All Chapters of The Doctor's Temptation: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

The lab results were scheduled to come in on a Thursday, five days after Camila had walked into the waiting room with an unopened envelope and a lifetime of questions attached to it.Mia spent those five days in the strange, suspended rhythm of new motherhood, feeding schedules and exhaustion blurring the hours together, while Vincent moved through his days with a careful stillness she'd learned to recognize as him holding something too big to name.Camila visited twice that week, awkward but earnest, bringing a small gift for the baby the second time, a soft knit blanket that had belonged to her mother."I don't want anything from you," she told Vincent during that second visit, sitting stiffly in the estate's front parlor. "Whatever the test says. I'm not here for money or a name on anything. I just needed to know where I came from. My mother spent thirty years wondering. I didn't want to spend the same thirty.""You won't have to," Vincent said. "Whatever this test says, you have p

Camila arrived within the hour, summoned by a call from Vincent that hadn't explained much beyond urgency. She stood in the parlor turning the envelope over in her hands like it might bite her."It's addressed to me," she said, voice tight. "Not you. Me specifically.""Open it," Vincent said gently. "Whatever it is, you don't have to face it alone."Mia watched Camila's hands shake as she broke the seal, watched her scan the first paragraph, watched the color drain slowly from her face."It's from a law firm representing my mother's ex-husband," Camila said finally, voice hollow. "Apparently they were never officially divorced when she died. He's contesting her estate. Says everything she left me, the house, her savings, all of it, should have gone through him first." She looked up, eyes glassy. "He wants to claim I'm not even entitled to what little she left me, because legally, during the marriage, any child born wasn't automatically presumed to be his unless disputed. He's using th

Mia turned the envelope over twice before opening it, some old instinct making her hesitate even though nothing about the past few months had taught her that hesitation changed anything.Vincent watched from across the kitchen, their daughter balanced against his shoulder. "Who's it from?""I don't know yet." She slid a finger under the flap, unfolding a single handwritten page. The handwriting was careful, old-fashioned, the kind of penmanship that belonged to someone who'd learned to write decades before either of them was born.She read it once silently, then again, her chest tightening with something she couldn't immediately name."Mia?" Vincent crossed the room, concern sharpening his voice. "What is it?""It's from a woman named Eleanor Whitfield." Mia's hands trembled slightly as she held the letter out to him. "She says she's my biological grandmother. My father's mother. She says my father is still alive."***Vincent read the letter twice, brow furrowed, before setting it do

The call came early, before either of them had finished their coffee, and Mia knew from the first hitch in Eleanor's voice that whatever news she carried wasn't good."He had an episode yesterday," Eleanor said, words tumbling out fast and unsteady. "A bad one. He didn't recognize me for almost two hours. The neurologist moved up his appointment, and she says the progression is faster than they initially estimated. Months, Mia. She's talking about months, not years."Mia sat down hard on the kitchen stool, the words landing like a physical weight. "How many months?""She wouldn't commit to a number. Six, maybe. Possibly less." Eleanor's voice cracked. "I know we just found each other. I know this isn't fair to ask so soon. But if you want more time with him, actual time where he still knows who you are, I don't think we can wait for that time to find us naturally."Thirty years of nothing,Mia thought, throat tightening, *and now maybe six months to make up for all of it."We'll come t

Eleanor called at dawn, her voice hollow with an exhaustion that had nothing left to hide behind."He had a beautiful morning," she said. "Sharp, clear, more like himself than he's been in weeks. He asked for you. All three of you. I think," her voice caught, "I think some part of him knows what today is."Mia was dressed and in the car within fifteen minutes, Vincent driving, their daughter strapped in behind them, Camila following close in her own car after a single, urgent phone call.Please let there be time,Mia thought, watching the miles blur past the window. Please let this be one more good day, not the day we're too late for.Thomas was sitting up in bed when they arrived, propped against pillows, eyes clear and present in a way that made Mia's chest ache with how rare that clarity had become."There she is," he said, smiling as she came through the door. "My Mia.""I'm here," she said, sitting carefully on the edge of the bed, taking his hand. "We're all here."Vincent brough