Chapter 2 - Lorraine Had Been Calling Theo Illegitimate Since Before He Was Born
Garrett first heard the word six months into the pregnancy.
Not from strangers.
From his own mother.
Theo’s mother, Hannah, had become pregnant during a difficult period in Garrett’s life. He and Hannah were together but not yet married, and Lorraine despised that from the beginning.
“She trapped you.”
Garrett ignored it.
Then:
“You don’t even know if that baby is yours.”
Garrett laughed the first time.
Lorraine did not.
She began asking questions.
Dates.
Travel schedules.
Who Hannah had dated before Garrett.
Whether Garrett was absolutely certain conception happened when he thought it did.
At first, he saw it as ordinary distrust.
Then Theo was born.
Garrett held him in the hospital and knew immediately that whatever happened between adults, the child deserved certainty.
So he offered to take a paternity test.
Hannah agreed.
Lorraine offered to arrange it.
That was Garrett’s first mistake.
The report came back three weeks later.
Excluded.
According to the document Lorraine handed Garrett, he was not Theo’s biological father.
Garrett remembered sitting alone in his car for almost two hours afterward.
Then he did something Lorraine never expected.
He went home anyway.
He picked Theo up.
And decided:
“Biology or not, I’m not abandoning him.”
Lorraine never forgave that decision.
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But Garrett had never stopped wondering whether the test was actually right.
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