His Favorite Shirt novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: The Envelope

Nolan's POV

It was forty yards from the edge of the lawn to the foot of the stage.

My mother walked beside me and did not say a word, and when we reached the steps she put her hand flat between my shoulder blades.

Heath's father came down to meet me with the white envelope.

He held it out with both hands.

"I have not opened it," he said. "I thought you should be the first."

"Why?"

"Because you are the one who was never asked."

I took it.

It was lighter than I had expected.

I ran my thumb under the flap, and the paper tore along its length, and I took out one sheet.

Most of it was columns of numbers, and I did not read them.

I read the line at the bottom.

Probability of paternity: 99.99 percent. Alleged father: Nolan Standring. Child: Posy Pemberton.

Below it was a second line, in the same flat type.

Heath Pemberton is excluded as the biological father.

I read it twice.

My ears rang with a thin high sound and nothing else in it.

My mother's hand pressed harder.

"Nolan," she said quietly.

"I know."

"Look at me."

I looked at her.

She had Posy's chin.

I had never noticed it, because I had never had a reason to look.

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