Chapter 7: The First DNA Test
Nia read the message three times before she looked up at Marcus.
“Dad, what is he talking about?””
Marcus stood beside the kitchen table, staring at the photograph on her phone. The image showed Raymond Cole outside a hospital entrance, holding a newborn wrapped in a striped blanket. His younger face was unmistakable, but it was the handwritten date beneath the photograph that made Marcus's expression change.
December 14.
Nia's birthday.
“Where did this come from?”” Marcus asked.
“An unknown number.””
“Let me see it.””
She handed him the phone.
Marcus enlarged the photograph, studying the hospital sign in the background. His jaw tightened. For several seconds, he didn't speak.
Then he placed the phone on the table as carefully as if it might explode.
“Raymond took this picture the day you were born.””
“You said he came to the house a year later.””
“He did.””
“Then why does he have a picture of himself holding me at the hospital?””
Marcus pulled out a chair and sat down.
“Because your mother allowed him to see you before I did.””
Nia stared at him.
“What?””
He rubbed his face with both hands.
“I arrived at the hospital before you were born. Your mother was in labor, and the nurses wouldn't let me into the delivery room. I waited outside for hours. When your grandmother came out, she told me everything.””
“Everything about Raymond?””
“Yes. She said Danielle had agreed to let him see you briefly, provided he didn't interfere with our family.””
Nia's eyes burned.
“So he held me before you did?””
Marcus looked up, his eyes glistening.
“Yes.””
“Did you know that when you signed the birth certificate?””
“I found out that evening.””
“And you still signed it?””
“I still signed it.””
Nia stepped away from the table.
She wanted to be angry with him. She wanted to find one person in this story who had made a mistake she could understand without feeling as if the ground beneath her was shifting.
But Marcus had spent twenty-two years showing up for her, and the knowledge that another man had held her first did nothing to erase the memory of Marcus teaching her to walk.
“Why didn't you tell me?”” she whispered.
“Because I was afraid that if you knew Raymond had held you first, you would think that meant he had some claim over you that I didn't.””
Nia shook her head.
“That makes no sense.””
“I know that now.””
Marcus leaned forward.
“When I met Raymond, he told me he had never stopped thinking about you. He said he had a right to know whether you were his daughter. I understood that. But I was terrified that one day he would walk into your life, tell you he was your father, and make every sacrifice I'd made seem insignificant.””
Nia's expression softened.
“Dad, you didn't have to compete with him.””
“I know.””
“Then why did you?””
Marcus looked at the photograph again.
“Because I was human, sweetheart. I loved you more than anything, and I was afraid.””
The admission settled over the room.
For the first time, Nia understood that the man she had always considered unbreakable had been protecting something fragile inside himself.
His place in her life.
She sat opposite him.
“What first DNA test?””
Marcus stared at the phone.
“Your grandmother arranged one.””
“When?””
“About six weeks after you were born.””
Nia's breath caught.
“You had a DNA test done when I was a baby?””
“I agreed to it.””
“Then you know whether you're my biological father!””
Marcus shook his head.
“I never saw the results.””
She frowned.
“What do you mean?””
“Your grandmother arranged the test through a private doctor. She collected the samples and told me she'd bring the results to the house. A week later, she told me the laboratory couldn't give a conclusive answer because of a problem with the samples.””
Nia stared at him.
“And you believed her?””
“I had no reason not to.””
“Did Raymond believe her?””
“I don't know.””
Marcus stood and walked to the kitchen cabinet. He reached to the back of the top shelf and pulled down an old metal box.
Nia recognized it immediately.
It was the box he kept old photographs, hospital bracelets, and the small things he couldn't bear to throw away.
He set it on the table and opened it.
Inside were birthday cards, faded photographs, a hospital wristband, and a tiny white envelope bearing Evelyn's handwriting.
Marcus picked it up.
“I found this after your grandmother died,” he said.
“I didn't open it because it was addressed to me, and I was angry that she'd kept anything from me. I put it away and forgot about it.””
Nia stared at the envelope.
“Why didn't you open it?””
“I was afraid it would contain something I wasn't ready to face.””
He passed it to her.
The envelope had yellowed with age. The flap was still sealed.
Nia carefully opened it.
Inside was a folded note and a small laboratory receipt dated twenty-two years earlier.
The receipt listed two sample identification numbers.
One belonged to Marcus Bennett.
The other belonged to Nia Bennett.
Across the bottom, a handwritten notation read:
*RESULTS RELEASED TO AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE: EVELYN CARTER.*
Nia unfolded the note.
Marcus,
I have done what you asked. The test was completed, and the results are secure. I believe you deserve to know the truth, but I also believe the decision about what happens next must be yours.
Please meet me at the hospital records office on January 8. I will bring the original report.
There is something else you need to know. Danielle has been speaking to Raymond again, and she is afraid.
Whatever you decide, remember that Nia is innocent.
The note ended there.
Nia checked the date.
January 8 had been six days after the laboratory receipt.
“Did you meet her?””
Marcus shook his head slowly.
“No. I never saw this letter before.””
Nia looked at the envelope.
“Then Grandma never told you the results were ready.””
“No.””
“Why would she keep them?””
Marcus's phone rang.
Both of them startled.
The caller ID showed Danielle.
Marcus answered on speaker.
“Danielle?””
Her voice came through in a rush.
“Marcus, where is Nia?””
“She's here with me.””
“Thank God. I need you both to listen to me.””
Nia leaned toward the phone.
“Mom, why did you send that DNA test to Marcus's name?””
A pause.
Then Danielle said, “I didn't know he would find the consent form.””
Marcus closed his eyes.
“You used my signature.””
“I thought I had your permission.””
“You told me it was a medical history form.””
“I was trying to get answers!””
“Then you could have asked me.””
“I was afraid you'd refuse!””
Nia pressed her palms against the table.
“Stop talking about the test. What happened to the first results?””
Silence.
“Mom?””
Danielle began crying.
“Your grandmother gave me the report.””
Marcus shot to his feet.
“What?””
Nia stared at the phone.
Danielle continued, her words tumbling over each other.
“She told me the test had come back, and I was the only person who could decide what to do with the information. I didn't know how to tell either of you.””
Marcus gripped the edge of the table.
“What did it say?””
“I can't explain it over the phone.””
“You've had twenty-two years to explain it!””
“I know!””
Her sob echoed through the kitchen.
Nia closed her eyes.
“Mom, did the test prove Marcus was my father?””
Danielle didn't answer.
Instead, she whispered, “Your grandmother told me that if I ever revealed the results, I would destroy two families.””
Marcus went completely still.
“Two families?””
Danielle gasped as though she'd said something she hadn't intended to reveal.
Nia leaned closer to the phone.
“What two families?””
“I need you to come to the hospital records office.””
“Grandma is dead.””
“Not the old office. The new medical records building. I found something in her estate papers last week. Something she left behind.””
Marcus's voice dropped.
“What did she leave?””
“A second report.””
Nia looked at the first laboratory receipt.
Then Danielle delivered the words that made both of them freeze.
“The first DNA test didn't just compare Marcus and Nia. Evelyn arranged for Raymond to be tested, too.””
Marcus's face drained of color.
Nia whispered, “So there were three samples?””
“Yes.””
“Where are the results?””
Danielle began to cry harder.
“I don't know which report your grandmother gave me.””
Marcus stared at the photograph on Nia's phone.
“Danielle, what does that mean?””
Her answer came almost inaudibly.
“It means the first test might not have been the test you think it was.””
The call ended.
Nia looked at Marcus.
He looked back at her, and for the first time in twenty-two years, neither of them knew what their family name meant.
Then Nia's phone vibrated again.
May you like
A second message appeared from the unknown number.
*Your grandmother kept the real report. Ask Danielle why she buried the wrong one.*
