor usually implies the man giving up all
rights," the attorney replied. "But if you want to claim paternal
rights, you should submit a
Notice of
Intent to Claim Paternity
with your district court, which demonstrates your
willingness to be involved with your child, then file a
Notification of Filing a
Petition
of Filiation
. Filing documents establishes you as the father, if the mother
doesn't contest it, which will pave the way for visitation and custody. Child
support will also be determined."

Grace caught
Jack's eye long enough to realized that filing the papers the attorney
mentioned was exactly what he intended to do. Which meant, she'd be forced to
get an attorney to contest it. She also realized she had absolutely no claim on
Marc's child, who was conceived with sperm that belonged to her alone. But Marc
had turned in only one sample, so now she would never be able to conceive his
child...
 
 

Her attention
was diverted when the attorney offered the envelopes around the table. There
would be a check inside, like Jack predicted. How much would the loss of Marc's
child be worth? And how much was the life of Sam and Susan's child worth? And
Jack? He'd given up all rights to Susan and Sam. But now he was prepared to
fight in court for the right to intercede in raising her child, and make her
life miserable...

Holding that
thought, Grace opened the envelope and stared at a check for fifty-thousand
dollars. At first she was tempted to take the check and walk out. But when Sam
slapped his check on the table in front of the attorney, and Jack tore his up
and tossed the pieces in the air, she reconsidered. The fact was, four people
had been thrown into an impossible situation created by human error, and no
amount of money could fix it...

And then the
sharpest pain Grace could imagine gripped low in her belly...

Jack eyed her
with concern. "You okay?"

Unable to
reply, with a pain unlike any she'd ever had gripping her belly, Grace nodded.
When the pain subsided, she stood, grabbed her handbag, dragged her quilted
down jacket from the back of the chair and left the room. Although she was
unsteady on her feet, she was determined to drive herself home on snow-covered
roads, call Dorrie at the birthing center, and crawl into bed. She had no idea
what caused the pain, other than she was in shock over the situation. Feeling
lightheaded as she walked through the waiting room, she dropped her jacket on a
chair and sat down, then closed her eyes and waited for the room to settle...

"What's
going on?"

She didn't have
to open her eyes to know who
that
was. "Nothing. I'm just a little dizzy," she said, continuing to sit
with her eyes closed.

"Where are
you going?" Jack asked.

"Home,"
Grace replied. "Now will you please just leave me alone."

"How did
you get here?"

"I
drove!" Grace snapped, wishing the man would go away.

"You can't
drive if you're dizzy," Jack said. "I can drive you to your house and
my brother can pick me up there."
 

Another pain
started. Grace gripped her belly, clamped her jaws, took several deep breaths,
and waited for the pain to pass. Knowing there was no way she could drive on
snowy roads, and anxious to get out of this place and crawl into bed, she eyed
the man closely. He had an honest face, and he had donated sperm to save a
dying nephew. And his brother and sister-in-law seemed to be decent people.