Chapter 5 - THE BABY WASN'T GAVIN'S
Maren sat at my kitchen table two hours after the guests left.
Thirty-two people had witnessed the explosion.
Only five remained.
Me.
My mother.
Rachel.
Gavin.
Maren.
Lorraine and Paul had taken everyone else out through the side gate.
The backyard looked absurdly normal.
Pink balloons.
Cupcakes.
Wrapped baby gifts.
A banner saying:
WELCOME, LITTLE MIRACLE.
Maren stared at the tabletop.
I placed her phone in front of her.
“What test?”
She cried silently.
Gavin looked angry rather than frightened.
“That better not be what I think.”
Maren finally spoke.
“I had a paternity screening.”
The room went still.
Gavin’s face changed.
“Why?”
“Because I wasn’t sure.”
My stomach turned.
Apparently betrayal had layers even Gavin had not been invited into.
He stood.
“You told me it was mine.”
“I thought it probably was.”
“Probably?”
For once, I had no sympathy for him.
“What did the test show?”
Maren looked at me.
Not Gavin.
“You’re going to hate me.”
“I already have enough information for that. Answer.”
Her voice broke.
“Gavin isn’t the father.”
He stared at her.
“What?”
“The test came back six days ago.”
“Who is?”
She shook her head.
Gavin laughed harshly.
“Oh my God.”
Then:
“Daniel?”
Maren closed her eyes.
There.
Daniel Keene.
My father’s former financial adviser.
Insurance broker.
And apparently Maren’s other secret.
“How long?”
I asked.
She whispered:
“Before Gavin.”
Gavin looked as though the ground had opened.
“You were sleeping with him?”
“Not when you and I started.”
“That’s supposed to help?”
“No.”
Nothing could.
Then Rachel asked the question I was too stunned to form.
“Why did Daniel tell you not to discuss the test?”
Maren looked terrified.
“Because he didn’t want Gavin to know.”
“Why does he care?”
“He said everything would fall apart.”
“What would fall apart?”
She pressed both hands against her face.
“The trust.”
I froze.
“What trust?”
Gavin did too.
Apparently neither of us knew.
Maren explained that Daniel had told her my father created a family protection trust before he died.
True.
I knew about that part.
What I did not know was that the trust expanded when I had a child.
My baby would become a beneficiary.
If I died, assets moved partly into a child-controlled branch.
A spouse could not own them outright.
But a surviving guardian could manage certain assets until the child turned twenty-five.
Gavin knew some of that.
He admitted it.
That was part of the reason for the LLC.
He wanted to “simplify” management.
But Daniel knew more.
If another qualifying descendant of my father existed, that child could also gain rights.
I stared at Maren.
“You’re not related to me.”
“No.”
“Daniel?”
She shook her head.
Then Rachel’s expression changed.
“Who was Daniel’s mother?”
Nobody knew.
She started searching.
Within minutes, she found a probate file.
Daniel Keene’s mother:
Margaret Keene.
Birth name:
Margaret Vale.
My father’s half-sister.
My aunt.
Daniel was my cousin.
May you like
Which meant Maren’s baby, if Daniel was the father, carried my family blood.
And Daniel had apparently been arranging financial structures around two unborn children at the same time.
