Chapter 12 - THE DNA TEST
Daniel’s claim delayed everything.
The hospital placed Samuel under protective custody.
I could hold him.
Feed him.
Sit beside him.
But I could not take him home.
A judge ordered emergency DNA testing.
Daniel refused to provide a sample.
Investigators used blood collected after he was shot.
The results arrived two days later.
Samuel was my biological son.
Daniel was his biological father.
The judge recognized me as Samuel’s mother.
I cried when the nurse removed the protective custody band.
Then the second result arrived.
Abigail was also my biological daughter.
Amanda remained her legal guardian temporarily while the criminal adoption case moved forward.
I did not ask for Abigail to be removed immediately.
She had already lost too much.
Instead, Amanda brought her to the hospital.
Abigail stood at the doorway wearing a yellow sweater.
She looked at me.
Then at Sophie.
Then at Mia.
The resemblance frightened her.
“Are you my real mom?”
Amanda knelt beside her.
“Elena is the mother who gave birth to you.”
“I am the mother who raised you.”
“Both things are true.”
Abigail looked at me.
“Did you give me away?”
“No.”
My voice broke.
“I was told you died.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“So you didn’t forget me?”
“Never.”
I showed her the silver moon pendant.
Amanda had brought it from Paul’s safe.
“I chose this for you before you were born.”
Abigail touched it.
“Can I keep living with Mom?”
“Yes.”
Amanda began crying.
I continued.
“No one is taking you away today.”
“We will take this slowly.”
Abigail stepped toward me.
She did not hug me.
She placed her hand beside mine on the hospital bed.
Our fingers were shaped the same.
That was enough.
The criminal cases expanded.
Daniel faced charges for kidnapping, assault, unlawful imprisonment, fraud, child trafficking, and attempted murder.
Lorraine faced the same.
Paul Grayson agreed to cooperate.
The doctor who lied about Samuel was arrested at an airport in Dallas.
The former psychiatrist who committed Marissa was also charged.
Marissa was released from the institution.
She met Lily for the first time in a protected family center.
The reunion was private.
Officer Holloway later told me they sat across from each other for an hour before either spoke.
Then Lily asked whether Marissa liked horses.
Marissa laughed because she had loved them as a child.
The entire network began collapsing.
But Daniel still had one weapon.
The Mercer trust.
His attorney filed a petition claiming that Samuel, as Daniel’s male heir, gave Daniel control of the land and millions in oil rights.
He also requested visitation.
The hearing notice arrived while Samuel slept in my arms.
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Daniel wanted access to the baby he had kidnapped.
And Texas law required a judge to hear him.
