Chapter 6: The Woman Who Hung Up
I didn't believe him.
I couldn't.
My mother had been the person I called when the pregnancy test turned positive. She had held my hands across her kitchen table and told me that no matter what happened with Charles, I would never raise my baby alone.
She had driven me to my first prenatal appointment.
She had bought the first tiny pair of blue socks.
And when I called her about Charles, when I told her I was frightened and needed someone to stand beside me, she had listened in silence before ending the call.
I had thought she was angry with me.
I had thought she was ashamed.
Now Charles was telling me that she had been involved in a scheme to alter my son's DNA test.
“No,” I whispered.
Charles's expression was grim.
“Jamiya, I know this is difficult.””
“You don't know anything about what this feels like.””
“I know your mother asked the laboratory to conduct the second test.””
“Why?””
“Because she believed the first result was unreliable.””
“Then why didn't she tell me?””
He looked down.
“Because she thought you were hiding something.””
I stared at him.
“My mother thought I was lying?””
“She believed there was a possibility you weren't being honest about the timing of your pregnancy.””
“That doesn't make sense. She knew when I got pregnant.””
“Did she?””
The question was so quiet that it took me a moment to understand it.
I stepped closer.
“What are you saying?””
Charles exhaled slowly.
“Your mother told me that you had been involved with Marcus again.””
I felt as if the floor had shifted beneath my feet.
“No.””
“She said you had been meeting him secretly.””
“No.””
“She said you told her you were afraid I would discover the truth.””
I shook my head so hard that my braids brushed against my shoulders.
“My mother would never say that.””
Charles didn't argue.
That frightened me more than if he had.
Tiana appeared beside the doorway, her face pale.
“Mom wouldn't do that.””
Letreya looked at her.
“You don't know that.””
Tiana turned toward her.
“She raised us. She knows what Jamiya went through with Marcus. She knows how devastated she was when he disappeared.””
“And maybe she thought she was protecting her daughter,” Letreya said quietly.
I looked at her.
“By changing a DNA sample?””
Letreya's eyes filled with tears.
“I don't know what she did. Neither do you. But we need to stop assuming that the people we love always make the right choices.””
Her words hurt because they were true.
My mother had made mistakes before. She had lied about money when I was a teenager. She had hidden the severity of my grandmother's illness because she didn't want me to worry while I was away at college.
But she had never done anything like this.
At least, I had never believed she would.
I pulled out my phone.
My fingers trembled as I searched for her contact.
Tiana touched my arm.
“Jamiya, wait.””
“No.””
“Maybe you should hear everything Charles has to say first.””
“I'm done hearing things about my mother from a man who has lied to all of us.””
I pressed the call button.
The phone rang twice.
Then my mother answered.
“Baby? Is everything okay?””
The sound of her voice nearly broke me.
I closed my eyes.
“Mom, I need you to tell me the truth.””
A pause.
“What happened?””
“Did you order a second DNA test on my son?””
Silence.
It lasted only a few seconds, but I heard everything inside it.
My mother knew exactly what I was talking about.
“Jamiya,” she said carefully, “where are you?””
“Answer the question.””
“Are you at Charles's house?””
“Mom!””
“Lower your voice, sweetheart. The baby can hear you.””
I looked down at my son.
He was awake now, watching me with unfocused eyes.
I lowered my voice.
“Did you change the sample?””
My mother's breathing changed.
“No.””
The answer came too quickly.
“Then why is Charles saying you did?””
“Because Charles is a liar.””
“I know he has lied to me. I'm asking you about the DNA test.””
“I never changed anything.””
“Did you arrange for a second test?””
My mother didn't answer.
“Mom?””
Finally, she whispered, “Yes.””
My knees almost gave way.
“Why?””
“Because I was worried.””
“About what?””
“About you.””
I laughed through my tears.
“You were worried about me, so you secretly tested my child?””
“I didn't want you getting hurt.””
“By whom?””
“Jamiya, you don't understand the situation.””
“Then explain it!””
My mother sighed.
“I was told that there was a possibility the baby belonged to Marcus. I didn't know what to believe, and I didn't want you making decisions based on a lie.””
I stared at the wall.
“Who told you that?””
Silence.
“Mom, who told you?””
She lowered her voice.
“Charles came to see me.””
I turned toward him.
Charles stood motionless in the kitchen doorway.
My mother continued.
“He said you had been seeing Marcus before he left. He said the dates didn't make sense. He told me he was afraid you were going to have a child with another man and let him believe it was his.””
My mouth went dry.
“And you believed him?””
“I didn't know what to believe!””
“You could have asked me.””
“You were already so upset. You were barely sleeping. You kept telling me Charles would leave his wife, and I was afraid you were making decisions because you wanted that promise to be true.””
The words hurt because they contained a small piece of truth.
I had wanted Charles to choose me so badly that I had ignored every warning sign.
But that didn't give my mother the right to decide who my child's father was.
“So you arranged the second test,” I said.
“Yes.””
“Did you change the sample?””
“No, Jamiya. I swear to you, I did not change the sample.””
I looked at Charles.
He was watching me with an expression I couldn't read.
“Then who did?””
My mother began to cry.
“I don't know.””
I pressed the phone closer to my ear.
“Did you speak to the laboratory yourself?””
“Yes.””
“Did you give them the baby's sample?””
“No. Charles said he would arrange everything.””
I felt a cold wave move through me.
“Charles arranged it?””
My mother sniffed.
“He said he had a contact at the laboratory. He told me the first test had been rushed and that we needed an independent result.””
“Then why did you keep it a secret?””
“Because I was afraid.””
“Of what?””
“Of losing you.””
I closed my eyes.
For a moment, I was a little girl again, sitting at the kitchen table while my mother brushed my hair before school. She used to tell me that family was the one place where I would always be safe.
I had believed her.
Now I couldn't tell whether she was trying to protect me or protect herself.
“Mom,” I whispered, “did you know Charles had paid Marcus to disappear?””
She stopped crying.
“What?””
“Did you know?””
“No.””
“Did you know Marcus had contacted Charles?””
“No.””
Her answers sounded genuine.
That didn't mean they were true.
I took a slow breath.
“I'm going to ask you one more question, and I need you to answer honestly.””
“Anything, baby.””
“Did Marcus tell you something about the night he disappeared?””
My mother went completely silent.
Not the startled silence of someone who didn't understand the question.
The heavy silence of someone deciding which lie to tell.
“Mom?””
When she spoke, her voice was barely audible.
“Where did you hear about that night?””
I felt my stomach turn.
“Why does that matter?””
“Jamiya, listen to me. You need to leave Charles's house.””
“I'm not leaving until I understand what's happening.””
“You need to take the baby and go somewhere safe.””
“Why?””
“Because if Charles has started talking about that night, then he knows—”
She stopped.
I gripped the phone.
“He knows what?””
“Nothing. I didn't mean—”
“Mom, finish the sentence.””
Her breathing grew ragged.
“Please, sweetheart. Just come home. We'll talk in person.””
“No. Tell me what Charles knows.””
My mother began sobbing.
Then she whispered something that made my entire body go cold.
“Marcus didn't leave because Charles paid him. Charles paid him because Marcus threatened to tell you what happened to your father.””
I stopped breathing.
My father had died when I was sixteen.
A car accident, according to the police report.
A wet road. A damaged guardrail. No other vehicle identified.
My mother had told me he lost control of his car on his way home from work.
For twelve years, I had visited his grave on his birthday and placed white lilies beside the headstone.
I had never questioned the story.
Not once.
“Mom,” I whispered, “what does my father have to do with Marcus?””
She cried harder.
“I can't explain it over the phone.””
“Then explain it right now.””
“I can't.””
“Why not?””
“Because Charles wasn't the only person who knew what happened that night.””
I stared at Charles.
He had gone pale.
Letreya slowly covered her mouth.
Jaylen stood frozen beside the doorway.
And Tiana whispered, “Oh, my God.””
I could barely hear any of them.
“Mom,” I said, “are you telling me Dad's accident wasn't an accident?””
My mother didn't answer.
She didn't need to.
I heard a door close on her end of the call.
Then a man's voice spoke in the background.
A voice I recognized immediately.
Marcus.
“Tell her,” he said.
“Tell her what we found in the car.””
My mother gasped.
The call ended.
I stared at my phone, waiting for it to ring again.
It didn't.
Then a text message appeared from an unknown number.
There was a photograph attached.
It showed a damaged car beside a highway guardrail, its windshield shattered, the driver's side crushed inward.
My father's car.
Beneath the photograph was a message.
Your father didn't die on that road by accident. And the man who knows why is standing in the same room as you.
I slowly lifted my eyes toward Charles.
He was staring at the photograph on my phone.
His face had lost every trace of color.
“Jamiya,” he whispered, “please don't believe what you're about to hear.””
But before I could ask him a single question, the front door opened.
A man stepped inside.
Older than I remembered. Thinner. A faint scar running along his jaw.
Marcus.
He looked at me, then at the baby in my arms.
His eyes filled with tears.
“I know you hate me,” he said.
“But before you decide who your son's father is, you need to know what Charles did to your father.””
May you like
And then Marcus reached into his jacket and pulled out a small, battered envelope.
On the front, in my father's handwriting, was my name.
