Chương 5
Neither of them had expected this to be romantic.
Emily broke the latch and tried again.
Noah protested.
Daniel placed a hand lightly between Emily’s shoulder blades.
There, in the middle of betrayal and genetic uncertainty and Margaret’s white envelope, they spent fifteen minutes trying to feed their son.
It was the first thing that made Emily feel safe all morning.
Daniel did not go to his parents’ house that day.
William did not call back.
Margaret called six times.
Daniel silenced his phone after the third.
At four in the afternoon, she texted.
Please do not tell your father anything else until I can speak to both of you.
Daniel read it aloud.
Emily was sitting at the kitchen island eating peanut butter from the jar because putting it on bread had seemed like unnecessary work.
“What are you going to say?”
“Nothing.”
He placed the phone facedown.
Ten minutes later, Margaret sent another message.
There are details you don’t understand.
Then:
William has a heart condition. You need to consider what this could do to him.
Daniel stared at that one longer.
Emily knew William had mild hypertension and took medication for an arrhythmia that had been stable for years. Margaret had always referred to it as his heart condition whenever she wanted him to stop eating something she disapproved of.
Still, Emily felt a cold ripple of fear.
Daniel looked at her.
“That’s manipulation, right?”
“Yes.”
“You answered fast.”
“Because she wants you to feel responsible for what happens after the truth comes out.”
“What if something does happen?”
Emily put the peanut butter jar down.
“I don’t know.”
He waited.
She wiped the spoon with a paper towel.
“That’s the horrible part. Something can be manipulative and still contain a real risk.”
Daniel sat across from her.
He rubbed his forehead.
“I want one simple thing.”
“What?”
“I want somebody to tell me what to do.”
Emily looked at him.
Then at Noah sleeping in the portable bassinet beside the island.
“You picked a bad wife for that.”
Daniel smiled faintly.
“No kidding.”
The front doorbell rang.
Both of them froze.
Daniel checked the doorbell camera on his phone.
William stood on the porch.
Alone.
Daniel opened the door.
William stepped inside carrying a grocery bag.
For some reason, that nearly made Emily cry.
“I bought diapers,” he said.
Daniel stared at him.
William lifted the bag.
“I didn’t know what else you needed.”
Emily said, “We always need diapers.”
“Good.”
William set them down.
He looked at Noah.
“Can I?”
Emily nodded.
William washed his hands without being asked.
It was one of the things Emily liked about him. He had never once objected to any rule they set for the baby. He had never kissed Noah’s face after they asked people not to. He had never told them how Daniel had survived things differently in 1993.
He returned and stood beside the bassinet.
Noah slept with both hands near his chin.
William touched one finger to the blanket.
For nearly a minute, nobody mentioned DNA.
Then William said, “Your mother isn’t at home.”
Daniel leaned against the counter.
“Where is she?”
“She said she needed air.”
“Did you talk?”
“A little.”
“And?”
William rubbed his jaw.
“She says the test is probably wrong.”
Daniel stared at him.
“That’s not an answer.”
“No.”
William turned toward the windows.
He was sixty-one, broad-shouldered, with graying hair and a face Emily had always considered comforting because it changed slowly. William rarely reacted in the moment. He needed time.
Now his face seemed to have nowhere to settle.
He asked Daniel, “You have your result?”
Daniel showed him.
William read it.
Then Daniel gave him Margaret’s report.
William read that too.
He sat down.
Emily noticed his right hand shaking.
Daniel noticed.
“Dad?”
“I’m fine.”
William placed his hand flat on the table.
Daniel started to speak.
William held up his other hand.
“Give me a second.”
They did.
Finally William said, “When your mother was pregnant with you, she told me the doctor moved the due date.”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“She was further along than they first thought. Or less far. I don’t remember exactly. We were kids.”
“You were twenty-seven.”
William looked at him.
“When you’re sixty-one, twenty-seven feels like a kid.”
Daniel sat opposite him.
“Were you suspicious?”
“No.”
“Never?”
William looked down at the report.
“Maybe once.”
Emily stayed quiet.
William continued.
“There was a guy.”
Daniel’s posture changed.
“What guy?”
“His name was Stephen Mercer.”
Emily saw Daniel register the name.
“Uncle Steve?”
William winced.
“He wasn’t your uncle.”
“He came to our house.”
“Sometimes.”
“He taught me to throw a curveball.”
William looked away.
Daniel pushed his chair back.
“Oh, come on.”
“I don’t know anything.”
“He was your friend.”
“He was both our friend.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means exactly what it sounds like.”
Daniel stood.
Emily expected anger.
Instead he walked to the sink and stared down into it.
There was one bottle soaking in cloudy water.
He picked it up.
Put it down.
Picked it up again.
William said, “I never caught them doing anything.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“That’s comforting.”
“I’m trying to tell you what I know.”
“No, you’re telling me what you didn’t know.”
William’s face tightened.
Emily saw the line hit him.
Daniel saw it too.
“I’m sorry.”
William nodded.
“No. You’re right.”
Daniel turned back.
“Where is he?”
“Arizona, last I heard.”
“You haven’t talked to him?”
“Not in twenty years.”
“Why?”
William looked toward Noah.
“Because after you were born, your mother didn’t want him around.”
Daniel stared.
William added, “She said he made her uncomfortable.”
No one spoke.
There it was.
Not proof.
A clue.
One that had existed for decades, harmless until now.
Daniel sat down again.
William said, “I need a real test.”
Daniel nodded.
“Me too.”
Emily looked at both men.
“Then do one.”
William looked at her.
May you like
“With Daniel?”
“Yes. Directly. Both of you consent. No baby. No guessing through Noah.”
