Chapter 5 - THE FIRST TEST
Amber had ordered an at-home paternity test when Lily was ten months old.
Not court-admissible.
Not identity-verified.
But the lab still retained order metadata.
Two samples.
One child.
One alleged father.
Who was the alleged father?
Not Mark.
Daniel.
Tessa stared.
“Did you give her a sample?”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
Amber said nothing.
Grace asked where the adult sample came from.
The order notes said:
toothbrush.
Tessa’s mouth went dry.
Amber had taken Daniel’s toothbrush during a family visit.
The test probability:
99.9% consistent with biological paternity.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Tessa whispered:
“You knew Lily was his.”
Amber answered:
“Yes.”
“For eight years.”
“Yes.”
“And you still let me raise her.”
“I didn’t make you.”
Tessa laughed.
“You called me every time you needed childcare.”
“You said yes.”
“Because she was my niece.”
“She is your niece.”
The sentence was technically true by family role.
Emotionally grotesque.
Tessa stood.
“Did Daniel know about the test?”
Amber said:
“No.”
Daniel looked genuinely shocked.
Then Mark asked:
“What about the other three?”
Amber refused to answer.
That refusal became its own answer.
Grace later obtained payment records.
Three more testing purchases.
After each child’s birth.
Same company.
Same customer.
Amber.
The lab no longer retained every result.
But payment history proved she ordered four tests.
One after each child.
Tessa sat silently.
Amber had not lived with uncertainty.
She had managed certainty.
Then Mark said:
“If she tested Daniel each time, she knew.”
Grace corrected him.
“She knew whatever those tests told her. We still need results.”
The lab recovered archived summaries for two.
Lily:
consistent with Daniel.
Noah:
consistent with Daniel.
The other two archives had expired.
Two confirmed.
Two unknown.
Then Amber finally said:
“They’re all his.”
Daniel stared at her.
“How can you know?”
Amber answered:
May you like
“Because I tested every one.”
Tessa felt the room tilt.
