Page 36 of Saber Stalked


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“How old was your sister at the time?”

“35. They called it a geriatric pregnancy.”

Carolina snort-laughs. “Oh, yeah. That’s Wysdom’s favorite phrase. Doctors don’t call it that anymore, FYI. It’s now ‘advanced maternal age.’”

I chuckle. “I remember Wysdom’s aversion to both phrases when she was pregnant with the twins.”

“It sounds like things were great for your sister,” Carolina sobers. “What happened?”

I rub my chest. This is always the most difficult part to talk about.

Carolina places a hand on my arm. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“No, I want to,” I grip the steering wheel tighter. “Faye started showing signs of distress toward the end of her pregnancy. But the IVF doc didn’t do certain tests. He missed a blood clot. The stress of delivery caused her to have a stroke, and she died right after Faylor came into the world.”

“Did your family sue the doctor for malpractice? How did Faylor’s father end up in prison?”

“Well, when Faylor was born, Jeremy noticed she didn’t look anything like him. She resembled Faye, but he was immediately suspicious,” I take a deep breath and let it out. “He accused my sister of cheating on him. He tore apart their house, looking for clues. Meantime, he’s ignoring the newborn in his care. I was only 29 at the time and doing my best to take care of a baby.”

Carolina reaches for my hand. I intertwine our fingers. She squeezes my hand in a silent signal of comfort. It feels right.

“Jeremy won’t grieve for Faye. He won’t pay attention to Faylor, who cries all the time. When the baby gets sick, I take her to the pediatrician, trying to figure out the cause. They run all sorts of tests and do bloodwork. It’s then Jeremy gets the grand idea to do a DNA test on his newborn. The results shocked us all,” I sneak a peek at Carolina. “Jeremy wasn’t the father.”

“Your sister cheated on him?”

“Absolutely not,” I say a little louder than intended. “The DNA results showed the IVF doctor was the father. There were about thirty babies out there linked to him. Detectives were already investigating him, and when the DNA results popped up in their system, he was arrested.”

“Why? Why would he do that?”

“During the trial, he claimed he had super sperm. He was just ‘doing the mothers a favor’ when the potential fathers had non-viable swimmers,” I spit out.

Carolina’s grip tightens on my hand. “My God! That’s despicable!”

“Yes. The jury thought so, too. Throwing the maximum allowable sentence at him. He’ll be in prison for a very long time.”

Carolina thinks about this revelation for a moment, then asks the million-dollar question. “How did you end up taking Faylor?”

“Oh, that’s the worst part of all,” I begin, willing the burning tears to stay put in my face. “Jeremy didn’t want a baby that wasn’t his.”

Carolina gasps. “Are you shitting me?”

“Exactly my thoughts.”

“How can he reject an innocent baby like that?”

I shrug. “He just did. Even though Faye did nothing wrong, Jeremy didn’t want any part of - what he called - The Mess. He wanted to give Faylor up for adoption.”

“And you couldn’t let him do that,” Carolina finished.

“Right. I was about to turn 30. My mom and sister were both dead. I had no idea what I was going to do with my life, but there was no way in hell I’d let a little piece of Faye live with another family.”

“Wow,” Carolina shakes her head. “Just. Wow.”

During the story, I notice Carolina’s thumb is stroking my hand. It feels nice. A little too nice. If she continues, I’ll have to pull over the car and ravage her. Although I am not sure you can ravage someone in a Tesla, but I’m willing to give it a shot. You know - for science.

“And Faylor?”

I snap out of my ravaging plans. “What about her?”