Chapter 6 - The Confrontation
"Chloe?!" Nolan’s voice came bursting through the speaker, loud, frantic, and laced with panic. "What did you just post in the group chat?! Is that real?!"
I didn't answer right away. I walked over to the nursery window and looked out at the afternoon sun filtering through the trees.
"Chloe! Answer me!" he demanded. "Where did you get that PDF?!"
"I got it from the laboratory, Nolan," I said, my voice dead calm, ice cold, and completely steady. "The laboratory that you ordered the test from. The one whose report you couldn't be bothered to read past the first two words."
"They... they told me 'No Result'!" Nolan stuttered, his confidence evaporating in real-time. "I saw the red text! It said No Result!"
"Because you didn't swab her mouth properly, you absolute fool!" I raised my voice, letting nine days of pent-up rage pour through the microphone. "You took a dry cotton swab, scraped it half-heartedly around a sleeping baby's mouth because you were hiding in the dark like a thief, shoved it in a envelope, and sent it to a lab! They couldn't extract enough DNA to run a test! It says it right on the page—in plain English—right below the line you cropped out!"
Silence heavy enough to crush a building fell over the line.
"I... I didn't crop it on purpose..." Nolan stammered, his voice suddenly sounding small, weak, and pathetic. "I just... I took a quick screenshot on my phone... the box was big..."
"You cropped it because you wanted to believe it, Nolan," I hissed. "You wanted an excuse. You looked at our daughter's dark hair and brown eyes, listened to your mother's poisonous whispers, and jumped at the very first chance to throw your family away so you wouldn't have to feel guilty!"
"Chloe, please..." Nolan choked out. "I... I made a mistake. I didn't understand the report. I was in shock, I wasn't thinking straight—"
"You left!" I yelled, refusing to let him finish. "You walked out on three five-month-old babies! You sat at a dinner table and pointed at a baby girl who has your exact crooked toe and told your parents she wasn't yours! You sent me a text message telling me to go ask another man to feed her! You don't get to call that a 'mistake', Nolan. That is a character flaw."
"I'm coming home," Nolan said frantically. "I'm packing my bag right now. I'm coming home, we'll talk about this, we'll re-do the test together—"
"Do not step foot in this house," I said firmly.
"Chloe, it's my house too!"
"Your name is on the deed, Nolan, but if you show up here unannounced, I will call the police and show them the text messages where you abandoned your infants and refused to care for them," I warned him. "You want to fix this? You don't get to just walk back through the front door and pretend the last nine days didn't happen. You ruined this family over a swab. Now you're going to face the consequences."
Before he could answer, I hung up the phone.
Two hours later, a car pulled into the driveway. It wasn't Nolan's car.
It was Russell's truck.
My father-in-law walked up the front steps carrying a large cardboard box. When I opened the door, his eyes were red-rimmed and filled with immense shame.
"Chloe," Russell said, his voice husky. He set the cardboard box down on the porch. "I brought back the clothes and supplies Nolan took when he moved into his friend's apartment. And... I brought this."
He handed me an envelope. Inside was a cashier's check for five thousand dollars.
"What is this, Russell?" I asked.
"It's from my personal savings," Russell said, looking me dead in the eye. "Not Lenora's, not Nolan's. Mine. You have daycare costs coming up, and you need support. My son has acted like an absolute disgraced fool, Chloe. I have never been more ashamed of him in my entire life. I told him today that if he doesn't fix this, he is no longer welcome in my house."
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I looked at my father-in-law, my eyes filling with tears. "Thank you, Russell."
"Don't thank me," he said softly, reaching out to pat my shoulder. "Now... can I go hold my granddaughter?"
