CHAPTER 4: THE DNA TEST
The next morning, the newspapers called it the scandal of the year.
THE WARD HEIR MYSTERY.
SOCIETY MOTHER ACCUSED OF BABY SWITCH.
BIRTHDAY PARTY ENDS IN POLICE INVESTIGATION.
Reporters stood outside the mansion gates. Police searched old family files. Lawyers called nonstop. Nathan barely slept.
Ethan stayed in the library with Lydia, wrapped in silence.
Mara did not sleep at the mansion that night. Nathan offered her a guest room, but she refused.
“I cannot sleep under her roof,” Mara said.
So Nathan arranged a hotel room nearby and sent a car for her the next morning.
When Mara returned, Ethan was sitting beside a model of the solar system.
She stood at the doorway, nervous.
“Hi,” she said softly.
Ethan looked up.
“Hi.”
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Mara stepped inside slowly.
“I know I’m a stranger to you,” she said. “I don’t expect anything from you.”
Ethan looked at her hands.
“You said my name was Elias.”
Mara’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“It meant light to me,” she said. “You were my little light.”
Ethan looked away.
“My name is Ethan.”
“I know,” Mara said quickly. “I’m not here to take that from you.”
She opened her bag and pulled out a small yellow blanket.
“This was supposed to be yours,” she said. “I bought it before you were born.”
Ethan stared at it.
The blanket was faded and soft, nothing like the expensive things in his room.
“Did you really look for me?” he asked.
“Every day.”
“Why didn’t you find me sooner?”
Mara’s face crumpled.
“Because people lied. Because I had no money. Because no one believed me. But I should have found a way. I’m sorry.”
Ethan was quiet.
Victoria rarely apologized. She explained. She corrected. She defended.
Mara apologized as if Ethan’s pain mattered.
“Can I keep the blanket?” he asked.
Mara pressed a hand to her mouth.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Of course.”
That afternoon, Ethan took a DNA test with Mara.
It was only a cheek swab, but to Ethan it felt like the whole world was waiting inside that small tube.
The results arrived two days later.
Nathan opened the email in his study. Mara stood beside him. Ethan stood between them.
Probability of maternity: 99.9998%.
Mara Bell was Ethan’s biological mother.
Mara covered her face and sobbed.
Ethan stared at the result.
Part of him already knew. But seeing it written made it real.
Nathan placed a hand on Ethan’s shoulder.
Ethan slowly reached for Mara’s hand.
Mara took it as if she were holding something sacred.
“I found you,” she whispered.
May you like
Ethan looked at her.
“You did.”
