Chapter 7 - NORA
The maternity result came the next afternoon.
Dr. Walsh brought it herself.
Dana was with me.
Natalie was in her room with David.
Ryan waited outside with his lawyer.
I could see his silhouette through the glass.
Dr. Walsh sat.
I hated that she sat.
“Just tell me.”
She handed me the report.
Maternity relationship: supported at greater than 99.99%.
I looked at Nora.
Then read it again.
“She’s mine.”
“Yes.”
I started crying before I could stop it.
Not dramatic sobbing.
Just exhaustion leaving through my face.
I pressed Nora against my chest.
“Okay.”
Dr. Walsh waited.
“Sophie Bennett's maternity result also confirms Natalie Bennett.”
Both babies had gone home with the correct mothers from the delivery area.
There was no evidence either child had been physically switched.
The loose band was a documentation error.
Serious.
Terrifying.
But Nora was Nora.
I called Natalie.
She cried too.
Then laughed.
Then cried again.
Neither of us apologized for it.
Ryan asked to come in.
I said no.
Not forever.
That minute.
No.
He accepted it.
That surprised me.
Then Dr. Walsh said:
“We still have one unresolved issue.”
Of course.
The original voided Bennett band remained in evidence.
The band Ryan took had been recovered from Mason's folder.
Mason said he found the folder after Ryan dropped it during the hallway fight.
But laboratory staff noticed something.
The two Bennett bands were not identical.
Same patient information.
Same serial family.
Different print marks.
One was the original downtime band.
The one Ryan carried—
was a reprint.
Time:
4:26 a.m.
After the first band discrepancy had already been identified.
I stared.
“Why would someone print the wrong band again?”
“We're reviewing that.”
“Who did it?”
“Shared nursery administration terminal.”
“Name.”
“We don't have one yet.”
Ryan, when told, looked as confused as I did.
That mattered.
He had stolen the second band.
But he had not known it was a reprint.
May you like
He thought he had taken the original.
Somebody else had recreated the wrong band before Ryan ever touched it.
