I pointed to a section of the document.

“Look at this, Benjamin. Claire underwent an egg retrieval process before her aggressive treatment started.”

“Yes,” Benjamin said. “She wanted to make sure we could still have a family if she survived.”

“But she did survive,” I said. “And you had the girls.”

“We did,” Benjamin said, his voice cracking. “Through surrogacy. Vanessa helped us find the agency.”

My stomach dropped as I remembered how helpful Vanessa had been during those difficult years.

She had been Claire’s friend first, always offering to manage the paperwork and the medical appointments.

I looked at the next document in the pile.

It was a lab report containing the genetic profiles of the four girls: Emma, Lily, Sophie, and Grace.

Benjamin turned the page, his eyes scanning the columns of numbers and letters.

“Their blood types,” he whispered. “Emma is O-negative. Lily is O-negative.”

“That’s normal, Benjamin,” I said. “You are O-negative, and Claire was O-positive.”

“No,” Benjamin said, his voice dropping to a terrifyingly low register.

He pointed to the bottom of the page, where a hand-written medical note had been photocopied.