Chapter 2: The Secret Beneath the Seal
Maya Bennett had imagined this wedding a thousand times.
She had imagined Marcus smiling at her across the altar. She had imagined the warmth of her mother's hand against her cheek before the ceremony, the soft music rising beneath the chandeliers, and the moment she would finally stop being afraid that happiness could disappear without warning.
She had never imagined standing in front of a hundred guests while a stranger who wasn't a stranger held documents about her birth.
“Please,” Maya said, her voice barely steady.
“Show me.””
Attorney Carter hesitated.
Marcus turned toward her.
“She asked you a question.””
“I understand,” the attorney replied.
“But these records contain confidential information. I need to establish exactly what I can disclose.””
Maya let out a short, disbelieving laugh.
“Confidential? It's my name on the paper.””
“And that is why I need to be careful.””
Isaiah stood on the other side of the table, his shoulders bowed beneath his navy jacket. The man who had stormed through the doors with enough force to stop a wedding now seemed afraid to move.
Maya stared at him.
“Did you come here to tell me you're my father?””
His lips parted.
“Did you come here to tell me you're not?””
“I came to tell you that you were denied information about your own life.””
“That isn't an answer!””
“I know.””
“Stop saying you know!””
Her shout echoed beneath the chandeliers.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Maya wiped beneath one eye with the back of her hand, careful not to disturb her makeup. The lace around her wrist caught against a small diamond bracelet Marcus had given her on their first anniversary.
Marcus reached for her elbow.
“Baby, look at me.””
She turned toward him.
“We can stop this,” he said.
“We can go somewhere private. We can make them explain everything before anyone touches another document.””
“And if I don't want to go somewhere private?””
“Then we stay right here. I'm not leaving you alone with this.””
She studied his face. There was anger in his eyes, but none of it was directed at her.
“Promise me something,” she whispered.
“Anything.””
“Don't tell me what I can handle.””
Marcus's expression softened.
“You're right. I'm sorry.””
He stepped back half a pace, giving her room.
Maya turned to Attorney Carter.
“Open everything.””
The attorney nodded once.
She removed a second sheet, placed it beside the first, and carefully flattened the creases.
“This is a laboratory record,” she explained.
“The attached report identifies the individuals who provided samples for a paternity analysis.””
Maya leaned over the table.
At the top of the page, in bold capital letters, were the words:
CONFIDENTIAL PATERNITY DNA REPORT.
Below them, two names were clearly printed.
MAYA BENNETT.
ISAIAH CARTER.
The hall seemed to tilt.
Maya gripped the edge of the table.
“That's me.””
“Yes,” Attorney Carter said.
“And that's him.””
“Yes.””
Maya turned toward Isaiah.
“You took a DNA test?””
Isaiah nodded.
“When?””
He swallowed.
“Twenty years ago.””
A sound escaped Maya's throat that wasn't quite a laugh and wasn't quite a sob.
“Twenty years ago, I was eight.””
“I remember.””
“You remember?”” Her voice rose.
“You remember being gone while I was eight? You remember my mother telling me you were never coming back?””
Isaiah's face crumpled.
“She told you that?””
“She told me you left because you didn't want a daughter.””
He looked as though she'd struck him.
“I never said that.””
“You weren't there to say anything!””
Marcus put a hand against the table, steadying himself as he watched the confrontation.
“Isaiah,” he said, “if you have an explanation, give it to her. Stop making her pull every word out of you.””
Isaiah looked at Marcus with something close to gratitude.
“I thought I was doing what I had to do.””
“What did you have to do?”” Maya asked.
“I thought staying away was the only way to keep you safe.””
“Safe from what?””
He looked down.
“From a situation I didn't understand.””
Maya shook her head.
“You're still doing it. You keep giving me half a sentence and expecting me to fill in the rest.””
Attorney Carter lifted a hand.
“Maya, there is a date on the report that you should see.””
She rotated the page toward the bride.
Near the bottom was a line of printed text.
DATE OF TEST: 20 YEARS AGO.
Maya stared at it.
Her fingers began to shake.
She was eight years old again, sitting on the living room carpet while her mother folded laundry. She remembered asking whether her father would ever come home. She remembered her mother's hands stopping above a tiny pink sweater.
She remembered the answer.
Some men leave because they don't know how to love.
Maya had believed those words for most of her life.
Now she looked at Isaiah and wondered whether her mother had been telling the truth—or merely the version of it that was easiest to live with.
“You knew twenty years ago?”” she whispered.
Isaiah's eyes filled with tears.
He looked at the report, then at Maya.
“Ask your mother why I left.””
Maya froze.
Across the aisle, a guest gasped.
Marcus turned sharply toward Isaiah.
“What did you just say?””
But Isaiah couldn't look away from Maya.
“Ask your mother,” he repeated, his voice breaking.
“Please.””
Maya's mouth went dry.
Her mother, Denise Bennett, had been seated in the front row only minutes earlier. Maya remembered seeing her there in a pale blue dress, dabbing her eyes as the wedding ceremony began.
Now Maya turned toward the front row.
The seat beside the aisle was empty.
So was the chair next to it.
“Where's my mother?”” Maya asked.
Nobody answered.
Attorney Carter slowly lowered the report.
Marcus followed Maya's gaze across the guests, his jaw tightening as he noticed the same empty seats.
Then a woman near the rear doors stood abruptly.
She was holding a phone in one hand and a folded piece of paper in the other.
She looked directly at Maya.
May you like
“Your mother asked me to give you this,” the woman said.
And when Maya recognized the handwriting on the envelope, she stopped breathing.
