The Alchemists

"You... you are my biological mother. You gave me your bone marrow for transplant, right?" he said in a muffled voice.

Finland and Caspar were surprised to hear Terry's words. Oh... this child knew his identity. Initially they did not want to discuss it because they did not want Terry to become even sadder, but apparently, he already knew what had happened.

Finland quickly controlled her feelings and nodded with a smile, "So you know?"

Terry nodded slowly, "Mom and Dad tried to hide it, but they certainly couldn't remove all the news on the internet from the past 10 years. I already knew that I was a kid made with IVF using an embryo from donors..."

"You make it sound bad," Caspar commented. "So what if you're not your parent's biological child? That means that you are a very wanted child. Your parents did everything they could to have you in their lives... Do you know how expensive and difficult the IVF process is? And they raised you for 15 years in a loving family..."

"I'm not complaining. I'm just stating facts..." Terry pursed his lips exactly like Finland did when she frowned, and Caspar realized that.

This child may look like Jean, but his personality and expression were very much like Finland, he thought. Indeed, the DNA couldn't lie.

He unconsciously looked at his own three children with satisfaction. He did not need to be jealous of the fact that Jean had a child with Finland, it was only DNA, because Caspar had three wonderful children with his wife. The three children made their family very exciting and fun.

Caspar did not mind having more children, but now he realized that having three children who were close in age was quite troublesome, because even though they had a lot of staff and servants, he and Finland preferred to take care of their children hands-on.

Maybe in a few years, when the children had grown  up and left the house, and they experienced empty nest syndrome, like a mother bird who felt lonely because her children were grown and flew away from their nest, they would consider having more children.

When that time came, he would propose to Finland to have more children. Ha ha ha.

Caspar was lucky because he had his wish granted: that Finland would not go back to work until London was at least two years old. When London was 15 months old, his beloved wife conceived Rune, and after giving birth to her third child, she focused her full attention on her three small children.

Swiftly and quickly nine years had passed, and now Finland no longer wanted to return to work. She had found satisfaction in so many new things she encountered in their lives and adventures as a family.

She was happy to learn new languages when they moved around the world, she became familiar with foreign cultures, and she pursued some of her interests that she had never taken seriously before, such as photography and writing.

Caspar was very pleased to see that Finland was now busy with various small projects that gave her inner satisfaction. His wife could now make her own wine, cheese, and perfume with ingredients from their farms and vineyards. Finland also began to learn to paint and sometimes they would go to beautiful places and paint together.

Caspar himself hasn't been a doctor in years, even though it was one of his favorite professions. He happily appointed himself as the family physician of the Schneider family. His job was to take care of vaccinations and treat his children's wounds and blisters caused by their super active childhood.

He did not handle any business anymore. Kurt Van Der Ven was doing a very good job in helping Stanis, his father, in managing the Schneider Group so far that they hadn't needed to bother Caspar at all.

For many years the Schneider family lived in peace until suddenly Finland received a phone call that informed her of the death of the Chan couple. Now they must decide what they would do to help Terry.

Finland looked at Terry attentively.

"How long have you been sitting here? Have you eaten anything?" she asked Terry. "Maybe it's better that we chat somewhere else..."

Terry did not budge.

Finland, who lost her parents when she was very young, understood the boy's sadness and did not want to force him. She exchanged glances with Caspar and asked with her eyes what her husband was thinking.

"It's okay, let's wait here," Caspar said, smiling with patience.

He then sat next to Aleksis. London and Rune followed in his footsteps and sat next to him.

So, the six of them sat together on the bench, waiting. Nobody said anything else.

Lawyer Li who saw what was happening from afar seemed to heave a sigh of relief. Now he felt that he didn't need to worry that his client's child would be alone. His biological mother and her family were here and it seemed like they were very kind to him.

***

During the next several hours, several dozen guests came to mourn and pay their last respects to the Chan couple. Terry only saw them coming and going without reacting much.

Rune was starting to get nervous and begged his father with his eyes to take him away. Sitting nicely for 5 hours was a new record for him, and he couldn't take it anymore.

"Alright... it's time to go home." Caspar decided, "We all have to eat dinner."

Everyone got up except for Terry. The boy seemed to have a stubborn nature that was somehow passed down from his biological mother, Finland.

"I'll stay here..." he said firmly. "I have to wait for my parents."

"I understand that you are feeling a great loss, but I am sure your parents will be sad to see you torture yourself like this." Finland tried to reason with the boy, but Terry seemed to be unmoved.