Maggie pressed her palm to her chest. Her husband was innocent. He hadn’t cheated on her. Hadn’t even known this woman at all. The relief of the revelation made her dizzy.
Josh planted his elbows on his knees, his attention laser focused on Robyn, who was wringing her hands. “You’re not telling us everything.”
Maggie’s gaze shot to him. “This is good news, Josh. Why would she make this up?”
“But it doesn’t explain why Will’s the spitting image of Ethan,” he said softly before pinning Robyn with an unswerving look. “You said Will wasn’t his.”
“He’s not.”
“We’re supposed to believe that some random sperm sample produced a child who’s practically a replica of Ethan?”
***
Something flashed in Robyn’s eyes.
Something that sent a bolt of fear through him.
“The sperm sample wasn’t random,” Robyn said. “It was yours, Josh.”
“Mine?” Josh went still. Everything inside him froze. Except his mind. Thoughts reverberated through his head.The cryobank in Wilmington. The sperm sample.He struggled to process the information through the fog that swept into his brain.
He’d been fourteen, facing chemotherapy, when his doctor advised him to put back “samples” for future fertility. He’d been so embarrassed that day, walking into the clinic. Slipping into that room, the pretty nurse knowing what he was about to do. The mortification on top of the disease seemed cruel. When he left theclinic, he was angry and embarrassed as his mom drove him home. He vowed he wouldn’t go back.
“I was sick and facing chemo.” He gave his head a shake. “They told us they lost the sample.”
“I didn’t know any of that. Only that there’d been a mix-up at the lab.” Understanding dawned in Robyn’s eyes. “That’s why they couldn’t provide me with a donor file. You were never a donor.”
He sat back slowly, mind spinning. A shiver passed through him as reality sank in. The room and everyone in it faded until it was only Josh and his thoughts.
Will was hisson.
The boy resembled Ethan because Ethan was his uncle.
A tear slipped down Robyn’s cheek. She silently handed him a sheet of paper.
It had the My Legacy logo at the top and just below it:Will’s DNA. Under Matches—Joshua Reynolds:parent/child.
“He’smine.” Josh looked at Maggie, his vision blurring with tears.
“Oh, Josh.” Maggie breathed the words.
He had a son. And the proof was right here in his hands. He was overwhelmed with emotion.
“When I called this morning, I wasn’t 100 percent sure you didn’t already know the truth. You couldn’t have hired Will randomly.”
“Back in June I spotted him at the carnival,” Maggie said. “It was like seeing my husband’s ghost. We had to find out who he was.”
Josh barely heard them through the chaos in his head. All these years of infertility. He’d resolved himself to never having a biological child. The sudden shift of fortune was disorienting. “Does he know? Does Will know about this?”
Robyn nodded. “He’s been searching for his biological father in one way or another all his life. Maggie, when you came to the doorbefore, Will overheard some of that. He thought, like me, that your late husband must’ve been the sperm donor. A couple years ago he submitted his DNA to that database, and just last night, Josh, your name popped up as a match.”
That DNA test Josh had taken actually came through—but not in a way he’d ever expected. He must have an email with the match sitting in his own inbox.
“From there, he got online and pieced it all together.”
Josh glanced down the hall. Was Will upset Josh had hired him under false pretenses? Was he disappointed to discover his biological father was just some riverboat captain? Not a military hero who’d died in the line of duty? Maybe Josh couldn’t live up to years of hopes and expectations.
“He’s dying to talk to you,” Robyn said. “I left him in his room, chewing up his nails.”
