Chapter 3 - My Mother-in-Law’s Secret
I opened the door.
“Owen!”
“I'm fine.”
He wasn't.
Blood ran from a cut above his eyebrow.
Claire stood behind him, pale and shaking.
“You need to let us inside,” she said.
I stared at her.
The woman who had hidden in my closet less than twenty-four hours earlier was asking me for safety.
“Why?”
“Because Damon knows Owen found the file.”
I nearly slammed the door.
Owen caught it.
“Evelyn, please.”
I let them enter.
Not because I trusted Claire.
Because I needed answers.
Claire couldn't look at me.
“Were you sleeping with my husband?”
Her face crumpled.
“Yes.”
The word landed cleanly.
No excuse could soften it.
“How long?”
“Five months.”
I closed my eyes.
Owen turned away.
Claire cried.
I didn't.
“Why do you have my medical records?”
“That wasn't because of the affair.”
“Then explain.”
She looked at my stomach.
“Damon asked me to help him get information.”
“What information?”
“About your pregnancy.”
My skin went cold.
Claire worked for a private medical billing company.
She had access she never should have used.
“He said there was a hereditary condition in his family. He said he was scared and didn't want to frighten you.”
“You believed him?”
“At first.”
“And afterward?”
“I discovered he was lying.”
“About what?”
Before she answered, Victoria entered through the kitchen.
Claire recoiled.
Victoria looked at her son’s mistress with undisguised disgust.
Then at Owen.
“What happened to you?”
“Claire threw a ceramic lamp at me.”
Claire stared at him.
“You broke into my apartment!”
“You were sleeping with my friend’s husband!”
“Enough,” I said.
Everyone stopped.
I looked at Victoria.
“Tell me about Dr. Nathan Hale.”
For the first time, Victoria lost color.
“You spoke to Nathan?”
“You know him.”
She sat slowly.
“He was your fertility specialist.”
“No, he wasn't.”
“Yes, Evelyn.”
“I never had a fertility specialist.”
Victoria looked toward Claire.
Claire began crying harder.
And suddenly I understood that every person in my kitchen knew something about my life that I didn't.
Victoria folded her hands.
“Two years ago, you and Damon had been trying for a baby.”
“Yes.”
“You underwent testing.”
“Routine testing.”
“Damon told you it was routine.”
My mouth went dry.
“What was it?”
“A fertility evaluation.”
I remembered blood tests.
An ultrasound.
Medication Damon said was for hormone regulation.
I had trusted him.
Victoria continued.
“Damon discovered he was unlikely to father a child naturally.”
I stared at her.
“No.”
“He never told you.”
I laughed once.
Not because anything was funny.
“I’m carrying his daughter.”
Nobody answered.
The silence became unbearable.
“Say something.”
Claire whispered, “That's why he wanted your records.”
I looked at her.
“Damon became convinced the baby wasn't his.”
“He accused me of cheating?”
“No. He never confronted you.”
“Instead he slept with you?”
Claire lowered her eyes.
“Yes.”
I wanted to hate her cleanly.
But the story was becoming uglier than infidelity.
Victoria opened her folder.
“Damon asked Nathan Hale to alter the original fertility report.”
“Why?”
“So you would never know.”
“Know what?”
“That his infertility wasn't natural.”
My eyes moved toward her.
“What does that mean?”
Victoria inhaled.
“When Damon was nineteen, he had an accident.”
I knew about it.
A car crash.
Broken ribs.
Surgery.
“He suffered injuries he never told you about.”
I touched my stomach.
“But this baby—”
“Could still be his,” Victoria said quickly. “The diagnosis wasn't absolute.”
Claire shook her head.
“There’s more.”
She pulled a folded paper from her purse.
“I found this yesterday.”
It was a laboratory request.
PATERNITY ANALYSIS.
My name.
Damon’s name.
Fetal sample.
“He tested our baby?”
“Without telling you.”
“How?”
Claire looked sick.
“Your prenatal bloodwork.”
My knees weakened.
Owen pulled out a chair.
I sat.
“Result?”
Claire whispered, “I don't know.”
“You accessed everything else.”
“I couldn't access that.”
Victoria took the paper.
“There’s a laboratory number.”
She called.
No one spoke while she waited.
Finally, someone answered.
Victoria identified herself.
Then her expression changed.
“What do you mean the sample was substituted?”
I looked up.
She listened.
“When?”
Another pause.
“Who authorized it?”
Her eyes moved to me.
Then she hung up.
“What?”
Victoria didn't answer immediately.
“WHAT?”
“The sample used for the paternity test wasn't yours.”
The room went silent.
“Whose was it?”
“They won't disclose that without a court order.”
Claire suddenly grabbed my arm.
“Evelyn.”
Her eyes were fixed on the window.
A black SUV had stopped outside.
Damon stepped out.
He wasn't alone.
Dr. Nathan Hale climbed from the passenger side.
Damon looked directly toward the house.
Then my phone vibrated.
One message.
From my husband.
DON'T BELIEVE MY MOTHER. SHE'S THE REASON THIS STARTED.
Victoria read it over my shoulder.
Her face went completely still.
Then Damon walked toward the front door carrying a sealed hospital envelope.
He raised it toward the camera.
Written across the front were three words.
EVELYN — DNA RESULTS.
May you like
The doorbell rang.
And Victoria whispered, “If he opens that envelope, everything changes.”
