Chapter 5 - THE BROTHER WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
I looked at Thomas.
Then Arthur.
Then Wyatt.
Finally, I laughed.
It was the only sound I could make.
“No.”
Thomas didn't move.
“Sadie—”
“No.”
I pushed the document away.
“My father is Gregory Davis.”
“I know.”
“My mother is Brenda.”
“I know.”
“You don't get to walk into my hospital room after twenty-two years and tell me my entire life is a lie.”
Thomas looked down.
“I am not saying your life is a lie.”
“Then what are you saying?”
“That your father knew the truth about your birth.”
The room became unbearably quiet.
I looked at Arthur.
“Is this true?”
Arthur didn't answer immediately.
That was answer enough.
I turned away.
For the first time since the brick hit me, the pain in my face seemed insignificant.
My mother had laughed while I bled.
My father had attacked me.
My sister had wanted my fiancé.
And now I was being told that the man who had spent my entire life calling himself my father might not be my father at all.
Wyatt sat beside me.
“You don't have to decide anything today.”
I nodded.
But the question would not leave me.
Who was my biological father?
Thomas explained that before Brenda married Gregory, she had been engaged to another man.
His name was Michael Harper.
The engagement had ended suddenly.
A few months later, Brenda married Gregory.
Then I was born.
“Did Gregory know?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Because Brenda told him.”
I closed my eyes.
“Why would he marry her?”
Thomas looked at Arthur.
Arthur answered.
“Because your grandfather arranged it.”
I opened my eyes.
“What?”
My grandfather had discovered that Brenda was pregnant.
Gregory was not the biological father.
But he agreed to marry her.
The marriage was presented as a normal family decision.
Nobody knew the truth.
Except Gregory.
And perhaps my grandfather.
I stared at the old will.
The conditions suddenly made more sense.
My grandfather had not trusted Gregory with the estate.
But he had still protected me.
Why?
Because he believed I was his granddaughter regardless of biology.
That thought broke something inside me.
My grandfather had loved me.
Maybe more than anyone else in the family.
Arthur handed me another letter.
This one was addressed to Gregory.
I read it silently.
My grandfather had written:
You may raise her as your daughter, but you will never use her as collateral for your failures.
I looked up.
“Collateral?”
Arthur nodded.
“Your grandfather knew Gregory was in financial trouble.”
The truth came together slowly.
Gregory had spent years using the family properties to cover his debts.
He had planned to use Wyatt's money next.
Melanie was simply the tool.
I was the obstacle.
The DNA question remained.
I didn't want to know.
But a week later, I agreed to the test.
The results arrived on a rainy Tuesday.
Wyatt was beside me.
I opened the envelope.
I read the first line.
Then I stopped.
“What does it say?” Wyatt asked.
I looked at him.
“My father is not Gregory.”
The words felt unreal.
“Do you want to know who is?”
I stared at the second page.
Michael Harper.
The name from my mother's past.
I found him through a private investigator.
He lived in Michigan.
He was sixty-three years old.
And he had spent twenty-nine years believing Brenda had chosen Gregory over him.
When I called him, he answered on the third ring.
“Hello?”
I couldn't speak.
“Hello?”
Finally, I said:
“My name is Sadie Davis.”
There was a long silence.
Then his breathing changed.
“Who gave you my number?”
“No one.”
“Then why are you calling?”
I looked at the DNA report.
“Because I think you're my father.”
The silence that followed lasted nearly a minute.
May you like
Then Michael said:
“I have been waiting for this call for twenty-nine years.”
