On their wedding anniversary, her husband handed her an envelope with the DNA test results of their children.
“I know you think this is a gift, but how could you?” Emily held the white envelope with two fingers, as if it might burn her. “On our anniversary, Nicholas! Our fifteenth anniversary!”
Nicholas stood by the window, watching the July sun flood the garden. His broad shoulders tensed.
“You have to understand me, Emily. I had a right to know.”
Around them, traces of the celebration lingeredhalf-finished champagne, the remains of a cake with fifteen candles, a bouquet of lilies in a tall vase. Their countryside home, bought five years ago, suddenly felt cold and unfamiliar despite the heat outside.
“Know what? That Andrew isnt yours?” Emily flung the envelope onto the table. “This is some horrible mistake. Ive never betrayed you, do you hear me? Never!”
Nicholas turned to her, eyes torn between anger and pain.
“Then explain these results. Explain why they say the probability of me being his father is less than one percent!”
The front door slammed. Standing in the doorway was Grace, their fourteen-year-old daughter. Tall like her father, with the same dark-set grey eyes.
“Whats going on?” She looked from her father to her mother. “Are you two fighting? On your anniversary?”
Emily quickly snatched the envelope from the table.
“Nothing, Grace. Just discussing work things.”
“On a weekend?” Grace narrowed her eyes, displaying her fathers sharpness. “Fine, dont tell me. Im going to Lilyswere meeting at the cinema.”
When Grace left, Emily sank into a chair.
“Wheres Andrew?”
“At the Parkers. They picked him up from football. Hes staying the night.” Nicholas topped up his champagne glass. “Funny, isnt it? Were celebrating fifteen years, and Ive just found out Ive been raising another mans child for ten of them.”
“Hes not another mans!” Emily shot up. “How can you say that? Youre his fatheryou held him as a newborn, you taught him to ride a bike, you”
“I thought he was mine!” Nicholas slammed his glass down, spilling champagne onto the tablecloth. “Now I dont know what to think. Who is he, Emily? Whose son is he?”
“Mine. And yours. Our son. Theres been a mistake with the test.”
“I checked three times, Emily. Three. I didnt want to believe the first result.”
Emily felt the ground drop beneath her.
“When did you start doubting? Why did you even do this test?”
Nicholas sighed heavily.
“Victor.”
“Victor? Your old colleague? Whats he got to do with it?”
“Two weeks ago, we bumped into each other at the hardware store. We got talking. He asked after you, the kids. Then then he said something that made me think.”
Emilys hands went cold.
“What, exactly?”
“He hinted thered been an affair. That youthat you and he” Nicholas couldnt finish.
“What?!” Emily nearly jumped. “Me and Victor? Have you lost your mind? I couldnt stand him! You always said he tried to undermine you at work!”
“I know.” Nicholas ran a hand through his hair. “But then I started remembering Andrew doesnt look anything like me. Or anyone in my family. And the timing fitsaround when I was working on that project in Manchester, away for weeks at a time”
“I cant believe youd trust him over me,” Emily whispered, sinking back into the chair. “Fifteen years, and you take his word over mine?”
“I wanted to believe you. Thats why I did the testto prove Victor wrong. But the results” He nodded at the envelope. “The results say otherwise.”
A heavy silence filled the room.
“What now?” Emily finally asked.
“I dont know.” Nicholas grabbed his coat. “I need time. Ill stay at Edwards for a few days.”
Emily wanted to protest, but the words stuck in her throat. She watched silently as he walked out of the house theyd built together. When the door closed, she buried her face in her hands and sobbed.
Edward, Nicholass younger brother, handed him a cup of tea. “I dont get it. Whyd you even do the test in the first place?”
They sat in Edwards cramped but cosy flat. Nicholas hadnt slept all night, the dark circles under his eyes stark.
“You didnt see the way Victor looked at me when he said it. So smug. And you know Andrew doesnt look like me.”
“He looks like Emily,” Edward shrugged. “So? My Jack takes after Sophie more than me.”
“But the test results”
“Are you sure theyre right? Who did the analysis?”
Nicholas pulled a crumpled business card from his pocket.
“GeneCheck. Private lab, good reviews. I checked.”
Edward turned the card over. “So what now?”
“I dont know.” Nicholas rubbed his face. “It feels like the worlds collapsed.”
“Have you talked to Emily? Whats she saying?”
“That she never cheated. That its a mistake.”
“Do you believe her?”
Nicholas looked up.
“I believed her for fifteen years. Now I dont know.”
Emily sat across from the director of MedGen Labs, composed despite her sleepless night.
“I need the results as soon as possible,” she said, sliding over the sample tubes. “Ill pay extra for urgency.”
The director, a stout woman in glasses, nodded. “We can do three days. But I must warn you, paternity tests are serious. If you doubt another labs results”
“Im certain theres been a mistake,” Emily said firmly. “My husband is my sons father. I want proof.”
Grace found her mother at the computer, scribbling notes.
“Mum, whats happening? Wheres Dad? Hes not answering my texts.”
Emily flinched and closed the laptop.
“Dads at Uncle Edwards. We had a disagreement.”
“About what?” Grace crossed her arms. “Why are you fighting?”
Emily exhaled. Grace was too sharp for simple lies.
“Your father doubts hes Andrews biological father.”
Grace froze.
“What? But how?”
“He did a DNA test. It says he isnt. But its wrong, Grace. I know its wrong.”
“Did you cheat on Dad?” Graces voice trembled.
“No! Never!” Emily grabbed her hands. “I swear to you, Ive never betrayed your father. I love him. Always have.”
Grace yanked her hands free.
“Then how is Andrew his? DNA doesnt lie, Mum.”
“Tests can be wrong. Labs make mistakes. People tamper with results.”
“What are you talking about?”
Emily opened her notebook.
“I think the results were faked. Or there was a mix-up at the hospital. Or”
“Youre making up insane theories instead of admitting the truth!” Grace shouted. “You lied to all of us! Poor Dad! Poor Andrew!”
“Grace, please”
“Dont touch me! II dont want to talk to you!”
She stormed out, slamming the door. Emily crumpled into the chair, tears falling again. Her world was unraveling.
Margaret, Nicholass grandmother, waited in her tiny flat. At eighty, her mind was sharp as ever.
“Sit, boy,” she ordered. “Edward told me everything. What nonsense is this?”
Nicholas slumped into the chair.
“Gran, its not nonsense. Ive got test results”
“Tests!” She scoffed. “Whens the last time you looked in a mirror? At your grandfather?”
She hobbled to an old drawer, pulling out a tattered photo album.
“Look.”
She opened it to a faded picturea boy of about ten, the spitting image of Andrew.
“Who is that?” Nicholas whispered.
“Your grandfather, William. My husband, God rest him. Taken in 1953.”
Nicholas took the photo with shaking hands.
“But thats Andrew. How?”
“Our familys genes play tricks, boy. Skip generations. You took after your dad; Edward took after me. And Andrew? Hes William reborn.”
“But the test”
“The test, the test!” She waved a hand. “Your grandfather had a rare blood type. So do you. So does Andrew.”
“That proves nothing, Gran.”
“But youd wreck your family over a piece of paper? That proves youre a fool!”
The doctor at the state genetics lab spread out the charts.
“I have unusual news,” he said. “Standard analysis confirms Nicholas Hart isnt Andrews father. But deeper testing revealed something rarea mutation in one of the key markers used in standard paternity tests.”
“What does that mean?” Nicholas asked.
“It
