Chapter 6 - THE FIRST DNA TEST
The DNA results arrived forty-eight hours later.
Maya was sitting beside Naomi when Grant called.
His voice sounded different.
Small.
“Maya.”
She closed her eyes.
“You got it?”
“Yes.”
Naomi watched her carefully.
Maya asked the question she was no longer sure she wanted answered.
“What does it say?”
Grant’s breath shook.
“99.998 percent probability of biological parentage.”
Silence.
Maya heard Lily playing in the next room.
A toy horse galloped across the floor.
Rachel laughed at something Lily said.
Ordinary sounds.
Safe sounds.
Yet Maya felt as if the ground beneath her life had disappeared.
Grant whispered, “You’re my daughter.”
Maya couldn’t speak.
Thirty-one years.
A waitress.
A wife.
A mother.
A woman who counted every dollar at the grocery store.
A woman Richard mocked because she sometimes worked double shifts.
Now one laboratory report said she had been born into a family whose private jet probably cost more than every house on Rachel’s street combined.
Grant didn’t mention money.
That made it worse somehow.
He said only, “I thought you were dead.”
A tear slid down Maya’s cheek.
“My mother let you think that.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I wish I knew.”
Maya touched the orchid ring.
“I think she was afraid.”
“So do I.”
They agreed to meet the next morning.
Before Maya could hang up, Naomi’s phone vibrated.
She read the message and frowned.
“What?”
“Richard wants mediation.”
Maya gave a humorless laugh.
“He filed for emergency custody two days ago.”
“Apparently he has discovered forgiveness.”
Maya understood immediately.
“He knows.”
Naomi raised an eyebrow.
“Knows what?”
Maya turned the DNA report toward her.
Naomi read the name.
Then read it again.
For once, the attorney had nothing to say.
That evening, Richard arrived outside Rachel’s house carrying flowers.
Maya refused to open the door.
He stood on the sidewalk and called.
“Maya, please.”
She watched through the curtain.
“Go home.”
“We need to talk.”
“No.”
“I was angry.”
“You assaulted me.”
“It was cake.”
“You grabbed me by my hair.”
“I made a mistake.”
“You made hundreds of mistakes, Richard.”
He lowered his voice.
“I love you.”
Maya almost felt embarrassed for him.
“Yesterday I was a useless waitress who couldn’t survive without you.”
“I didn’t mean that.”
“What changed?”
Richard looked toward the window.
Nothing.
That was what he wanted her to believe.
Maya opened the curtain fully.
She held his gaze.
“Did you hear about Grant Vale?”
Richard’s face betrayed him for less than a second.
It was enough.
Maya smiled without warmth.
“There it is.”
“Maya.”
“You don’t love me.”
“You just found out I might be expensive.”
She closed the curtain.
Richard stood outside for another ten minutes.
Then he placed the flowers on the steps.
As he walked away, Maya received another message.
This one came from Julian.
We found something in your mother’s old records.
May you like
You need to see it before anyone else does.
—
