Chapter 12 - The Family Secret Behind the Affair
The birth record belonged to a boy born more than thirty years earlier.
The mother's name was Margaret Carter.
My maiden name.
I stared at the paper, unable to understand why my family's name appeared in Richard Reed's records.
Rachel immediately cautioned us against assuming the document was authentic. We would need independent verification, and no one should make accusations based on a single record.
But Vanessa knew more.
“Margaret Carter was my father's first love,” she said. “He told me she had a son before she disappeared from his life.”
My hands trembled.
“My mother was Margaret Carter.”
Vanessa nodded.
“Richard always believed she kept the child from him.”
I felt as though the room had tilted.
My mother had died when I was young. She had rarely spoken about her past, and I had never known her to have any connection to Richard Reed.
Rachel asked Vanessa whether she knew the child's name.
“Daniel.”
My father's first name.
I stared at her.
“My father is Daniel Carter.”
“Then the record may refer to someone else,” Rachel said carefully. “We need to establish the facts before drawing conclusions.”
That evening, I confronted my father.
He sat at my kitchen table while Hailey slept upstairs. When I showed him the document, he went completely still.
“Where did you get this?”
“Vanessa gave it to my lawyer. Dad, who is Richard Reed?”
He looked away.
For a long time, I thought he would refuse to answer.
Then he told me that Richard had known my mother decades earlier. They had been young, ambitious, and deeply in love, but Richard's family had opposed their relationship.
My mother had eventually married Daniel Carter, the man who raised me.
“Did Mom have a child with Richard?” I asked.
My father shook his head.
“No. But Richard believed she did.”
“Why?”
“Because someone told him that she gave birth to a boy and secretly placed him with another family.”
I leaned forward.
“Who told him?”
May you like
My father met my eyes.
“His own mother. And she may have lied.”
