Chapter 12 - Daniel’s Real Father
Daniel didn’t move.
“What did you say?”
Richard looked like a man who had just opened a grave.
“I need to explain.”
Daniel stood.
“You have about five seconds.”
Richard sat back down.
Forty years earlier, before Ethan was born, Richard and Margaret had separated for six months.
Nobody knew.
Not even Lauren.
Margaret had moved in with her sister in Providence.
Richard had started seeing a woman named Caroline.
Daniel’s mother.
“I loved her,” Richard said.
Margaret stared at the floor.
Actually, Margaret wasn’t there.
For once, the woman who controlled everything wasn’t in the room.
But it felt like she was.
Richard continued.
“Margaret came back. She said she wanted to save the marriage. I ended things with Caroline.”
“Then I was born,” Daniel said.
“Yes.”
“You were sleeping with her again.”
Richard shook his head.
“No.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“You paid child support.”
“Because Caroline told me you were mine.”
“So?”
“Years later, Margaret claimed she had proof you weren’t.”
Daniel stared.
“What proof?”
“A letter.”
“What letter?”
“From Caroline.”
Richard’s voice cracked.
“She said your biological father was another man.”
I frowned.
“Who?”
Richard looked at Daniel.
“Margaret’s brother.”
Nobody spoke.
Daniel’s face emptied.
“Excuse me?”
Margaret had an older brother named Thomas.
I had met him once at a funeral.
Quiet man.
Died six years ago.
Richard pressed both palms together.
“Caroline and Thomas dated before she met me. I didn’t know they had started seeing each other again.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
“I never believed Margaret.”
“Then why are you saying this now?”
“Because she kept the letter.”
“How do you know?”
“I found it last week.”
Richard pulled a photograph from his folder.
It showed an old handwritten letter.
Daniel grabbed it.
I watched his eyes move down the page.
His face changed.
Then he read one line aloud.
“Richard has been kinder than I deserve, but Daniel is Thomas’s son.”
Lauren covered her mouth.
If true, Daniel wasn’t Ethan’s half brother.
He was Margaret’s nephew.
Which meant my daughter still had Margaret’s family DNA.
Just not in the way anyone thought.
Daniel looked at Richard.
“Did you ever do a DNA test?”
“No.”
“So this could be another one of Margaret’s lies.”
“Yes.”
Sarah leaned forward.
“Then we test.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Another DNA test. This family really loves those.”
Richard looked broken.
“I raised myself believing you were my son even from a distance.”
Daniel threw the letter onto the table.
“You didn’t raise me.”
Richard accepted the hit.
“You’re right.”
I looked at Ethan.
He seemed as lost as everyone else.
Then another thought hit me.
“If Margaret believed Daniel was Thomas’s son, then she knew my baby might be biologically connected to her.”
Richard nodded.
“Exactly.”
“So why did she want the donor switch?”
Nobody answered.
Then Lauren whispered, “Inheritance.”
We all looked at her.
“My uncle Thomas had money.”
Richard’s head lifted.
Lauren continued.
“A lot of money. Mom always complained that his estate went to charity because he had no children.”
Daniel sat very still.
“If I’m his son…”
“You could potentially challenge the estate,” Sarah said carefully.
“And if my daughter is his biological granddaughter?”
Sarah nodded.
“She could potentially become relevant too, depending on the trust language and state law.”
I felt sick.
Again, my baby was turning into paperwork.
Money.
Blood.
Claims.
I put both hands over my stomach.
“No.”
Sarah looked at me.
“What?”
“I don’t want a cent.”
“This isn’t about accepting money right now.”
“It is to Margaret.”
Then Ethan’s phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
“Mom.”
Nobody spoke.
He answered on speaker.
Margaret didn’t say hello.
She said, “Tell Emily to stop digging.”
I stared at the phone.
May you like
Then Margaret added quietly:
“If she keeps going, she’s going to learn why Caroline really died.”
