Page 26 of Someone Like You
Dawson jotted a quick letter explaining what had happened to London and that Louise’s health was quickly deteriorating. He included his cell number. Then he called Larry and asked him to write Dr. Ellis as well. “I’ll need your permission along the way.” Dawson was sure of that much. “Maybe copy me on your letter, and give me permission to get the information.”
Larry agreed, and half an hour later Dawson’s phone rang.
The caller ID showed Portland. Dawson took the call as quickly as his fingers could move. “Hello?”
A moment of silence followed. “Dawson Gage?”
The man sounded sharp, serious.Here we go.“Yes, sir.” Dawson opened a Word doc, put the phone on speaker and positioned his fingers over the keyboard.
“This is Dr. Thom Ellis.” His pause felt heavy. “I’ve been expecting this conversation for more than twenty years. But I didn’t expect the news about London. I’m so … so sorry. Please tell Louise and Larry.”
“Thank you. I will.” Dawson stayed strong. He needed to keep his attention on the matter at hand.
“Right after your email, I received a letter from theQuinns. Because of their permission, I would like to share what I know.”
The doctor explained how he had agreed with the Quinns that the embryos were the very beginning of life, and that they deserved a chance. Whatever that might look like. “To be honest, I forgot about them.” The doctor sounded frustrated with himself. “More than five years later I met Dr. David Daniels at an Indianapolis conference on infertility. The man mentioned something about frozen embryos and embryo adoption being the next frontier for couples dealing with infertility. That’s when I remembered.”
Dawson took notes as quickly as he could type. Dr. Ellis apparently told the Indiana doctor that if the man could find a willing adoptive couple, the rights to the embryos would be signed over. Which is exactly what happened.
“The Quinns wanted privacy. So that was part of the paperwork.” Dawson could hear the sound of papers crinkling. “I have the file right here.”
Dr. Ellis went on to say that on June 22 of that year, he was notified by Dr. Daniels that he had identified an adoptive couple in Bloomington, Indiana, interested in the embryos. “My notes say they were both pediatricians.”
The Portland doctor added that he had a lawyer handle the paperwork to transfer rights to the doctor in Indiana, and transportation was arranged through a private airline.
Every detail was fascinating to Dawson. He glanced at his notes. “Do you have the name of the couple?”
“No. That’s all.” Dr. Ellis took a slow breath. “Again, please tell Louise and Larry I’m so sorry about their loss.And about her health.”
Dawson promised to do that. He thanked the doctor and even before the call ended he was googling husband-wife pediatric teams in Bloomington, Indiana.
The first result read:Dr. Peter West and Dr. Brooke Baxter West. West Pediatric Clinic in downtown Bloomington.
The air in his office felt suddenly thin. Dawson laced his fingers together and put them behind his head. Was this it? Had he so easily found the couple who twenty-some years ago received Larry and Louise’s embryos? His heart tripped along at double time. He jotted the couple’s names into his notes and did another search.
Dr. Peter West and Dr. Brooke Baxter West children.
Four links down was a press release.LATEST ZOO HIRE HAS LOCAL MEDICAL TIES.Dawson’s hands shook as he clicked the story. Up popped a brief article about Maddie West, twenty-two, daughter of Drs. Peter and Brooke West. It talked about Maddie having a sister, Hayley. And that Maddie would start work at the zoo this week.
Dawson read the words again and a third time.
Maddie West. Age twenty-two. Which meant it was possible she was the sister London had talked about, however she might’ve known. Maybe Hayley, as well. There was no picture with the article, but finding one would probably be easy.
A quick look on Instagram and there she was, Maddie West. Her account was private, but according to the small profile pic she had blond hair. At first glance he couldn’t see the resemblance between her and London. A check of Facebook and Twitter turned up nothing.Smart girl,he thought.Careful about her social media presence.
Dawson knew what he had to do. He called up Deltaand booked a next-day flight from Portland to Indianapolis. He’d exhausted his Internet search, but had he actually found London’s siblings? In a single morning? Dawson thought about his flight tomorrow.
Now there was only one way to find out.
MADDIE’S THIRD DAYat the Indianapolis Zoo had started out much better than the first two. On Monday during orientation in the primate exhibit, a monkey had swung low and dropped a branch on her head.
“Part of the job,” her boss had told her. The boss was Ms. Anna Barber, a straight-edged woman in her forties. Short gray hair and sturdy legs. “Stay away from the fly zones.” The woman pointed at the rope hanging from the tallest tree sections. She rolled her eyes at Maddie. As if that was the most obvious thing. “Fly zones are always littered with branches.”
“Yes, ma’am. Thank you.” Maddie had rubbed her scalp and kept her tone polite. If only Ms. Barber had told Maddie that at the beginning.
Day two hadn’t been much better. Ms. Barber had asked her to move a three-foot dwarf boa constrictor to a plastic box so his cage could be cleaned. Despite two summers of interning for the zoo and years of volunteering at a veterinarian clinic in Texas, Maddie had never held a boa. She stared at the snake.Not too threatening,she’d thought.
But the moment she picked it up, the snake bit the palm of her hand. Maddie had screamed and dropped the reptile into the box. The boa was fine, but Maddie wasbleeding from more than twenty small holes in two C-shaped rows. Some soap, hand sanitizer and a bandage and Maddie was back to work.
