Page 62 of Wicked Deeds

Gwen managed a half-smile. “I’d like to know where I’m from at least. I always thought I was English, but it looks like I’m not.”

“You were born there. You’re English. And your father might not have ever had his DNA profiled,” Meredith said. “That’s one reason for no match.”

Or he had dumped Gwen in England because he didn’t want anyone to be able to find him. He’d left her financially well off, so he probably had enough money to not have to skimp on medical care. But not everyone thought DNA testing was a good idea.

“Either way, we won’t know until we get this all underway,” Meredith said. She swiped up on the datapad and did her own palm scan. “There, that’s the request sent. I want to keep you here for observation another hour or so, and we should know the basics by then. If everything’s under control, we’ll send you home.”

She fixed me with a stern look. “You did say Gwen’s staying with you? I don’t want her alone in case she has another reaction.”

“We’ll watch her,” I said reassuringly. “Don’t worry.”

“Okay,” Meredith said, “Well, you two hang out here. I’ll get some coffee and food sent for you, Maggie. And Gwen, you can eat something in a little bit once we’re sure your stomach isn’t going to react to the antihistamines.”

“I’m not hungry,” she said.

“No, but between the surgery and the adrenaline and the antihistamines and your injury, your body has burned through a lot of fuel in the last few hours. You’ll feel better if you eat. Even if it’s just jello or something to start with. How’s your pain level?”

“My arm doesn’t hurt at all.”

Meredith smiled. “That’s what I like to hear. The nerve block is holding. I’ll send you home with some pain meds. You can start taking them tomorrow morning before the block wears off. But hopefully you’ll only need them for a few days. The cut should heal easily enough. I’ll leave you two alone, but you can ask the nurses to page me if you need me.”

By the time Meredith reappeared a couple of hours later to see how Gwen was, she was looking almost back to normal, sitting up in bed and talking about Damon’s game tactics. That she understood a lot of what he’d done and how it affected the flow of the gameplay boded well for her potential as a game designer. She couldthinkin game, the same way Damon and the other game designers I knew did. I could follow the storylines and figure out tactics, but when they started brainstorming worlds and all the interconnected threads, my brain noped out after a certain point.

Plus, the bonus side effect of her being so caught up in the match was that, as far as I could tell, she hadn’t noticed Usuriel.

I wasn’t bringing him up. She’d had enough shocks for one night.

“Okay,” Meredith said when she came back into the room. “Gwen, I need to let you know there were two matches in the DNA database. So we have the medical histories, but there’snothing on them you need to worry about. So we’re just going to write this off as a strange reaction and take it from there. It’s on your medical history now, and I’ll send you the information about the medication. It has a few brand names so it’s good to know so you can tell your doctors in the future.”

“Okay, that’s good,” Gwen said. She chewed her lip for a moment. “Was one of them my dad?”

Meredith nodded. “Yes.”

“Oh.” She didn’t say anything else and there was a long silence. I stayed quiet, giving her time to process. It was one thing to know your dad might be out there. Another to know that he was out there and had ditched you. At least, I imagined it was. Another layer of hurt.

Gwen eventually heaved a sigh. “Right. So he is out there somewhere. Well, I have what I need from him, I guess.” Her mouth twisted and then her eyes widened. “Wait, you said two matches?”

“Yep, two. The search looks for parents, siblings, other close relatives like aunts, uncles, first cousins.” Meredith replied.

“Siblings? I could have a half brother or sister out there?”

“It’s a possibility. It could be a cousin,” Meredith said gently. “But remember, they’ll be notified that a match has been made, but it’s up to them as to whether they want to release any more information. If someone has their profile locked down, the medical history is all you’ll get. Outside of parents, there’s no automatic access to how the person is related to you.”

Gwen’s mouth turned down. “That seems unfair. Aren’t there medical things where it might be more likely you have the same thing if it’s your sibling versus say a cousin?”

“Once you have the history, that becomes a bit of a moot point,” Meredith said gently. “It’s to protect people’s privacy. And, sometimes, their safety. People can choose not to have any other contact.

“Do people really not want to find out?” Gwen asked. “If they have a brother or sister out there?” She sounded bewildered. As an only child she’d probably grown up dreaming, like me, about a big happy family.

Meredith hesitated. “Families are complicated. And if you didn’t grow up with your biological siblings then there’s usually a reason. Affairs, or messy divorces, egg or sperm donation in the parent’s past they never told their kids or even their spouse about. Abuse, sometimes. Not everyone wants to know. Or deal with it if they do. And speaking of dealing with it, you should sleep on this. Take a few days to think about it. Wait and see what happens. If someone initiates a contact, you can take it from there. If they don’t and you decide you want to know, then you could send a contact request. Or there are other legal processes if there’re valid reasons you would need to know their identities.”

Like a false name on a birth certificate? Would a court give Gwen the name of her dad if she wanted?

Gwen nodded, looking more than a little overwhelmed.

“That all sounds sensible to me. Can we get out of here now?” I was starting to feel like Gwen looked. Exhausted and not entirely sure I was awake. The clock in the room told me it was nearly five a.m. Mondays were never my favorite day of the week, but a Monday on a couple of hours sleep was going to be a real bitch.

Meredith moved closer to the monitors, pressing various buttons and comparing the readings against Gwen’s chart.

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