PART 2

Sophie unfolded the pages with trembling fingers.

“They’re emails,” she whispered. “Between Daniel and Richard.”

My stomach tightened.

I read the first page.

Richard had contacted Daniel three months earlier—not to reconcile, but because he had been diagnosed with a hereditary heart condition.

And Daniel might have inherited it.

“That’s why he contacted him?” I asked.

Sophie nodded.

“When I found out I was pregnant, Daniel panicked. He wanted testing before telling you about the baby.”

I stared at her.

“Why hide it from me?”

“Because the first test came back abnormal.”

The hallway suddenly felt too narrow.

Before I could speak, Daniel appeared behind us.

His face went white when he saw the papers.

“Sophie.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “She deserved to know.”

Daniel looked at me, his eyes filling.

“Mom, I didn’t ask you to stay away because I was ashamed of you.”

“Then why?”

His voice cracked.

“Because today was supposed to be your proudest day. I couldn’t stand the thought of you looking at me and wondering whether you were about to lose me.”

I pulled him into my arms.

“You don’t protect a mother by making her disappear.”

“I know.”

Then Richard stepped into the hallway.

“There’s something else,” he said quietly.

Daniel stiffened.

Richard held up his phone.

“The specialist called while we were eating.”

Sophie grabbed Daniel’s hand.

I could barely breathe.

Richard looked directly at me.

“The second test came back.”

“Tell us.”

He hesitated.

“Daniel doesn’t have my condition.”

Relief hit me so hard my knees weakened.

But Richard wasn’t smiling.

Instead, he looked at Daniel strangely.

“However, the genetic screening found something nobody expected.”

“What?”

Richard swallowed.

“The results say Daniel and I aren’t biologically related.”

Silence.

Daniel slowly turned toward me.

“Mom?”

And suddenly, a secret I had buried for twenty-two years was standing between us.

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