Chapter 2
Nobody moved.
Dad’s finger stayed pointed at the drawer.
Grandpa looked at Mom.
Mom looked at the floor.
I stood halfway down the staircase, gripping the railing.
My knees were shaking.
“Sarah,” Grandpa said quietly. “What’s in the drawer?”
Mom swallowed.
“Emily, sweetheart, go back upstairs.”
“No.”
My voice surprised even me.
Mom’s eyes filled with tears.
Dad laughed again.
“Let her stay. She deserves to know what kind of mother she has.”
Grandpa stepped toward him.
“Watch your mouth.”
“Oh, now you care about the truth?”
Dad grabbed the small brass key sitting beside the television.
Mom rushed forward.
“Daniel, don’t.”
He unlocked the drawer.
Inside was a white envelope.
A hospital logo was printed across the corner.
Dad pulled it out.
Then he threw several pages onto the coffee table.
One slid onto the floor near my feet.
I saw my name.
EMILY CARTER.
Underneath were words I didn’t understand.
PATERNITY PROBABILITY: 0%.
Dad pointed at the paper.
“She lied to me for seven years.”
Mom covered her mouth.
Grandpa picked up the page.
His eyes moved slowly across it.
Then he looked at Mom.
“Sarah?”
Mom’s shoulders collapsed.
“I was going to tell him.”
“When?” Dad shouted. “When she turned eighteen?”
“I didn’t know for sure!”
“You knew there was a chance!”
I looked between them.
“What does paternity mean?”
The room went silent.
Mom closed her eyes.
Dad answered first.
“It means I’m not your father.”
Something inside me went cold.
I stared at him.
“No.”
“Daniel!” Mom screamed.
He pointed at her.
“She did this. Not me.”
I ran toward Dad.
“You are my daddy.”
He stepped backward.
That hurt more than the shove.
I stopped.
Dad’s face twisted.
For one second, I thought he was going to hug me.
Instead he said, “Apparently I’m not.”
Mom slapped him.
The sound cracked through the room.
Dad stared at her.
Grandpa immediately moved between them.
“You’re done,” Grandpa said.
Dad’s voice dropped.
“She cheated on me.”
Mom shook her head.
“We were separated.”
“For three weeks.”
“Because you left me!”
“You still slept with him.”
My chest tightened.
“With who?” Grandpa asked.
Mom said nothing.
Dad answered.
“Luke Bennett.”
Grandpa’s face changed.
I had heard that name before.
Luke Bennett.
Mom had a picture in an old college album.
A tall man with dark hair.
He was standing beside Mom and Grandpa at a graduation ceremony.
Grandpa lowered the papers.
“Luke?”
Mom started crying.
“It happened once.”
Dad kicked the coffee table.
I jumped.
Grandpa shouted, “Enough!”
Dad pointed at Mom.
“She came back to me knowing she might be pregnant with another man’s child.”
“I found out after we reconciled.”
“And you never told me.”
“I was scared.”
“You let me believe Emily was mine.”
Mom’s voice broke.
“You loved her.”
Dad froze.
Mom took one step toward him.
“You were there when she was born. You held her first. You fed her at three in the morning. You taught her how to ride a bike. You sat beside her hospital bed when she had pneumonia.”
Dad looked toward me.
I was crying now.
“Daddy?”
His face hardened again.
“That doesn’t change blood.”
Grandpa stared at him.
“No. But what you just said changes everything.”
Dad turned.
“What?”
“You’re punishing a seven-year-old because you’re angry at her mother.”
“I’m not punishing her.”
“You just rejected her to her face.”
Dad opened his mouth.
Then sirens sounded outside.
Everyone froze.
Red and blue lights flashed through the front windows.
Dad looked at Grandpa.
“You called them?”
Grandpa shook his head.
A pounding came at the door.
“Police!”
Mom whispered, “Mrs. Reynolds.”
Our neighbor.
She must have heard the screaming.
Dad’s face drained.
Grandpa walked toward the door.
Dad grabbed his arm.
“You tell them this was a family argument.”
Grandpa looked at Dad’s hand.
“Take your hand off me.”
Dad released him.
The pounding came again.
“Police! Open the door!”
Grandpa opened it.
Two officers entered.
Their eyes immediately went to Mom.
Her cheek was red.
Her arms were bruised.
Then they saw Dad’s belt on the floor.
One officer looked at me.
“Is everyone okay?”
I shook my head.
Dad stepped forward.
“This is being misunderstood.”
The second officer raised a hand.
“Sir, stay where you are.”
“My wife attacked me too.”
Mom stared at him.
“You hit me with a belt.”
“After I learned you lied about our daughter.”
The officer’s expression didn’t change.
“That doesn’t make it legal.”
Dad’s jaw tightened.
The first officer took Mom toward the kitchen.
The second spoke to Grandpa.
Then he crouched beside me.
“What’s your name?”
“Emily.”
“Emily, did you see what happened?”
Mom appeared in the doorway.
“No. She doesn’t need to—”
The officer gently said, “Ma’am, please.”
I looked at Dad.
He looked terrified now.
Not angry.
Terrified.
I whispered, “Daddy was hitting Mommy.”
The officer nodded.
“Did anyone touch you?”
I looked down.
Dad closed his eyes.
“He pushed me.”
Mom started crying again.
The officer stood.
“Daniel Carter, turn around.”
Dad stared at him.
“You’re arresting me?”
“Turn around.”
“This is insane.”
“Hands behind your back.”
Dad looked at Mom.
“You’re going to let them do this?”
Mom didn’t answer.
The officer cuffed him.
Dad’s anger returned.
“This family is finished, Sarah.”
Mom flinched.
Dad looked at me next.
I waited for him to say something.
Anything.
Instead he turned away.
The police led him outside.
I watched through the window as he was placed in the back of the patrol car.
Mom knelt beside me.
I stepped away from her.
Her face crumpled.
“Emily…”
“Is he really not my daddy?”
Mom started shaking.
Grandpa looked away.
That was all the answer I needed.
I ran upstairs.
Mom followed.
I slammed my bedroom door.
“Emily, please.”
“Go away!”
“Sweetheart, let me explain.”
“You lied!”
“I know.”
“Daddy hates me now!”
“He doesn’t hate you.”
“He said I’m not his!”
Mom leaned against the door from the hallway.
I could hear her crying.
“He is angry at me. None of this is because of you.”
“But who is my real daddy?”
Silence.
“Mom?”
She whispered through the door.
“His name is Luke.”
I stared at the old family photograph beside my bed.
Me on Dad’s shoulders.
Mom smiling beside us.
Dad had been laughing.
It had always been my favorite picture.
I turned it facedown.
Downstairs, Grandpa’s phone rang.
Mom went to answer it.
A minute later, I heard her gasp.
Then Grandpa shouted.
“What?”
I opened my bedroom door.
Mom stood at the bottom of the staircase holding Grandpa’s phone.
Her face was white.
“What happened?” I asked.
She looked at Grandpa.
“That was Daniel’s mother.”
Grandpa’s expression hardened.
“What does Linda want?”
Mom’s hand trembled around the phone.
“She says Daniel hired a lawyer.”
Grandpa shrugged.
“He’ll need one.”
Mom shook her head.
“No.”
Her eyes moved toward me.
“He’s filing for emergency custody of Emily.”
Grandpa stared at her.
“He just said she wasn’t his daughter.”
Mom’s voice cracked.
“I know.”
“Then on what grounds?”
Mom looked down at the paternity report.
May you like
And whispered the words that made my stomach twist.
“He says I’m an unfit mother because I lied about who her father is.”
