Chapter 6 - The First Question
Ethan had imagined meeting his daughters thousands of times after learning they were alive.
In none of those imagined moments was he standing in a dusty attic while one of them stared at him with tears in her gray eyes.
He slowly crouched.
“I think I am.”
Lily looked at Camila.
“You said he didn’t want us.”
Camila’s face crumpled.
“I was told something that wasn’t true.”
“By Grandpa Victor?”
Camila nodded.
Lily turned back to Ethan.
“Did you know our names?”
Ethan glanced at the letter inside the box.
“I knew the names your mother and I chose before you were born.”
“What were they?”
“Lily, Rose, and Violet.”
Lily’s eyes widened.
“I’m Lily.”
“I guessed that.”
“How?”
“Your mother used to say Lily was the brave one.”
“I am the brave one.”
For the first time that day, Ethan smiled.
Lily descended the final step and stood in front of him.
“Are you going to leave now?”
The question tore through him.
“No.”
Camila stepped closer.
“Lily, we still need to confirm everything.”
“Confirm what?”
“Adults need to do a test.”
Lily considered this.
“Like a school test?”
“Something like that,” Ethan said.
“Will you pass?”
He looked at Camila.
“I hope so.”
That evening, Camila told Rose and Ivy the truth in simple terms. She explained that Ethan might be their biological father and that another adult had kept them separated.
The girls reacted differently.
Lily asked dozens of questions.
Rose became silent and hugged her stuffed rabbit.
Ivy grew angry.
“If he’s our father, why didn’t he find us?”
Ethan answered honestly.
“I tried. I was told you had never survived.”
The anger disappeared from Ivy’s face.
“You thought we were dead?”
“Yes.”
She walked toward him and studied his tattoo.
“Does Mommy’s tattoo mean the same thing?”
“It used to.”
Camila rolled up her sleeve, revealing the identical broken compass.
“It still does,” she said quietly.
The DNA test was arranged the following morning.
Victor called while they were at the clinic.
Camila placed the phone on speaker.
“You had no right to enter your mother’s private belongings,” he said.
“You lied about my children’s father.”
“I protected you.”
“You stole seven years from five people.”
Victor remained calm.
“Ethan Cole is not prepared to raise three daughters.”
“He already raised a child,” Camila said. “He adopted his sister’s son.”
There was a pause.
Victor had not known about Noah.
Camila continued.
“We found the letters, the payments, and Mom’s recording.”
Victor’s voice changed.
“Your mother was confused near the end.”
“She provided bank records.”
“You should think very carefully before destroying this family’s reputation.”
Camila looked at Ethan.
For most of her life, Victor’s threats had worked because they arrived disguised as protection.
Not anymore.
“You destroyed it yourself,” she said.
She ended the call.
Two days later, the DNA results arrived.
The probability of Ethan’s paternity was greater than 99.99 percent.
He read the report alone in his truck.
May you like
Then he lowered his head against the steering wheel and cried for the daughters he had lost, the daughters he had found, and the years no court could return.
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