“What happened?”
There was a pause on the other end.
“At the clinic, Dr. Reynolds asked to speak privately with Ryan before the ultrasound.”
I turned away from the children.
“Why?”
“Because of the genetic screening results Ryan submitted last week.”
I closed my eyes.
Before the divorce hearing, Ryan had bragged that he and Ashley were using an elite prenatal clinic. He’d said it in that arrogant way of his, as if expensive medical care proved his child mattered more than ours ever had.
“What did the doctor say?” I whispered.
Dawson exhaled slowly.
“He told Ryan that the results show severe male-factor infertility.
Not recent. Not temporary. A long-standing condition. According to the doctor, natural conception would have been extraordinarily unlikely.”
The sounds of the airport seemed to fade.
A coffee machine hissed behind me. Someone laughed near the lounge entrance. Lily’s cartoon played softly across the room.
