Chapter 2 - The Test Claire Never Agreed To
Claire did not stay long enough to cut another cake.
She carried Lily into the women’s locker room, washed frosting from her hair, changed her into the backup sundress Claire always kept in the birthday bag, and walked out through the country club’s side entrance.
Daniel caught up beside the parking lot.
“Claire.”
She kept walking.
“Claire, please.”
She opened the rear door of the SUV and buckled Lily into her booster seat.
Only when the door closed did she turn.
“What DNA report?”
Daniel looked toward the clubhouse.
His mother was nowhere in sight.
That seemed to make speaking easier.
“I can explain.”
“That’s not an answer.”
He rubbed the back of his neck.
“It was a paternity test.”
Claire stared at him.
For a moment she genuinely thought she had misunderstood.
“A what?”
Daniel lowered his voice.
“My mother started questioning things.”
“Things?”
“Lily.”
Claire took one step backward.
“Your mother questioned whether your daughter was yours.”
“She got inside my head.”
“And you tested her?”
Daniel said nothing.
That silence was enough.
Claire covered her mouth.
Lily was five.
Five years of Christmas mornings.
Five years of Daniel asleep beside a crib during fevers.
Five years of preschool pickup, Disney movies, scraped knees, bedtime stories.
And sometime during those years, her husband had apparently taken something from their child and submitted it to a laboratory to determine whether Claire had betrayed him.
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
Claire laughed once, softly.
Not because anything was funny.
“You’ve known for three months?”
“Yes.”
“What did it say?”
Daniel looked at her.
“She’s mine.”
Claire’s expression did not change.
“Say it correctly.”
He swallowed.
“The test confirmed I’m Lily’s biological father.”
Claire glanced toward the car.
Their daughter was watching them through the glass.
She kept her voice low.
“So your mother just humiliated a five-year-old in front of forty people over a test that proves she was wrong.”
“It’s more complicated.”
Claire stared at him.
“No. That part is actually very simple.”
She reached for the driver’s door.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Claire, you need to hear the rest.”
“Not here.”
“Where are you going?”
“My sister’s.”
“With Lily?”
Claire looked at him.
The question offended her.
“Yes, Daniel. With the child your mother just covered in cake while you stood there protecting a secret.”
“I wasn’t protecting her.”
Claire paused.
“Then who were you protecting?”
Daniel opened his mouth.
No answer came.
Claire got into the SUV.
Before closing the door, she said, “Bring me the original report.”
Then she drove away.
Daniel remained in the country-club parking lot.
May you like
For the first time that afternoon, he understood that proving Lily was his daughter had not saved his family.
It had only exposed a different betrayal.
