My Husband Demanded a Paternity Test over Our Daughter's Red Hair, So I Left Him an Empty House novel · Chapter 13 of 24
Chapter 13: The Social Worker
Nobody in the waiting room moved.
Kate set down her coffee and looked past the worker at the woman in the wool coat.
"A concerned family member," she said. "In pearls. At four in the morning."
"Ma'am," the worker said, "I need to speak with Mrs. Ferris."
"I'm Mrs. Ferris," I said. "I'm Lydia."
She asked where June had been when the fever started, and I told her.
She asked why I hadn't called an ambulance.
I said the pamphlet said ER, and I had a sister, and a man who lived seven minutes away.
"The father," the worker said, writing. "The report says he's not involved."
"The report says a lot of things," Daniel said.
He had stood up. I hadn't seen him do it.
"I'm Daniel Ferris. I'm June's father. I drove them here."
He didn't look at Judith.
"My mother made that report. An hour after my daughter was born, she told me to demand a paternity test, and I did it, in the delivery room, while my wife was still on the bed."
"Daniel," Judith said.
"The test says June is mine. It said so in the morning." His voice was even. "My mother made me do it, and I'll say so to you, or a judge, or anybody you send."
"That's enough," Judith said.
"No, Mom. It's not."
The worker's pen had stopped. She looked at him a long moment, and then at the nurse who had come to the doorway.
"The baby came in inside the hour," the nurse said. "In a car seat that was buckled right. The mother answered every intake question without a note. I've seen neglect, and I've seen concerned families. I know which this is."
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