“I was told he died.”
“How do you not know your own baby is alive?”
I had no answer that could satisfy grief.
Aaron sat across the room.
He looked destroyed.
Their marriage had been built without knowledge of any biological
connection.
Neither had done anything knowingly wrong.
That did not make the discovery less devastating.
PART 20 — NO CHILDREN
One fact brought a strange, guilty relief.
Natalie and Aaron did not have children.
They had been discussing trying the following year.
Now those plans ended instantly.
Their immediate priority became legal advice, medical counseling, and
psychological support.
No one at the kitchen table pretended love could magically solve what
biology had revealed.
PART 21 — THE HOSPITAL ARCHIVE
I contacted St. Matthew’s successor health system.
Records that old were incomplete.
But some archived administrative material remained.
My attorney helped request what could lawfully be obtained.
Weeks later, we found an entry that changed everything.
