Chapter 8 - NOAH ASKED IF I WAS REALLY HIS FATHERThis was the question I dreaded most.
It came three weeks later.
Noah sat beside me in bed.
“Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“Did you do a test?”
I knew what he meant.
“Yes.”
He looked nervous.
“Am I yours?”
I could have answered emotionally.
I chose clarity.
“Yes.”
Then I added:
“You were mine before the test too.”
He frowned.
“How?”
“Because I raised you.”
“Mom gave birth to me.”
“Yes.”
“And you’re my dad.”
“Yes.”
“Vanessa lied.”
“Yes.”
He looked down.
“Why?”
“Because she was afraid of money and what would happen later.”
He thought.
“So she wanted me not to be family.”
“Yes.”
“Was it because of Mason?”
“No.”
That mattered.
“Mason didn’t make her do this.”
He nodded.
Then:
“Does he get money too?”
“Different things.”
“Is he less family?”
“No.”
Noah looked relieved.
That told me how deeply Vanessa’s hierarchy had infected him.
I pulled him close.
“No child in this house gets ranked by money.”
He whispered:
May you like
“Okay.”
That became our rule.
