Chương 6
Daniel took one.
Rachel didn’t.
The counselor asked what had happened.
Daniel looked at Rachel.
Rachel said, “I lied by omission for almost two years.”
Daniel rubbed the peppermint wrapper between his fingers.
The counselor waited.
Rachel added, “And his mother found out and humiliated me at our son’s birthday party.”
Daniel said, “That sentence makes it sound like those things are connected in a way I’m not sure they are.”
Rachel looked at him.
“What do you mean?”
“My mother treating you like garbage is not a reasonable consequence of what you did.”
Rachel stared at him.
He continued looking at the wrapper.
“I’m furious with you. I’m also furious with her. I don’t want one anger to cancel the other.”
Rachel felt tears coming and hated them for arriving precisely when she wanted to appear capable.
She looked at the peppermints.
The counselor asked Daniel what he wanted.
Daniel took a long time.
“I want the last two years back.”
Nobody tried to improve the answer.
The test results arrived the next morning at 10:07.
Rachel was changing Mason.
Her phone chimed on the dresser.
She saw the clinic name.
Her hands stopped.
Mason kicked happily, one sock halfway off.
Rachel did not open the message.
She called Daniel.
He answered from work.
“Hey.”
“They’re here.”
Silence.
“Did you look?”
“No.”
Another silence.
“I’m leaving.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I’m leaving.”
He arrived thirty-four minutes later.
Rachel knew because she watched every one of them pass.
Daniel came through the front door, set his keys down, picked them up again, then finally put them in his pocket.
“Where’s Mason?”
“Napping.”
“Okay.”
Rachel sat at the kitchen table.
Daniel took the chair beside her rather than across.
She opened the portal.
There were two reports.
She clicked Daniel’s first.
The language seemed deliberately unemotional.
Names.
Dates.
Numbers.
Then the conclusion.
Rachel read it twice.
Daniel took the phone.
He read it.
His face emptied.
Rachel stopped breathing.
Daniel put the phone on the table.
“I’m not his biological father.”
The refrigerator hummed.
Outside, a dog barked twice.
Rachel covered her mouth.
Daniel stood.
He walked to the sink.
His hands braced against the counter.
Rachel wanted to touch him.
She did not.
After several seconds he said, “Open the other one.”
“Daniel.”
“Open it.”
She did.
Evan’s report confirmed what Daniel’s had already made almost certain.
Rachel stared at the words.
Daniel turned away.
Upstairs, Mason woke.
His cry came through the monitor.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Rachel started to rise.
“I’ll get him,” Daniel said.
She looked at him.
He went upstairs.
Rachel remained alone with both reports open on the table.
Five minutes passed.
Ten.
Daniel did not come down.
Rachel finally walked upstairs.
She stopped outside Mason’s room.
Daniel sat in the rocking chair with Mason against his chest.
Mason had one fist tangled in Daniel’s shirt.
Daniel was crying.
Silently.
His face rested against Mason’s hair.
Rachel backed away before he saw her.
That afternoon Evan called.
Rachel watched the phone ring.
Daniel sat across the room.
“You should answer.”
She did.
Evan said, “I got the result.”
“Yes.”
Rachel could hear him breathing.
“So.”
“Yes.”
“Is Daniel there?”
Rachel looked at Daniel.
“Yes.”
Another pause.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Neither do we.”
“I want to meet him.”
Rachel’s eyes closed.
Daniel looked at her.
Evan continued quickly.
“Not today. I’m not saying today. I just—if he’s mine, Rachel, I want to meet him.”
Daniel stood and walked outside.
Rachel watched the patio door close.
“We need time.”
“I know.”
“Daniel needs time.”
“I know.”
“And this can’t become people showing up whenever they want.”
“I’m not your mother-in-law.”
Rachel flinched.
Evan sighed.
“Sorry.”
“No. It’s fine.”
“It wasn’t.”
They agreed to speak again in two days.
Daniel stayed outside until dark.
When he came in, Rachel was feeding Mason diced strawberries.
Daniel washed his hands.
Then he sat beside them.
Mason offered him a wet piece of fruit.
Daniel stared at it.
Mason pushed his hand forward insistently.
Daniel opened his mouth.
Mason shoved the strawberry in.
Daniel chewed.
“That was disgusting.”
Mason laughed.
Rachel’s eyes filled.
Daniel looked at her.
“Don’t.”
“I’m not doing anything.”
“You’re doing the face.”
“What face?”
“The face where you’re about to turn me eating toddler spit into a moment.”
Despite everything, Rachel laughed.
Daniel’s mouth twitched.
Then the humor left him.
He looked at Mason.
“I need to talk to someone about what this means.”
“Legally?”
“Everything.”
Rachel nodded.
“I’ll come.”
“No.”
The answer was immediate.
She went still.
Daniel looked at her.
“I need one thing that isn’t us doing it together.”
That hurt.
She nodded anyway.
Two days later Daniel met with a family-law attorney.
He did not come home with dramatic answers.
He came home irritated.
Rachel found that reassuring.
“What did she say?”
“That nothing is as simple as people on the internet make it sound.”
“Okay.”
“She said we need to think carefully before making decisions, keep records, not promise things we haven’t discussed, and not treat a DNA result like it magically answers every question about parenthood.”
Rachel looked toward Mason’s playpen.
Daniel sat down.
“She asked what I want.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her I don’t know.”
Rachel nodded.
Daniel laughed tiredly.
“Apparently that’s allowed.”
Eleanor called that evening.
Daniel answered.
Rachel was in the hallway and heard only his side.
“No.”
A pause.
“No, I’m not discussing the result.”
Another pause.
“Because it’s none of your business.”
Longer pause.
Then Daniel said, “You don’t get credit for being cruel just because you were suspicious.”
Rachel stopped moving.
Daniel listened.
“No.”
Another pause.
“She didn’t make you throw a plate.”
He listened again.
“No, Mom. I am not coming over.”
His voice dropped.
“And you are not seeing Mason right now.”
Rachel closed her eyes.
There was a long silence.
Daniel said, “Because I said so.”
He hung up.
May you like
Rachel entered the room.
He looked at her.
