Chapter 11: Zero Percent

I read the bold line before he reached me.

"Probability of paternity: 0%. The alleged father, Dalton Aldridge, is excluded as the biological father of the child."

I read it twice, because the first time my eyes wouldn't hold the words.

The date at the bottom was the morning of our wedding.

"Monica."

"This is the envelope."

"Yes."

"The one you told me was a contract."

He stopped an arm's length from me with his hand out, and he didn't try to take the page.

"He isn't yours," I said. "Archie is not your son."

"No."

"You stood in that atrium and kissed his hair."

"Yes."

"You told four hundred cameras he was your son."

"I've said it every day for three years," Dalton said. "I'd say it again tomorrow."

I put the paper down on the desk very carefully, because my hands had started to shake.

"You knew on our wedding day."

"I found out that morning."

"The courthouse."

"The result came while I was getting dressed," he said. "I read it in the car."

"And?"

"I read it again on the courthouse steps. Then I walked in and married you."

"Why?"

"Because the trust only needed a wife and a signed certificate," he said, low.

"And I couldn't think of one thing I could do that wasn't worse."

"You could have told me."

"I know."

"You could have said, Monica, I've been lied to, I need your help."

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