Chapter 3 - The Test I Never Approved
I read the letter three times.
My hands shook more each time.
“Why was your mother receiving genetic information about my baby?”
Evan looked at the floor.
“She found a way.”
“That is not an answer.”
Claire took Maisie into the kitchen so she wouldn’t hear us.
I stepped closer to Evan.
“What did she test?”
He swallowed.
“Paternity.”
I stared at him.
“Paternity?”
“She thought Maisie wasn’t mine.”
A laugh escaped me.
Not because it was funny.
Because it was insane.
“Why?”
“My mother never liked how close you were with Noah.”
I frowned.
“Noah who?”
“Dr. Noah Bennett.”
Our fertility specialist.
The man who had helped us after two miscarriages.
I felt sick.
“You let her accuse me of sleeping with my doctor?”
“No.”
“But you read the results.”
Silence.
There it was.
“You did.”
“I didn’t ask her to run the test.”
“But you knew.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Mom brought me the letter.”
I stepped back.
“When?”
“Before Maisie was born.”
“And what did the result say?”
Evan looked at me.
“That I was her biological father.”
My anger stalled.
“What?”
“The test showed Maisie was mine.”
“Then why does Lenora call her a bastard?”
Evan’s face changed.
“That’s the part I never understood.”
I stared at him.
“Then why did you hide this from me?”
“Because I was ashamed.”
“Of what?”
“That for one second, when Mom showed me the envelope… I believed her.”
The room went quiet.
That hurt.
Not as much as what Lenora had done.
But enough.
Then Claire came back.
“Tessa?”
“What?”
“There’s something in Maisie’s diaper bag.”
She held up a small flash drive.
I frowned.
“That’s not mine.”
“Mine either.”
Evan went still.
I saw it.
“You recognize it.”
“No.”
“Evan.”
His eyes moved away.
Claire plugged the drive into her laptop.
Three folders appeared.
FERTILITY.
HAWTHORNE.
ABIGAIL.
I looked at Evan.
“Who is Abigail?”
He looked like he had been punched.
That name had been deliberately omitted from every family conversation I’d ever heard.
Then he whispered:
“My sister.”
I froze.
“You don’t have a sister.”
May you like
Evan’s voice came out barely audible.
“I did.”
