At My Baby Shower He Celebrated Another Woman’s Child Chapter 12
Graham didn’t move to help Sadie.
He stared at the paternity test, and for a fleeting moment, he looked relieved, as if a great weight had been lifted. Then he looked at me, a sudden, desperate hope in his eyes.
“Nora, Clara isn’t mine. There’s nothing between Sadie and me anymore. We can start over—”
I looked away.
My father staggered. My mother was trembling, and at last, she cried out, “Nora…”
“This is the last time I’m responding to any of you.”
The lawyer who had been waiting outside stepped in and placed two documents in front of my parents.
“These are revocations of power of attorney. Once you sign, you will have no right to interfere in my medical, financial, or legal affairs. My lawyer will arrange for monthly support payments. If you don’t sign, I disappear from your lives completely, starting today.”
My mother lunged forward and grabbed my hand.
“You can’t do this to us. We’re your parents!”
I peeled her fingers off mine, one by one.
“The moment you chose to believe an outsider over me, ignored the hospital’s frantic calls, and let Iris die—you stopped being my parents.”
“It was because of your sister!” my mother cried out in despair.
“When you were five, I was pregnant with another girl. She died shortly after she was born. When we saw Sadie, your father and I… we felt like our lost daughter had come back to us.”
I froze.
So that was it. That was why they had indulged Sadie’s every whim.
They had projected the ghost of another child onto her.
“So for the sake of an imaginary daughter, you were willing to sacrifice your real one?”
My mother opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
I turned and walked toward the door.
“Sadie is the daughter you chose. You can have her.”