‘I still don’t get why he’d consider anything I do as a risk. I’m not even in the will anymore, despite the fact I’m technically the oldest son now,’ he scoffed.
‘Knowing how headstrong he is about family tradition, do you really believe he’s written his only surviving son out of his will?’ Floss asked doubtfully.
Ewan gave a grunt under his breath.
‘He could see you were in love with Kenzie and that you weren’t going to question that Poppy was your child. But he was adamant that Kenzie’s story didn’t add up and convinced she had her eye on the inheritance, so just to be on the safeside he fixed the test. The only thing he has any control over is Laire-Mor.’
‘He’s crazy.’
‘He’s driven,’ Floss said.
‘You’re defending him?’ Ewan asked, frowning at his sister.
‘Seriously? I’ve grown up as the daughter—pretty useless for anything in his eyes. However, I’ve managed to produce two legitimate male heirs,’ she said sarcastically. ‘Of course, I don’t condone his narrow-minded ideals. I’m just pointing out that this goes deeper than the fact we think he’s crazy. These are his honest-to-God beliefs. This is how he was brought up and what he had drummed into him from his grandfather. Then to have his own father turn out to be some weak, lovesick pushover who married a woman who ended up destroying generations of family history—it’s shaped who he is today.’
Ewan let his sister’s words sink in. On some level it made sense, but it was still hard to believe. He’d known his old man was ruthless, but this was a whole new low.
The phone rang and Floss picked it up. ‘Oh good, it’s Mary. I updated her after Dad’s revelation last night. Hi, Mary! Hang on, my brother’s here, I’ll put you on speaker.’
‘Oh, hi! Okay, so, I got your text this morning, and this puts an interesting spin on things.’
‘How so?’ Floss asked, resting one hip against the kitchen bench as she sipped her coffee.
‘I don’t think your father provided the sample either.’
‘What do you mean? He said he did,’ Floss said with a frown.
‘Well, going on the theory that we know Ewan is the child’s father, if Callum gave the sample, it would have still had certain markers with at least some of the same alleles, because his DNA and Ewan’s would share certain markers. But the alleles don’t match at two different genetic markers in the results table, meaning it couldn’t have been Callum’s specimen. If it was, then there would have been a combined paternity index of greater than 1000 indicated, and there wasn’t.’
‘That doesn’t make any sense,’ Ewan said, perplexed. ‘Why would he lie about using his own sample? Who else would he have got to do it?’
‘There is one other consideration … but it would make things really uncomfortable and more than a little messy,’ Mary warned.
‘My father falsified his grandchild’s unauthorised DNA test. We’re way beyond messy and uncomfortable,’ Floss said dryly.
Mary made a doubtful sound before continuing, sounding slightly reluctant, ‘If hedidsupply the sample, then the bigger mystery is why his DNA doesn’t match up with Ewan’s.’
Ewan felt he must have misunderstood what she was implying. ‘What are you saying?’ he asked slowly.
‘I’m saying that if that sample was Callum’s DNA, then he doesn’t share common markers with you. Meaning he can’t possibly be related to you, Ewan. It would mean that Callum isn’t your biological father.’
Thirty-nine
Ewan sat beside his mother on the lounge, his arm around her as she rested her head on his shoulder and cried. Part of him had held out hope that she’d laugh at the ridiculousness of their question, but that had quickly faded.
There’d only been a few occasions that he’d witnessed his mother cry, all of them related to Arran. Even during some of the worst droughts, when animals had to be put down and the future of Laire-Mor had been on the line, not once had he seen her shed a tear. As an adult, he looked back now and understood that she would have hidden it because she felt she had to be strong for everyone else. Which was why now, seeing his mother’s shoulders shake broke his heart and extinguished any kind of hope he may have had that life was not, once again, about to be turned upside down.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she finally said after she’d got herself back under control. ‘You have no idea how many times I’ve wanted to tell you.’
‘Why didn’t you?’ Ewan asked.
‘How?’ She shrugged helplessly.
‘Does Dad know?’ Floss asked gently, sitting on the other side of their mother, and holding her hand.
‘No … well, not for sure. And he’s never asked.’
‘But he’s suspected?’ Ewan questioned.
