Chapter 2 - The Secret DNA Test
Sarah didn't sleep that night. She lay awake, staring at the ceiling, listening to the ticking clock.
By 8:00 AM, she was parked three blocks away from the downtown square. She sat in her SUV, watching the fountain, waiting.
It took two hours, but finally, the old woman, Rose, appeared. She carried the same weathered bag, and beside her, walking with a slight limp, was Emma.
Sarah waited until Rose sat down on her bench and began setting out her knitted scarves. Then, Sarah took a deep breath, grabbed a clean envelope from her glove compartment, and stepped out of the car.
She didn't approach Rose this time. Instead, she waited until Emma walked toward the public restroom near the park pavilion. Sarah followed her inside.
The restroom was empty except for the little girl, who was struggling to wash her hands at a sink that was too high.
"Here, let me help you," Sarah said softly, stepping up beside her.
Emma startled, her hazel eyes wide with fear. "The pretty lady from yesterday..."
"I won't hurt you, Emma," Sarah said, her heart breaking at how small and fragile the girl looked. She lifted Emma up so she could reach the water. "You have very beautiful hair."
"Grandma Rose says it’s a mess," Emma whispered.
"It’s not a mess. It’s perfect." Sarah gently ran a plastic comb through Emma’s hair, carefully detangling a small knot. As she did, she managed to pull away three strands of hair, complete with the roots.
She quickly folded them into the clean white envelope in her pocket.
"Are you Lily's mommy?" Emma asked suddenly, looking at Sarah through the mirror.
Sarah’s breath hitched. "Why do you ask that, sweetie?"
"Because when I look in the mirror, I see her," Emma said simply. "And sometimes, I dream about a big white house with columns, and a lady who smells like vanilla. Just like you."
Tears spilled over Sarah’s eyelashes. She knelt and hugged the little girl, feeling the prominent ribs through the thin sweater. "I have to go now, Emma. But I will see you very soon. I promise."
Sarah rushed out of the restroom, straight to a private DNA testing clinic on the outskirts of the city. She paid triple the standard fee for an expedited, 4-hour rush processing, submitting the envelope with Emma's hair alongside a cotton swab she had taken from Lily’s cheek while her daughter slept that morning.
The four hours of waiting were a descent into madness. Sarah drove aimlessly, her mind spinning.
At 3:30 PM, her phone chimed. An email from the private lab.
With trembling fingers, Sarah opened the PDF attachment. She scrolled past the technical jargon, her eyes searching for the final probability percentage at the bottom of the page.
PROBABILITY OF IDENTICAL SIBLING RELATIONSHIP: 99.99%
They were twins.
Sarah choked on a sob, pulling her car over to the side of the road. Her chest heaved as the horrifying reality crashed down on her.
She had given birth to twins.
Her husband, her mother-in-law, and the entire medical team had lied to her. They had stolen one of her babies from her arms while she was unconscious, leaving Emma to grow up in poverty, begging on the streets, while Lily lived a life of luxury.
Why? What kind of monsters could do this to a mother? To a child?
May you like
Sarah clutched the steering wheel, her grief transforming into a cold, burning rage.
"I will tear your world apart, Robert," she whispered to the empty car. "Both of you."
