She looked at the news article he’d found. “That’s a few years after we were there, I think.”
“That sounds right.”
She quickly read the article, which said that the Solomon Clinic in Houma, Louisiana, had burned one night. Although the fire was judged arson, there was no indication who had done it.
Jake watched her face when she came to the surprising piece of information that he’d already seen.
It was a fertility clinic! Not some place where they were running medical experiments.
Yeah. A fertility clinic, run by a doctor Douglas Solomon.
He leaned back and took a sip of the latte.So it was a place where couples came who were having trouble conceiving a child.
She nodded, a faraway look in her eyes.
He didn’t have to ask what she was thinking because he was able to follow along.
My mother told me that she had a hard time getting pregnant. She told me she had expensive treatments.
And she made you feel guilty about that, because you weren’t more . . . loving.
Rachel sighed.I tried.
He reached across the table and took her hand.
We’re getting off the subject. I guess my parents must have been there for the same reason if we both ended up at that clinic.
What kind of techniques were they using?
He shrugged.You say it was your mother who couldn’t conceive?
I don’t know that for sure.
What else did she say?
Not a lot. I think she was always embarrassed about it–like she’d been a failure when it came to something that should be natural.
Jake kept scanning the article, then raised his head.
It says here they were using in vitro fertilization.
Where the sperm and egg meet in a Petri dish.
Why would people be afraid to talk about the clinic so long after it burned down?
There must be some other factor.
It could have been an issue in town. I mean, IVF is an issue now. Back then, some people might not have approved of tampering with God’s will.
That’s possible. Or the clinic was questioned for other reasons.He leaned back, thinking, and knew she had followed his silent question.
Why did they make the kids go back, over and over?she asked.
You remember having tests?
Like IQ tests?
Yeah.
