Chapter 3 - THE DNA TESTThe DNA test was done properly.
Court-admissible.
Chain of custody.
Adrian.
Clara.
Result:
99.9998 percent probability of paternity.
Clara was his daughter.
He stared at the result for a long time.
Then cried.
Not because DNA created love.
He barely knew her.
Because it confirmed eight years had been taken from both of them.
He went to Clara carefully.
She was coloring in the pediatric family room.
“Clara?”
She looked up.
“Yeah?”
“I got the test.”
Her face changed.
“Am I yours?”
Adrian crouched.
“Biologically, yes.”
She stared.
Then:
“So you’re my dad.”
He thought.
“Yes.”
Then corrected gently:
“I’m your biological father. And if you want, I’d like to learn how to be your dad.”
Clara started crying.
Then hugged him.
Hard.
He hugged back.
No audience.
Good.
Then she asked:
“Are you going to take me away from Mom?”
“No.”
Immediate.
She pulled back.
“Really?”
“You have a mother who loves you.”
“But she’s sick.”
“That means she needs help. It doesn’t mean she stops being your mother.”
May you like
Clara nodded.
That mattered more than the DNA result.
