At the bottom of the first page, a single sentence seemed to scream off the paper and take the very breath from my lungs. The text stated that the probability of paternity for Scott Preston regarding the child, Toby Preston, was exactly zero percent.
Toby stirred against me as my breathing became shallow and erratic from the sheer shock of the words. “This is a mistake, Scott, because there is absolutely no way this result can be accurate,” I whispered while clutching the paper.
Scott’s sister, Paige, let out a sharp and bitter laugh that echoed through the hollow dining room. “That is exactly the kind of predictable response we expected from a woman who has been caught in such a disgusting lie,” she sneered.
I looked at her with wide eyes and wondered how she could possibly believe that I was capable of such a betrayal. “Did you honestly think I wouldn’t find out eventually, or did you think my family was too wealthy and polite to ask questions?” Scott asked as he finally turned to face me.
“I am asking you if you knew about this scheme to humiliate me tonight,” I said to Paige while ignoring his accusations for a moment. “Everyone in this room had a right to know the truth about the person we allowed into our inner circle,” Adelaide interrupted with a tone of icy triumph.
My eyes burned with the threat of tears, but I refused to let a single one fall in front of these people who had already judged me. I remembered that only three hours ago, Scott had called me while I was helping Toby into the bathtub.
“Make sure you get to my parents’ house as early as possible because my mother wants to host a special family dinner,” he had told me over the phone. “I have an early shift at the clinic tomorrow, so can we please keep it short?” I had asked while trying to balance the phone on my shoulder.
“Just get here and do not start an argument about your schedule for once,” he had snapped before ending the call abruptly. I realized now that his behavior over the last two weeks had been a series of red flags I chose to ignore.