THE DONOR
1104 Words
Jelina woke to rain tapping against her bedroom window.For a few seconds, she remained beneath the covers, listening to the steady rhythm. Then she remembered the appointment.
Today was the day.She placed a hand over her stomach, even though there was no baby there yet.
“Please,” she whispered. “Let this work.”
Beside her, Kevin stirred.“What time is it?”
“Seven.”
He groaned and pulled the blanket over his face.
“You told me to wake you.”
“I changed my mind.”
“You can't. We have to be at the clinic by nine.”
He uncovered his face.“I know.”
His smile was faint, but it was there.
Jelina treasured it.
Since they had agreed to IVF, Kevin had seemed different. He was quieter, but sometimes she caught glimpses of the man she had married.She hoped the treatment would bring him back completely.
After breakfast, they drove through the wet streets toward the clinic.Neither spoke much.
Jelina kept looking out the window, imagining their life a year from now.
Would there be a crib in their bedroom?
Would Kevin hold their baby for the first time and cry?
Would they finally be happy again?She smiled at the thought.
Kevin glanced at her.“What are you smiling about?”
“Nothing.”
“You're thinking about the baby.”She nodded.
He reached across the center console and squeezed her hand.
“So am I.”
Those four words warmed her heart.
At the clinic, a nurse greeted them and led them to a private consultation room.
“Everything is progressing well,” she said after reviewing Jelina's file. “The medication has prepared your body for the procedure.”
Jelina nodded nervously.
“When will it happen?”
“Today.”
Her heart jumped.“Today?”
“Yes.”
Kevin sat straighter.“What do we need to do?”
The nurse explained everything carefully.
The donor sample had already been selected according to the information they had provided.
Anonymous.
Healthy.
Compatible.
Nothing about the donor's identity would be disclosed.
Kevin asked several questions.
“And there is absolutely no way we can know who he is?”
The nurse smiled professionally.
“No. The donor's identity is confidential.”
Kevin nodded.“Good.”
Jelina looked at him.She knew why that mattered.
He didn't want to spend the rest of his life wondering about another man.
He wanted this baby to be theirs.
Their choice.
Their family.
The nurse handed Jelina a consent form.
“Please review this before signing.”
Jelina read through it carefully. Her hands trembled slightly.
This was really happening.She signed.
Kevin signed after her.
“Everything is ready,” the nurse said.
Jelina took a deep breath.
While Jelina waited, across the clinic, an embryology technician hurried through a corridor carrying several patient files.
The morning had become unusually busy.
A staff member had called in sick. Two appointments had been moved forward. Phones were ringing, and doctors were asking for records.
The technician reached the laboratory desk and placed the files down.
“Can you check these before the next procedure?” a colleague asked.
“Sure.”
She picked up the stack.
Two files sat beside each other.
One belonged to Adriel Matthias.
The other belonged to Jelina Mayfair.
The technician glanced at the labels but was distracted by the ringing phone.
She reached for the files again.
One slipped.She caught it.
Then another staff member called her name.
“I'm coming!”
She hurried away.
Neither woman noticed that one of the labels had partially peeled away.
Jelina was eventually taken into the procedure room.Kevin couldn't accompany her.He stood outside, staring at the closed door.
He rubbed his palms together.
He had never imagined he would become a father this way.
But he wanted the child.
More than he had admitted.
He wanted to prove that infertility had not made him less of a man.
He wanted to see Jelina smile again.
He wanted their home filled with laughter.
Most of all, he wanted to stop feeling like he had failed her.
Inside the room, Jelina lay quietly while the medical team prepared her.
A nurse smiled reassuringly.“Try to relax.”
Jelina nodded.She closed her eyes.
She imagined a tiny baby sleeping in her arms.
She imagined Kevin beside her.
She imagined the family she had been praying for.
She didn't see the technician enter.
She didn't see the vial being checked.
She didn't know that the sample being prepared had been assigned to another patient.
“Everything is ready,” the technician said.
The doctor nodded.
“Let's proceed.”
The procedure was over within minutes.
Jelina opened her eyes.“Is it done?”
“Yes.”
A smile broke across her face.“Thank you.”
Outside, Kevin stood immediately when the door opened.“How are you?”
Jelina smiled.“Fine.”
He kissed her forehead.“Did everything go well?”
“Yes.”
He exhaled.
For a moment, they simply held each other.
“We're going to be parents,” Jelina whispered.
Kevin smiled.“Yeah.”
Neither of them knew that the sentence wasn't entirely true.
Kevin would become a father in every way that mattered to him.
But the child growing inside Jelina would not carry his blood.
And the man whose blood it carried had no idea that his carefully protected future had just been placed inside another man's marriage.
Later that afternoon, the technician returned to the laboratory.
She picked up the remaining files.
Her eyes moved from one label to another.
Something felt wrong.
She checked the computer.
Then the paperwork.
Her face slowly changed.
“No.”
She checked again.
The sample used in Jelina Mayfair's procedure had been released under the wrong identification.
Her hands began to shake.
She looked toward the laboratory door.
No one else had noticed.
Not yet.
She reached for the phone.Then stopped.
If she reported the mistake, the entire clinic would know.
If she stayed silent, someone else's life could be destroyed.
She looked at the screen again.
The name stared back at her.
Adriel Matthias.
Her heart began pounding.
She had no idea that the mistake had already happened.
And she had even less idea that its consequences would reach far beyond the walls of the clinic.
Across New York, Adriel Matthias sat in his office, completely unaware that his biological child had just been conceived.
And the woman carrying his heir believed the child belonged to another man.
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