My Husband Demanded a Paternity Test over Our Daughter's Red Hair, So I Left Him an Empty House novel · Chapter 2 of 24

Chapter 2: Ninety-Nine Point Nine

The test proves Daniel is June's father, and he cannot see why Lydia is still angry. The doctor says both parents must carry the red-hair gene, and Judith changes the subject. Lydia leaves with Kate, and a moving truck is booked for nine.

The doctor came in at seven with a sheet of paper and read it standing at the foot of my bed.

Daniel stood beside her with a paper cup of coffee.

Judith sat in the chair by the window with her purse on her lap.

"The probability of paternity is 99.99 percent," the doctor said. "Mr. Ferris, you are June's father."

Nobody spoke.

Then Daniel laughed and set his coffee on the tray table.

"I knew it," he said. "I mean, I thought so. I just needed to see it."

He came to the head of the bed and put his hand on my hair.

"See? It's done. We can go home."

I moved my head out from under his hand.

Judith smiled at the doctor. "Well. Praise God."

"Doctor," I said, "where does the red hair come from?"

"It's a recessive trait," the doctor said. "Both parents have to carry the gene for it to show. Mrs. Ferris, you said your grandmother had red hair?"

"Yes."

"Then you carry it. Mr. Ferris must carry it too, from a parent or a grandparent."

"Nobody has it," Daniel said.

"Somebody does," the doctor said pleasantly. "Or she wouldn't."

"Daniel," Judith said, "bring the car seat up from the truck, would you? Let's be ready."

"It's been in the truck for a month, Mom. It's ready."

"Then bring it up here."

He went.

I watched the door close behind him. I saw Judith watching it too.

"Families forget things," she said to the room. "It's nothing to worry about."

"Doctor," I said, "could you tell me the number again?"

"Ninety-nine point nine nine," the doctor said. She put the paper in my hand. "It's yours to keep, Mrs. Ferris. Your delivery was uncomplicated. If June feeds well, you can go home by eleven."

She left.

Daniel came back with the car seat and set it beside my bed.

"Okay," he said. He was smiling. It was the hopeful smile of a man waiting to be told everything was fine. "I know it was a rough night. I'm sorry you're upset."

"What are you sorry for?"

"That you're upset. Everybody was stressed and tired."

"You said Ben's name in front of a nurse."

"I said it because of the hair." He spread his hands. "It was a reasonable question, and now I have the answer. So why are we still talking about it?"

I looked at the paper in my hand.

I looked at him.

"Let her rest, Daniel," Judith said. She stood and lifted her purse. "It's the hormones. Come on, I'll drive you home to shower."

She bent and kissed my cheek.

"We'll see you at the house for dinner, honey. I'm making the pot roast."

They left together, his hand at the small of her back.

I fed June. I changed her myself, slowly, with my stitches pulling.

At nine the door banged open and Kate came in with a pink balloon in one fist and a canvas bag over her shoulder.

My sister is twenty-eight and runs a flower shop. She had slept in her work apron.

"I came to meet my niece and to commit a crime," she said. "I'm flexible on the order."

"Kate."

"Your text said, 'He wants a test.' I drove here in my socks."

I told her the rest.

I told her about the form, and Ben's name, and Judith smoothing my blanket.

Kate stopped smiling around the part about the pen.

"He made you sign it while you were still bleeding."

"Yes."

"And you signed."

"I wanted a result with a doctor's name on it. I wanted it in writing that he was wrong."

Kate sat down on the edge of the bed so carefully the mattress barely moved.

"Okay," she said. "Do you want me to go find him? I have gardening shears in the van."

"No. We do it with receipts."

"Receipts."

"Everything in that house is mine, Kate. I paid for the crib mattress and the couch and the dishwasher. I have every receipt in a folder."

She stared at me.

Then she dug into her bag and put a small tin box on my knees.

"Mom's old sewing tin," she said. "I took it last week. I wanted you to have the braid."

Inside, under the buttons, lay a thick braid of hair tied at both ends with thread.

It was dark copper.

"Gran cut it off when she was nineteen," Kate said. "Mom kept it."

I held it beside June's head.

It was the same color.

Kate wiped her nose on her wrist.

"She looks exactly like Gran," she whispered.

"I know."

"I'm going to cry on a baby."

"Cry on the balloon."

We laughed until my stitches hurt.

When she could breathe, Kate wiped her face and took out her phone.

"Also, I booked the truck. Nine tomorrow morning, two men and a ramp. Daniel will be at work and the house will be empty."

"Judith will be there," I said. "She's making pot roast. She'll want to be the first one to say hello."

"Perfect," Kate said. "I'd like her to watch."

At eleven the nurse wheeled me to the lobby, and I climbed into the white flower van with June in her car seat.

I sent Daniel one text: June and I are staying with Kate.

He answered in less than a minute.

Okay. Take a couple days. Mom says that's normal.

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