Chapter 2 - THE SON WHO COULD NOT BE HIS
While Julianne’s jet climbed east over the Atlantic, the Henderson family gathered inside the most expensive maternity clinic in North Dallas.
Penelope lay beneath a white blanket with one hand resting over her stomach. Lorraine had brought blue flowers. Roxanne carried a monogrammed baby blanket. Richard was already discussing which private school his grandson would attend.
Marcus entered the ultrasound suite ten minutes late and furious.
Penelope smiled nervously. “Did she sign?”
“She’s gone,” he said. “And she pulled some ridiculous stunt with a private jet.”
Lorraine waved the subject away. “Julianne always had a talent for dramatics. Today is about the future.”
Marcus moved beside the examination table and looked at the monitor.
“So, Doctor,” he said, forcing a grin, “how’s my son?”
Dr. Adrian Vance did not answer.
He moved the ultrasound probe carefully, adjusted the angle, and studied the screen. Then he glanced at the tablet containing Penelope’s laboratory results.
The silence changed the room.
Penelope lifted her head. “Is something wrong with the baby?”
“The baby appears healthy,” Dr. Vance said.
Everyone exhaled except the doctor.
Marcus laughed. “Then why do you look like that?”
Dr. Vance set the probe down. “There are two other matters we need to discuss.”
Lorraine stepped closer. “What matters?”
“First, the fetal sex results are conclusive. The baby is female.”
Roxanne slowly lowered the blue blanket.
Marcus stared at the doctor. “No. The home test said boy.”
“Those commercial tests are not always reliable.”
Richard’s jaw tightened, but Penelope’s face softened with relief.
“A girl is fine,” she said. “I only care that she’s healthy.”
Marcus turned on her. “You told me it was a son.”
“Because that’s what the test said.”
Dr. Vance raised a hand. “Mr. Henderson, the child’s sex is not the most serious issue.”
The room went still again.
Three weeks earlier, Marcus had insisted on a noninvasive prenatal paternity test. He had called it protection. Penelope had agreed because she believed certainty would secure her place in the family.
Dr. Vance looked directly at Marcus.
“The laboratory excluded you as the biological father.”
Penelope’s lips parted, but no sound came out.
Lorraine dropped the bouquet. Blue flowers scattered across the polished floor.
“That’s impossible,” Marcus said.
“The result was repeated.”
“You mixed up the samples.”
“We did not.”
Marcus grabbed the edge of the counter. “Test me again.”
Dr. Vance’s expression hardened. “We can repeat the test, but the result is consistent with the fertility assessment performed after your attempted vasectomy reversal.”
Richard turned sharply. “Your what?”
Marcus’s face lost its color.
Dr. Vance continued carefully. “The reversal was unsuccessful. You were informed three months ago that natural conception was extremely unlikely.”
Lorraine stared at her son. “You had a vasectomy?”
Penelope sat up, clutching the blanket against herself.
“When?” she asked.
Marcus did not answer.
Dr. Vance looked uncomfortable. “That is a private matter between my patient and his family.”
Penelope’s eyes filled with tears. “When, Marcus?”
“Six years ago,” he finally muttered.
Six years earlier, Sophie had been one.
For the next six years, Marcus had allowed his mother and sister to mock Julianne for failing to give the family another child. He had complained at dinners that Julianne’s body had “quit on him.” He had told friends that he deserved a woman capable of producing a son.
All while knowing he had made another pregnancy nearly impossible.
Penelope understood it at the same moment Lorraine did.
“You blamed her,” Penelope whispered. “You let all of us blame her.”
Marcus pointed at Penelope’s stomach. “Don’t turn this around. That baby belongs to somebody else.”
Penelope slapped him.
The sound cracked through the suite.
“You knew she couldn’t be yours,” Penelope said. “You knew before you brought me into this room.”
“I thought the procedure might have worked.”
“The doctor told you it didn’t.”
Roxanne backed away as though betrayal were contagious. “Who is the father?”
Penelope looked down.
Before Marcus, there had been an ex-fiancé named Daniel. One painful, confused night had occurred during a brief separation from Marcus. Penelope had hidden it because she wanted the Henderson life more than she wanted honesty.
“I need another test,” she said.
Lorraine’s voice turned cold. “You need to leave.”
Penelope looked at the flowers, the blanket, and the family who had welcomed her only because they believed she carried a male heir.
“You were calling me your daughter this morning.”
“You lied to us.”
“So did your son.”
Marcus grabbed Penelope’s purse from the chair and dropped it beside the door.
“Get out.”
Dr. Vance stepped between them. “She is my patient. You do not order her out of an examination room.”
Penelope began to cry, but she did not beg Marcus.
Instead, she reached for her phone.
There was only one person who would understand exactly what he had done.
May you like
Her message reached Julianne as the plane crossed the coast of Ireland.
I know I have no right to ask you for anything. But Marcus lied to both of us. I have proof, and you need to see it.
