Chapter 6 - The Truth About His Mother
The DNA results arrived four days later.
Caleb was still in the hospital, but he was recovering quickly.
He had returned to grabbing everything.
My watch.
Emma’s stethoscope.
A nurse’s badge.
Apparently nearly dying had done nothing to improve his manners.
Emma entered his room carrying an envelope.
I knew immediately.
“Results?”
She nodded.
Neither of us moved.
Caleb sat supported against my chest, chewing the ear of a stuffed bear.
“Open it.”
Emma looked at me.
“You do it.”
“No.”
“Gabriel.”
“You deserve to.”
Her fingers trembled as she opened the envelope.
She read the first page.
Then stopped breathing.
I stood.
“Emma?”
She looked at Caleb.
“He’s mine.”
Three words.
Quiet.
Devastating.
Beautiful.
I closed my eyes.
Caleb babbled.
Emma laughed through tears.
“He’s actually mine.”
I handed Caleb to her.
This time, she didn’t hesitate.
She held him against her chest.
He immediately grabbed her collar.
“Hello,” she whispered.
I turned toward the window because watching them hurt in a way I wasn’t prepared for.
Not bad hurt.
The kind that came when something lost suddenly returned.
Emma spoke behind me.
“You didn’t know.”
I turned.
“No.”
“I believe you.”
That mattered more than I expected.
“I should have found you.”
“You tried.”
“I should have tried harder.”
“You thought I betrayed you.”
“I should have known you better.”
She looked down at Caleb.
“And I should have called you instead of believing Dominic.”
“We were manipulated.”
“Yes.”
I stepped closer.
“But what happens next is ours.”
Emma’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Turn this into a business arrangement.”
“I wasn’t.”
“You’re already planning.”
She knew me too well.
“I’m trying to fix it.”
“You can’t fix three years.”
“No.”
I looked at Caleb.
“But I can stop wasting the next three.”
Emma stared at me.
I continued.
“I’m not asking you to come back to me.”
Her expression softened slightly.
“I’m asking you to be in his life.”
“I want that.”
“However you want.”
She blinked.
“That easy?”
“No.”
I almost smiled.
“It will probably be extremely difficult.”
“Better.”
“I have lawyers.”
“I know.”
“You should have your own.”
“I already called one.”
That made me smile.
“There’s the Emma Carter I remember.”
“She never went anywhere.”
“No.”
My smile disappeared.
“I’m starting to understand that.”
Caleb sneezed.
We both looked down.
Then laughed.
The tension broke.
Emma sat beside me.
“What happens to Dominic?”
“He confessed to falsifying records connected to the embryo transfer.”
“Will you protect him?”
“No.”
She studied me.
“That surprises you?”
“A little.”
“He took something from both of us. Being my brother doesn’t erase that.”
“And Victoria?”
“Charged.”
Emma nodded.
“Good.”
We sat quietly.
Then she asked the question I had been avoiding.
“What happened to you after I left?”
I looked at Caleb.
“I became worse.”
She waited.
“I trusted fewer people. Worked more. Built more walls.”
“Then you decided to become a father?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I looked at her.
“Because once, you made me believe I could be more than what my family built.”
Emma’s eyes dropped.
“Gabriel.”
“I’m not asking for anything.”
“Good.”
“Yet.”
She looked at me.
I smiled faintly.
“There he is.”
“Who?”
“The arrogant man I remember.”
“I thought you said he was gone.”
“I hoped.”
Caleb suddenly reached between us.
One tiny hand landed against my chest.
The other caught Emma’s scrub top.
Neither of us moved.
Emma looked down.
“He’s not subtle.”
“He’s a Vale.”
“He’s half Carter.”
“That explains the attitude.”
She gave me a look.
I laughed.
May you like
And for the first time in three years, Emma laughed with me.
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