Chương 10
“I thought once he saw the report, he’d confront you.”
“And then?”
“You’d deny it.”
“Yes.”
“He’d ask for another test.”
“Yes.”
Vanessa’s voice weakened.
“I thought by then the damage would be done.”
Claire felt something almost like nausea.
“You didn’t need him to believe forever.”
“No.”
“You needed him to accuse me once.”
Vanessa said nothing.
Claire understood.
A marriage could survive a false result.
It might not survive the question that produced it.
Vanessa had not needed to prove Noah belonged to someone else.
She had needed Ethan to look at Claire and ask.
Is he mine?
That question could not be unheard.
“Why did you stop him from telling me?”
Vanessa answered softly.
“Because he didn’t react the way I expected.”
“What did he do?”
“He said the test had to be wrong.”
Claire’s eyes closed.
“He said he knew you.”
The words hurt more than they comforted.
Vanessa continued.
“He got angry at me. He said I’d pushed him into something unforgivable.”
“Then why didn’t he tell me?”
“Because I reminded him what happened to his mother during the divorce. The panic attacks. His brother getting dragged into it. You were pregnant. You had already had bleeding earlier.”
Claire pressed a hand to her forehead.
She had experienced a small placental bleed at eighteen weeks.
It resolved.
Vanessa had known.
Of course she had known.
Vanessa said, “I told him he could ruin your pregnancy over a result that might be wrong.”
“You mean a result you knew was wrong.”
“Yes.”
“And he listened.”
“Yes.”
Claire breathed through her nose.
“I’m not going to thank you for telling me this.”
“I don’t expect you to.”
“What do you expect?”
Vanessa took a while to answer.
“I don’t know.”
That was the first thing she had said that sounded completely unconstructed.
Claire looked toward Noah’s bassinet.
“Why the airport?”
Vanessa exhaled.
“Meridian notified me that the compliance team wanted to meet. Ethan had scheduled another test. I knew once he had a real result, he’d go back to February. I thought if I told you first, I could control what you knew.”
“At least you’re consistent.”
“I was panicking.”
“So was Ethan in January.”
“Yes.”
“And look what he did.”
Vanessa went silent.
Claire let the sentence remain between them.
Fear was not absolution.
It was information.
“What did you mean when you said, ‘That baby isn’t Ethan’s’?”
“I lied.”
Claire almost laughed.
“Obviously.”
“I needed Ethan to open the envelope in front of you.”
“Why?”
“Because if I started by saying I changed your specimen, he could have stopped me or pulled me aside. I wanted you to see his reaction.”
Claire looked down at her hand.
“How generous.”
“I’m not asking you to forgive me.”
“Good.”
“I lost my job.”
Claire said nothing.
“I may lose my license.”
“What license?”
Vanessa paused.
Claire waited.
“I’m not licensed clinical staff. I meant my professional credentials. Sorry.”
The correction mattered.
Even now, under pressure, Vanessa reached for language that made her sound more important.
Claire felt an unexpected flicker of pity.
Then it disappeared.
“My lawyer will probably want to know you called.”
“I assumed.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“Then why call?”
Vanessa’s answer was barely audible.
“Because there is one thing I didn’t fabricate.”
Claire’s entire body tightened.
“What?”
“Ethan came to my apartment on February fourteenth.”
Claire waited.
“I know.”
“He stayed almost three hours.”
Claire stared at the wall.
Vanessa continued quickly.
“Nothing happened.”
“Then why tell me?”
“Because he didn’t include that in the timeline he sent Meridian.”
Claire’s heart began beating harder.
“How do you know what he sent Meridian?”
“I saw part of the preservation notice before they cut my access.”
Claire stood without meaning to.
“What happened at your apartment?”
“We talked.”
“For three hours.”
“Yes.”
“About me.”
“Yes.”
“About Noah.”
“Yes.”
“About whether he was Ethan’s.”
“Yes.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“And you’re telling me because?”
“Because he may be trying to protect you from that part.”
“No.”
Vanessa went quiet.
Claire said, “He’s trying to protect himself.”
The next evening, Ethan came at six.
Claire waited until he had washed his hands and picked up Noah.
Then she said, “You went to Vanessa’s apartment on Valentine’s Day.”
His head came up.
No denial.
Claire felt almost grateful.
“Yes.”
“Three hours.”
“About that.”
“You put ‘met Vanessa’ in your timeline.”
“Yes.”
“That is technically true.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Ethan looked down at Noah.
Claire’s voice sharpened.
“Do not use him as somewhere to look.”
Ethan immediately met her eyes.
“You’re right.”
“Stop.”
He took a breath.
“I was ashamed.”
“Of what?”
“I went there because I wanted her to tell me you were lying.”
Claire stared at him.
The sentence was brutal because it was not decorated.
He continued.
“I had spent three days telling myself the report was wrong. I had spoken to the other lab. I knew the screenshots had problems. But I also kept thinking about my father. I kept thinking everyone had known except him.”
Claire folded her arms.
“So you went to Vanessa.”
“Yes.”
“Why her?”
“She was the person telling me I wasn’t crazy.”
Claire flinched.
Ethan saw it.
“I know how that sounds.”
“No, I think you finally know exactly how it sounds.”
He shifted Noah carefully.
“I drank.”
Claire looked at him.
“At her apartment?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Three bourbons.”
“You don’t drink bourbon.”
“I did that night.”
“Did she?”
“One glass of wine.”
“Did she touch you?”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
Claire’s stomach dropped.
“How?”
“She kissed me.”
The apartment became very quiet.
Noah made a soft sucking motion in his sleep.
Claire heard the refrigerator turn on.
“What did you do?”
“I pulled away.”
“Immediately?”
Ethan looked at her.
Claire hated the question as soon as it left her mouth.
Not because she did not have the right to ask.
Because she knew she would remember the measurement forever.
Immediately.
One second.
May you like
Five.
A whole invented courtroom inside a kiss she had not seen.
