Chapter 5 - The Night Ethan Was Born“No.”
The word escaped before I could stop it.
Daniel stared at me.
“You heard me.”
“I don't understand.”
“I know.”
“Explain.”
He closed his eyes.
“Eight years ago, Melissa called me from the hospital.”
“Why?”
“She said Jason was sick.”
“Jason was ten.”
“He had a fever.”
“That doesn't explain why you left my hospital room.”
Daniel looked at me.
“You remember that night?”
I did.
Ethan had been born just after midnight.
Complications.
Emergency surgery.
I remembered pain.
Bright lights.
Doctors moving quickly.
Daniel leaving the room for nearly forty minutes.
He had told me he was calling his mother.
I had believed him.
“What happened?”
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Melissa told me Jason needed me.”
“You left.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Forty-two minutes.”
I stared at him.
“Why?”
“She threatened to call the police.”
“For what?”
“She said I had violated our custody agreement.”
I shook my head.
“That sounds insane.”
“She had messages.”
“From you?”
“Yes.”
“What messages?”
He hesitated.
Then said:
“Messages I'd sent while angry.”
My stomach dropped.
“About the children?”
“About you.”
I felt sick.
“What did you say?”
“That you were controlling.”
“What?”
“I was angry. We had fought.”
“Daniel.”
He looked down.
“I said I wished you would disappear.”
I couldn't breathe.
“And she recorded it?”
“Yes.”
“So she blackmailed you.”
“Yes.”
“All these years?”
“Yes.”
I laughed once.
It was a broken sound.
“You let another woman control our marriage for eight years.”
“I thought I could protect you.”
“You didn't protect me.”
“I know.”
“You handed her my life.”
Daniel's eyes filled with tears.
“She threatened to take the kids.”
“You let her manipulate our children.”
“Yes.”
“You let them believe I hated them.”
“I was afraid.”
I stepped back.
“Afraid of what?”
He hesitated.
Then said:
“She told me Ethan wasn't yours.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“She claimed she had proof.”
“What proof?”
“A DNA report.”
I couldn't speak.
“She said Ethan's biological father was someone else.”
I stared at him.
“You believed her?”
“I didn't know.”
“You raised him.”
“I loved him.”
“But you questioned him.”
“No.”
“You questioned me.”
Daniel didn't answer.
I ran upstairs.
I found Ethan asleep.
His tiny body curled under the blanket.
I stood in the doorway.
The thought of anyone questioning whether he belonged to me made my heart ache.
Then I noticed something on his desk.
A photograph.
Alyssa had given it to him months ago.
I picked it up.
It was from Ethan's birth.
Daniel was holding newborn Ethan.
But someone had circled another man standing in the background.
A stranger.
On the back, someone had written:
Ask who he is.
I turned the picture over.
My hands trembled.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
Melissa's.
I went back downstairs.
Daniel was sitting alone.
I placed the photograph in front of him.
“Who is this man?”
His face drained of color.
He didn't touch the picture.
“You know him.”
“Yes.”
“Who is he?”
Daniel swallowed.
“His name is Mark.”
“Mark what?”
“Mark Harris.”
“Who is he?”
Daniel looked at me.
Then whispered:
“He was Melissa's boyfriend.”
I stared.
“When?”
“The year before we met.”
“That doesn't explain why he was at Ethan's birth.”
Daniel's silence answered me.
I took another step.
“What aren't you telling me?”
He looked broken.
“Mark didn't come for Melissa.”
“Then why?”
Daniel's voice cracked.
“He came because of Ethan.”
My pulse hammered.
“Why would a man who dated Melissa care about my newborn son?”
May you like
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Because Mark believed Ethan was his child.”
