Chapter 15 - The Mother's Betrayal
Later that week, having fortified my resolve, I found the courage to take the lab results to my parents' house. I sat them down at the dining room table and slid the official DNA report across the polished wood.
My mother put on her reading glasses, scanned the document, and immediately dropped it onto the table as though the pages had physically burned her fingers.
“Lauren, you’re hurt,” she said, her voice dripping with dismissive panic. “You’re seeing things because you’re angry about the anniversary. This is madness.”
“Mom, look at the bottom line. It says ninety-nine point nine percent.”
“Those mail-in tests can be wrong! Are you really going to destroy Oliver’s life because you’re furious with your sister for sleeping with Eric?”
I stared at her, horrified. My own mother genuinely believed I had fabricated a DNA report just to punish Natalie for the affair.
The only person who did not immediately dismiss me was my father. He picked up the paper, his hands shaking slightly as he read it over again. He looked from the document to my face, then stared off into the distance for a long time.
“The chin,” he whispered, his eyes filling with tears. “I always said that boy had my chin.”
May you like
He reached across the table and took both of my trembling hands in his firm grip. For the first time in this entire, agonizing nightmare, someone finally believed me.
But a piece of paper and my father's belief were not enough for a family court judge. If I wanted the law to recognize the truth and give me my son back, I would have to publicly sue my own sister.
