Chapter 2 - THE TEST CLAIRE NEVER ORDERED
Claire had requested the DNA test two weeks before the party.
She had not told Daniel.
She hated herself for that.
But Margaret had become increasingly cruel toward Lily.
The breaking point occurred at a family dinner when Margaret refused to include Lily in a group photograph.
“We already have enough children.”
“There are three children,” Claire said.
“Exactly.”
Mark and Jessica’s two sons stood beside Margaret.
Lily stood near the staircase holding a stuffed rabbit.
Claire saw her daughter slowly lower the rabbit.
Daniel muttered, “Mom.”
Margaret smiled toward the photographer.
“What? Lily doesn’t like pictures.”
“I do,” Lily said quietly.
Claire walked across the room.
She picked Lily up.
“We’re leaving.”
Margaret rolled her eyes.
“You’re too sensitive.”
Claire stopped.
“Why do you treat her differently?”
Margaret’s expression changed.
Just slightly.
“I don’t.”
“Yes, you do.”
Daniel stepped between them.
“Not tonight.”
Claire looked at him.
“Then when?”
No one answered.
That night, Claire confronted Daniel.
“Does your mother think Lily isn’t yours?”
His reaction was too fast.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you sweating?”
He turned away.
“I’ve been working fourteen-hour days.”
“Daniel.”
He snapped.
“She’s my daughter.”
Claire stared at him.
The statement should have reassured her.
Instead, it sounded rehearsed.
Three days later, Claire ordered the test.
Daniel’s sample came from an old electric razor Claire had purchased for him herself.
She knew secretly testing him was a violation of trust.
But by then trust was already leaking from every room of their marriage.
The laboratory was private.
Reputable.
Expensive.
Claire requested only one comparison.
Daniel and Lily.
The results arrived by courier on the morning of Nicholas’s birthday party.
Claire opened the envelope in her car.
99.9998 percent.
Daniel was Lily’s biological father.
Claire laughed from relief.
Then cried from anger.
Margaret had tormented a child over a lie.
Claire planned to confront Daniel after the party.
She never expected to need the pages within hours.
But there had been an extra sheet.
A laboratory disclosure form.
REFERENCE DATABASE MATCH.
Claire had skimmed it.
Apparently Daniel’s genetic profile matched an existing sample within the lab’s research database.
Such matches were rare.
The sample belonged to Samuel Reed.
Claire had assumed it was some administrative coincidence.
After finding Lily chained outside, coincidence no longer felt possible.
The following morning, Claire woke on the couch with Lily asleep against her.
She had not returned to the home she shared with Daniel.
Instead, she went to her mother’s house.
Helen Monroe did not ask many questions when Claire arrived.
She looked at Lily’s ankle.
Then she looked at Claire.
“Who?”
“Margaret.”
Helen’s face changed.
Daniel called seventeen times during the night.
Claire answered none.
At eight fourteen the next morning, he texted:
WE NEED TO TALK BEFORE MARK DOES SOMETHING STUPID.
Claire read it twice.
Then another message arrived.
PLEASE DON’T CONTACT SAMUEL REED.
Claire sat upright.
She called immediately.
Daniel answered after half a ring.
“What does that mean?”
“Claire.”
“Who is Samuel Reed?”
Silence.
“Daniel.”
“I’m coming over.”
“No.”
“This isn’t safe over the phone.”
“Safe?”
Helen looked toward Claire from the kitchen.
Claire stood.
“What have you gotten us into?”
“Nothing.”
“Then tell me who Samuel Reed is.”
Daniel exhaled.
“He’s someone my mother never wanted us to find.”
“Us?”
Another pause.
Claire’s voice dropped.
“Who is us?”
Daniel whispered, “Mark and me.”
Twenty minutes later, Daniel arrived.
Helen opened the door but did not invite him inside.
Daniel looked terrible.
Same clothes.
Unshaven.
Red eyes.
“Claire.”
“You have five minutes.”
He glanced past her.
“Where’s Lily?”
“Asleep.”
“I need to see her.”
“No.”
Pain crossed his face.
Claire almost softened.
Then she remembered the chain.
“You left her outside.”
“I thought Mom told her to play on the porch for a few minutes.”
“You didn’t check?”
“I was helping Mark with something.”
“What?”
Daniel looked away.
Claire laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
He lowered his voice.
“The test match isn’t random.”
“Who is he?”
Daniel stared at the floor.
“My father.”
Claire stopped breathing.
“Edward Whitmore was your father.”
“That’s what I believed for thirty-seven years.”
Claire looked toward the hallway.
“Are you saying Margaret—”
“No.”
Daniel lifted his eyes.
“My mother didn’t cheat on Edward.”
“Then how can Samuel Reed be your father?”
May you like
Daniel’s answer was barely audible.
“Because according to Mark, Margaret Whitmore may not be my mother either.”
