Chapter 5
“Hello?”
“Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“My name is Michelle Whitaker.”
Silence.
Then:
“Jason’s wife.”
I felt something drop inside me.
“You know who I am.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Another pause.
“Kayla mentioned you.”
“Did she mention that she told Jason your son might be his?”
Nothing.
Then Daniel swore quietly.
“So she actually did it.”
“You knew she was going to?”
“She threatened to.”
I sat at the kitchen table.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel sounded tired.
Not angry.
Tired in the way people sound when they have repeated the same disaster too many times.
“Kayla and Jason had something years ago.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
“You were married to her?”
“Not then.”
“When did you meet her?”
“About six and a half years ago.”
I did the math.
Noah was six.
“So you met her after Jason?”
“Yes.”
“Was she pregnant?”
“No.”
That stopped me.
“What?”
“She got pregnant after we started dating.”
I stared at the table.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“How sure?”
“Court-order sure.”
There it was.
The paternity test.
Daniel continued.
“When we divorced, Kayla tried to move with Noah.”
“Where?”
“Tampa.”
Of course.
“I fought it.”
“And the court ordered paternity testing?”
“Part of the custody dispute.”
“What did it say?”
“He’s mine.”
No hesitation.
No ambiguity.
“Can you prove that?”
“Yes.”
My voice sounded strange.
“I need a copy.”
Daniel went quiet.
“You planning to use it in the divorce?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“You should talk to a lawyer.”
“I will.”
He sighed.
“I can send you the order and the laboratory report my attorney filed.”
“Please.”
“Michelle.”
“Yes?”
“Jason knows Noah could not be his if he thinks about the dates.”
That bothered me.
“What do you mean?”
“Kayla knows exactly when she met me.”
“So why would she tell Jason?”
Daniel laughed without humor.
“Because Jason wants to believe her.”
That sentence stayed with me.
People talk about deception as if the liar does all the work.
Sometimes a lie survives because somebody desperately wants what it offers.
“What does Jason think?”
“I don’t know.”
“Have you spoken to him?”
“Once.”
My stomach tightened.
“When?”
“Two months ago.”
“About what?”
Daniel hesitated.
“He called me.”
The betrayal suddenly widened.
“What did he say?”
“He asked whether I was certain Noah was mine.”
I stared at nothing.
“So he knew about the test.”
“He knew I said there had been one.”
“Did you send it to him?”