PART5-My Sister Demanded a DNA Test Before Dad’s Will Was Read—Then the Lawyer Looked at Her Instead of Me

PART 5

Nobody spoke.

Not even Alyssa.

She simply stared at Richard Mason as though the room had suddenly tilted beneath her feet.

“My father?”

Richard nodded once.

Alyssa shook her head.

“No.”

Her voice was barely audible.

“No, that’s not possible.”

Richard stepped into the room.

“I wish it weren’t true.”

Vivian suddenly stood.

“Richard, stop.”

He looked at her.

“For thirty years, Vivian.”

His voice was quiet.

“I’ve stopped every time you asked me to.”

Vivian’s face crumpled.

“Not here.”

“Where, then?”

Richard looked around the room.

“At another funeral?”

His eyes moved toward the portrait of William Harper hanging above the fireplace.

“Because that’s how this family has always handled the truth, isn’t it?”

Alyssa looked between them.

“Mom?”

Vivian closed her eyes.

Richard continued.

“Your mother told me William could never know.”

Alyssa’s voice broke.

“Why?”

“Because she was already married to him.”

Alyssa stared at Vivian.

Richard looked at me.

“And because William had already fallen in love with Candace.”

I frowned.

“What does that have to do with me?”

Richard took a slow breath.

“Everything.”

He sat down.

“I met your mother before she met William. We were young. Stupid. We thought we had time to figure out what we wanted.”

Vivian whispered, “Richard…”

He continued.

“But then she met William.”

He looked at the photograph of Dad.

“He had money. Stability. A family name. And she knew William wanted children.”

Alyssa looked sick.

“You married him because of his money?”

Vivian shook her head.

“It wasn’t like that.”

“Then what was it like?”

Vivian didn’t answer.

Richard did.

“She became pregnant.”

Alyssa’s eyes widened.

“With me?”

“Yes.”

Richard’s voice trembled.

“She told me the baby was mine.”

“Then why did Dad believe you were his?”

“Because Vivian told William she was pregnant with his child.”

Alyssa turned toward her mother.

“You lied to him.”

Vivian began crying.

“I was terrified.”

“You lied to my father.”

“I was terrified of losing everything.”

Alyssa laughed bitterly.

“So you kept me.”

Vivian looked at her.

“You were my daughter.”

“But you let Dad raise me.”

“Yes.”

“You let him love me.”

“Yes.”

“You let him pay for everything.”

“Yes.”

“And then you spent thirty years telling Candace she wasn’t really his daughter.”

Vivian looked at me.

“I didn’t know how to stop.”

That sentence hung in the air.

I almost laughed.

Not because it was funny.

Because it was unbelievable.

“You didn’t know how to stop?”

Vivian looked at me.

“You were always suspicious.”

I stared at her.

“You made me suspicious.”

“You looked different.”

“I was a child.”

“You reminded me of your mother.”

“My mother?”

Vivian froze.

Alyssa looked at me.

“What does she mean?”

I looked at Vivian.

“My mother is dead.”

Vivian swallowed.

“Yes.”

“Then why did you say I reminded you of her?”

Vivian said nothing.

Richard looked down.

And suddenly I understood.

There was another secret.

Another one Dad had never told me.

“Who was my mother?”

Vivian’s eyes filled with tears.

“She was my sister.”

I couldn’t move.

“What?”

Alyssa stared at her mother.

“What did you just say?”

Vivian whispered:

“Your mother was my younger sister.”

The room seemed to lose all sound.

I stared at her.

“My mother was your sister?”

“Yes.”

I shook my head.

“That makes no sense.”

Richard looked at me.

“It does.”

He reached into his jacket and pulled out an old photograph.

He placed it on the table.

I looked down.

Two young women stood beside each other.

One was Vivian.

The other—

I stopped breathing.

She had my eyes.

My nose.

My smile.

My exact expression.

I had seen that face before.

In the mirror.

My hands began to shake.

“Her name was Elaine,” Vivian whispered.

I touched the photograph.

“Why didn’t Dad tell me?”

“He didn’t know everything.”

“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

Vivian looked at me.

“Because Elaine died when you were two.”

I stared at her.

“What happened?”

“She was sick.”

Richard lowered his head.

“She had no one.”

Vivian continued.

“I took you in.”

“You adopted me?”

“No.”

Her answer came too quickly.

“You were never officially adopted.”

I looked at her.

“What?”

“Your mother left instructions that William was your father.”

I shook my head.

“That’s impossible.”

Richard said quietly:

“Elaine had been with William before he met Vivian.”

I stared at him.

“What?”

Richard nodded.

“William knew Elaine.”

My mind raced.

Suddenly the photographs in Dad’s study made sense.

The dates.

The letters.

The strange tenderness in his handwriting.

He hadn’t been watching me from a distance because he felt guilty.

He had been watching me because I was his daughter.

Biologically.

Completely.

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