Chapter 4 - THE GENETIC TEST
Thirty minutes later, a sleek black sedan pulled into my driveway.
Grant stepped out of the vehicle slowly, leaning heavily on a wooden walking cane. He was dressed in a casual charcoal sweater and dark jeans, but his skin was unnaturally pale, almost translucent in the bright Florida afternoon sun.
When he entered my living room and saw Dr. Vance and Attorney Pendelton sitting on the couch, his gray eyes widened in shock, followed immediately by a look of intense fury.
"What are you doing here?" Grant barked at his lawyer, his voice raspy and strained. "I specifically ordered you not to come here! I told you to keep my medical condition away from Natalie!"
"Grant, calm down," Dr. Vance said, standing up. "You are in no condition to exert yourself. Miss Brooks needed to know the truth—not just about your health, but about the genetic screening required for the twins."
Grant turned his gaze toward me. The fierce anger in his eyes melted instantly into profound shame and heartbreak.
"Natalie..." Grant choked out, his shoulders slumping as he gripped his walking cane tightly. "I am so sorry. I swear to you, I didn't want to burden you with this. I didn't want you to think I was begging for pity or using my sickness to force you to forgive me."
I walked over to him, standing just two feet away. For the first time in five years, I looked at Grant Hale not as an enemy, or a ruthless billionaire, but as a human being facing his own mortality.
"Is it true, Grant?" I asked softly, my voice trembling. "Are you really dying?"
Grant let out a long, shuddering breath, looking down at the hardwood floor. "The doctors say I have maybe four or five months left if the current treatments keep failing. I came to Florida because... because I found out about the boys three weeks ago, and I realized I couldn't leave this earth without seeing them. Without telling you how deeply, profoundly sorry I am for what I did to you five years ago."
Tears trickled down his pale, hollow cheeks.
"I don't care about my life anymore, Natalie," Grant whispered, raising his eyes to meet mine. "I've lived a life full of corporate battles, cold wealth, and terrible mistakes. But those boys... they are innocent. When Dr. Vance told me about the potential genetic mutation, I nearly lost my mind. Please... let Dr. Vance test them. If they have what I have, I want every penny of my fortune spent on finding a cure for them."
I looked at him, feeling the absolute sincerity vibrating through his weak, trembling body. The wall of cold hatred I had built around my heart for five years didn't vanish completely, but a massive crack had split it wide open.
"We test them today," I declared firmly. "Both for the genetic mutation... and to see if either of them is a match for your bone marrow transplant."
Grant gasped, staring at me in utter disbelief. "Natalie... you would... after everything I did to you?"
"I am not doing it for you, Grant," I said clearly, looking him dead in the eye. "I am doing it for my sons. If they carry a genetic defect, I need to know. And if one of them can save your life without being harmed, I will not teach my children to let a man die out of bitterness."
Grant closed his eyes, a violent sob tearing through his chest as he bowed his head in immense gratitude.
Ten minutes later, Maya brought Leo and Mason inside from the backyard. I had explained to the boys that a nice doctor was going to do a quick swab inside their mouths to check their health, and that a family friend had come to visit.
When the two little boys walked into the living room, Grant froze.
His walking cane slipped from his fingers, clattering loudly against the floor. He didn't pick it up. He just stood there, staring at the two tiny human beings standing in front of him.
Leo and Mason had his sharp jawline. They had his wavy dark hair. And as both boys looked up at the tall, pale stranger standing in their living room, four piercing, gray-blue eyes locked onto his.
Grant dropped to his knees right there on the rug, tears streaming uncontrollably down his face. He buried his face in his hands, his broad shoulders shaking with silent, agonizing sobs.
Mason, ever the compassionate sunshine of the family, tilted his head in confusion. He walked over slowly, pulled a crumpled tissue from his pocket, and extended it toward Grant.
"Don't cry, mister," Mason said softly in his sweet five-year-old voice. "Did you scrape your knee?"
Grant looked up, his face bathed in tears, taking the tiny tissue with a hand that shook like a leaf in a hurricane.
"No, buddy," Grant choked out, his voice thick with overwhelming love and grief. "I didn't scrape my knee. I’m just... I’m just so happy to finally meet you."
Leo stayed back near my side, his sharp eyes observing Grant with cautious intensity. "Mommy, who is he? He has eyes like me and Mason."
My heart hammered against my ribs. I looked at Grant, whose hopeful, agonized eyes begged me silently for mercy.
"This is... an old friend of Mommy's," I said gently, kneeling beside Leo and smoothing his hair. "His name is Grant. He came a long way to say hello."
Dr. Vance acted quickly and professionally, preventing the emotional moment from becoming overwhelming. She brought out two sterile cotton swabs, gently rubbing the inside of Mason's and Leo's cheeks while Maya distracted them with a toy car set.
Within ten minutes, the genetic samples were secured in sealed, temperature-controlled biological containers.
"These samples will be flown immediately via private jet to the advanced genetic laboratory at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore," Dr. Vance announced, closing her medical briefcase. "We will have the preliminary results regarding genetic markers and donor compatibility within seventy-two hours."
"Seventy-two hours," Grant repeated, slowly pushing himself up from the floor using the edge of the sofa. He looked exhausted, the brief surge of adrenaline fading, leaving him visibly drained.
"You need to rest, Grant," Dr. Vance ordered firmly. "Your white blood cell count is critically low. You cannot afford an infection."
Grant nodded weakly. He turned to me, his gray eyes shining with profound reverence. "Thank you, Natalie. You have given me a mercy I never deserved."
"Go back to your hotel, Grant," I said softly. "We wait for the results."
As Attorney Pendelton and Dr. Vance helped Grant toward the front door, Grant stopped at the threshold. He looked back at Leo and Mason, who were sitting on the rug playing with their toy cars, their laughter filling the cozy room.
"They are magnificent, Natalie," Grant whispered, his voice cracking. "You did an incredible job. You raised them into beautiful boys... all by yourself."
"I had to," I said quietly. "They were all I had."
Grant flinched, nodded painfully, and stepped out into the afternoon heat.
For the next three days, time moved like thick molasses. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't focus at work. Maya took care of the boys while I paced around my living room, constantly checking my phone.
The fear of the unknown consumed me. Did my precious boys carry a fatal blood mutation? Was I about to face a nightmare where my children were sick? Or was one of them destined to be the savior of the father who had broken my heart?
On Sunday morning at precisely eight o'clock, my phone rang.
It was Dr. Vance.
I pressed the phone to my ear, my entire body shaking, my knuckles white as I gripped the counter.
"Dr. Vance?" I squeaked out. "Do you have the results?"
"I have the complete lab reports right in front of me, Miss Brooks," Dr. Vance said, her voice entirely steady, yet laced with an unbelievable intensity. "And I need you, Grant, and the boys to come to the regional hospital in Jacksonville immediately."
My heart dropped into my stomach. "Why? What did the test show?! Are my boys sick?!"
"Miss Brooks," Dr. Vance paused, taking a sharp breath. "The genetic mutation screening for both Leo and Mason came back... completely negative. Neither of your sons carries the leukemia marker. They are one hundred percent healthy."
I let out a loud, shuddering sob of pure, unadulterated relief, dropping to my knees on the kitchen floor. "Oh, thank God! Thank God!"
"But that is only half of the news," Dr. Vance added quickly, her voice tight with urgency. "We also completed the HLA tissue typing for bone marrow compatibility."
"And?" I whispered, holding my breath.
"Leo is a fifty percent match," Dr. Vance revealed. "Which is typical for a child. But Mason..." She stopped, letting out a breath of pure astonishment. "Mason possesses an extremely rare genetic phenomenon known as a uniparental disomy crossover. Natalie... five-year-old Mason is a one-hundred-percent perfect, identical HLA tissue match for Grant Hale."
May you like
My jaw dropped. "A perfect match?"
"It is a biological miracle," Dr. Vance declared. "Mason is the only person on this entire planet who can save Grant’s life. But we must act fast. Grant’s condition has precipitously declined over the last twelve hours. He was admitted to the ICU an hour ago."
