“What does this have to do with Lily?” I asked.
His expression changed.
A few weeks earlier, Lily had undergone genetic screening after a routine medical concern. Her results showed a hereditary marker documented in Bruce’s family and supposedly in mine.
The marker should have appeared in my previous sample.
It did not.
“The lab recommended reviewing your results,” Bruce explained. “They already had permission to analyze the family samples connected to Lily’s screening. I didn’t secretly order a test.”
“And what did they find?”
He looked at me with tears in his eyes.
“That the family medical history we gave them didn’t match your DNA.”
I gripped the back of a chair.
Jim continued.
“That was when I told Bruce about the documents in Mom’s suitcase. We started putting everything together.”
“You knew for weeks?”
“We suspected,” Bruce said. “We didn’t know.”
“And instead of telling me, you contacted Elena.”
Jim nodded.
“The address in Mom’s notes was old. I called the social worker mentioned in one of the letters. She helped me locate newer public records.”
Elena looked at me.
“When Jim finally called, I thought it might be a mistake. But after everything was verified, I drove here.”
“Why come to our vacation?”
“Jim thought meeting somewhere neutral would be easier,” she said. “He didn’t want me suddenly appearing at your house.”
I turned toward Bruce.
“And the hug Lily saw?”
“Elena had just received the final confirmation,” he answered. “She became emotional. I hugged her.”
“The secret?”
“I wanted to tell you after we had all the information. I thought we could explain everything carefully.”
I gave a bitter laugh.
“Instead, you whispered behind my back, hid phone calls, and asked our daughter to keep secrets from me.”
His face crumpled.
“I handled it terribly.”
“You let me believe you were having an affair.”
“I never imagined Lily would describe it that way.”
“That isn’t the point.”
I pushed the folder away.
Twenty-nine years of memories suddenly felt unstable.
The woman who had taught me to bake, braided my hair before school, and held me through every childhood heartbreak had not given birth to me.
The stranger standing across from me shared her blood.
I could not breathe.
I stumbled out of the café.
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