Chapter 11 - THE DNA TEST THAT COULD CHANGE EVERYTHING
For twenty-four hours, I believed Nora Bennett might be my sister.
That possibility destroyed every comfortable thought I'd allowed myself to have about her.
I avoided touching her.
Stopped sitting too close.
And hated myself for every romantic feeling I'd begun to develop.
Nora noticed immediately.
"What's wrong with you?"
We sat across from each other in my office.
I looked at the table.
"There's something we need to verify."
She frowned.
"What?"
I handed her the document.
She read it.
Then stared.
"Your mother had a daughter named Nora Bennett?"
I nodded.
Her face drained.
"That's my name."
"I know."
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Nora whispered, "You think we're related?"
"I don't know."
She looked physically sick.
So did I.
Rebecca arranged an independent review of the records.
The document had been filed thirty-one years earlier.
But Nora was twenty-five.
The dates didn't align.
Then the archivist found the original birth information.
The child was named Nora Catherine Bennett.
Born to Catherine Cole before she married my father.
The name was identical.
But the birth year was different.
And the original record included a notation about adoption.
Nora slowly looked up.
"My mother never mentioned any adoption."
Rebecca nodded.
"That doesn't mean you're the same person."
We agreed that proper verification mattered more than assumptions.
Nora chose to participate in a DNA comparison.
So did I.
The results arrived several days later.
We were not biologically related.
I exhaled so hard I nearly laughed.
Nora stared at me.
Then burst into nervous laughter.
"Well, that's one way to ruin a fake relationship."
I shook my head.
"Terrible planning."
She smiled.
But the relief didn't last.
Because the records revealed something else.
My mother really did have a daughter before marrying Charles Cole.
A girl who'd been adopted as an infant.
And the woman was now thirty-one.
Her adoptive name was Catherine Bennett.
Nora's older sister.
I stared at the report.
"Nora, your sister was adopted?"
She nodded slowly.
"Diane told us Catherine was her daughter from a previous relationship."
My stomach tightened.
"And Catherine knows?"
Nora shook her head.
"Not about your mother."
I closed my eyes.
For years, Catherine Bennett had helped run the family event-planning business.
She was the organized one.
The reliable one.
The daughter who stayed.
And now it appeared she might be my biological sister.
We contacted her carefully.
Catherine was shocked.
But she agreed to review the records and undergo independent testing.
When the results confirmed our relationship, she sat in silence for almost ten minutes.
Then whispered, "I always wondered why Mom treated me differently."
Nora took her hand.
"What do you mean?"
Catherine's eyes filled.
"She loved me. But she never wanted to talk about where I came from."
I looked at her.
For the first time, I saw my mother's smile in someone else's face.
It hurt.
And somehow, it healed something too.
Then Catherine revealed another secret.
"There's something you both need to know about Miles."
Nora turned.
"What?"
Catherine swallowed.
"He offered me money to help him get the property."
My expression hardened.
"How much?"
"Five hundred thousand dollars."
Nora covered her mouth.
Catherine began crying.
"I refused."
Then she looked directly at me.
"But somebody else accepted."
I leaned forward.
"Who?"
Catherine whispered, "Our mother's business partner."
May you like
Then she said the name.
"Richard Harper's wife."
