Chapter 8 - THE DNA RESULTS
The results arrived on a Thursday morning.
Mallerie was sitting in Gideon's kitchen.
Owen was eating mashed banana.
Most of it was on his face.
Some was in his hair.
A remarkable amount had reached the floor.
Mallerie was laughing when Rebecca entered.
Her expression was serious.
Gideon stood.
“Is it here?”
Rebecca nodded.
Mallerie's smile disappeared.
Her hands went cold.
Rebecca placed the report on the table.
She looked at Mallerie.
“The laboratory found a parent-child biological relationship between you and Owen.”
Mallerie stopped breathing.
Rebecca continued.
“The results strongly support that you are his biological mother.”
Mallerie covered her mouth.
A sound escaped her.
Half sob.
Half gasp.
She looked at Owen.
He smiled.
Banana on his chin.
Completely unaware that the world had just changed.
Mallerie reached for him.
He came willingly.
She pressed her face against his hair.
“My baby.”
She began crying.
Hard.
Uncontrollably.
Gideon turned away.
His eyes filled.
Rebecca waited.
Then said quietly:
“There's more.”
Mallerie looked up.
Rebecca turned toward Gideon.
“The laboratory did not find a biological parent-child relationship between you and Owen.”
Gideon went still.
He stared at the report.
Then at Owen.
For ten months, he had believed this child was his son.
The last living connection to Elena.
Now the paper said otherwise.
Mallerie watched his face.
She saw the devastation.
The grief.
The terrible emptiness.
Then Gideon approached.
He knelt beside her chair.
Looked at Owen.
And whispered:
“I don't care.”
Rebecca blinked.
Gideon looked at Mallerie.
“I know what the law may say. I know what this changes.”
His voice broke.
“But I have loved that boy every day of his life.”
Mallerie's eyes filled.
She nodded.
“I know.”
Gideon looked down.
“I don't want to take him from you.”
She stared.
He continued.
“And I don't want him to lose someone else who loves him.”
Mallerie swallowed.
For the first time, she saw the possibility of something neither of them had imagined.
Not a battle.
Not a winner and loser.
A way forward.
But before they could discuss it, Adrian entered.
His face was grim.
“We found Vivian.”
Gideon stood.
“Where?”
Adrian hesitated.
“She's at the old Vale estate.”
Gideon's expression changed.
The estate had been abandoned for years.
The place where their father had died.
The place where Vivian had grown up.
Adrian continued.
“She says she wants to confess.”
Gideon stared.
May you like
Then Adrian added:
“But she says she'll only speak if Mallerie comes.”
