The DNA Test That Backfired Chapter 15
Later, Zane sent several people to speak to me on his behalf.
Zane’s parents also came a few times, trying to persuade me to reconsider.
I never changed my mind.
In the moment that mattered most, he had chosen not to stand with me or with our child.
He deserved to bear the consequences of that choice.
I heard that late one night, after getting drunk, he sat outside the Marino estate and cried, begging his parents to let him come home.
From behind the closed door, his father said only one sentence.
“Zane, you chose this path. There’s no going back.”
The door never opened.
When I heard the story, I was sitting on the balcony of my own home, watching Teddy build block towers on the carpet.
The tower kept falling, and he would just build it again, laughing to himself.
The afternoon sunlight poured into the living room, falling across his small hands.
I picked up my coffee and took a sip.
Teddy placed the last block, then turned to me and opened his arms.
“Mom, hug.”
I set down my cup, walked over, and gathered him into my arms, kissing his cheek.
“Good boy,” I said. “From now on, it’s just the two of us. We’re going to be just fine.”
From that day on, I never looked back.