Mum claimed the boy wasn’t mine.
“I want a DNA test!”
John stood in the doorway, his expression serious, showing he wasn’t joking.
Emily was washing dishes at the time and thought maybe the sound of the water made her mishear him.
So, she turned off the tap and asked her husband again.
“What did you say?”
“I want a DNA test for our son.”
“Why?” Emily asked as she dried her hands.
“Because I think our son isn’t mine.”
This was a bombshell… Their son Timothy was already four. John wasn’t exactly the father of the year, but he’d always been warm towards Tim. He spent time with him, bought him toys, and even sometimes stayed with him in the evenings when Emily had to go out.
He had never before expressed any doubt about being Tim’s father. There had been no reasons to suspect anything else. Emily and John had married six years ago, and a year later, Emily discovered she was pregnant.
That year had been filled with happiness, and Emily certainly had no one else. So why now?
“Can I ask why you’ve decided this?” Emily inquired.
John smirked, then gave his wife a somewhat hostile look.
“See! You’re already trying to talk me out of it! If your conscience were clear, you wouldn’t be afraid!”
It seemed ridiculous.
Emily and John didn’t share some fairy-tale love, but Emily thought that such notions were just stories. What is love, really? If you’re comfortable with someone, respect each other, and stay faithful, isn’t that love?
Yet, never in their years together had her husband so insulted her. They had respect and trust, and now he was openly accusing her!
“I’m not trying to dissuade you,” Emily replied as calmly as she could. “I’m just curious why, four years after Tim’s birth, you suddenly think he isn’t your son?”
“He doesn’t even look like me!” John offered what he thought was an undeniable argument. “I’m blond, and everyone in my family is fair, yet Tim has dark hair and brown eyes!”
“And what about that I have dark hair and brown eyes?” Emily countered. “And he’s the spitting image of my father; even you noticed that!”
“I don’t see it,” John immediately refuted, although just six months ago, he had remarked on how much Tim resembled his granddad. “But I see how he looks like your coworker!”
“Which one?” Emily asked out of curiosity.
“Which one, which one?” John mimicked. “That Marcus!”
Emily couldn’t help but chuckle. Before her pregnancy, she had worked in a furniture store, and there was a mover named Marcus. And for the record, Tim didn’t look anything like him, except maybe for the dark hair.
“John, this is madness,” Emily shook her head. “You know I’ve never been unfaithful to you!”
“Well, my mum and sister told me you’d deny it! So whether you like it or not, I’m taking the test!”
Ah, so that’s it… It all made sense now.
Emily was someone who generally got along with everyone. Kind, easy-going, always ready to help. But she also had a strong backbone that wouldn’t let others walk all over her. If something didn’t suit her, she would voice it. She wasn’t one to flatter needlessly.
Her relationship with her mother-in-law didn’t go smoothly from the start. Initially, John’s mum seemed pleasant. She would set up the table nicely when they visited, compliment Emily, always mentioning how lucky her son was to have such a brainy and beautiful wife. Emily felt lucky with her mother-in-law, hearing horror stories about others but finding her own to be a lovely woman.
But it soon became apparent that this lovely woman who smiled at Emily at the table was saying nasty things behind her back. Calling her dumb, a poor homemaker, and claiming she was as ugly as sin. The last charge stung the most, as Emily was objectively quite attractive.
Naturally, Emily didn’t just turn a blind eye. At the next visit, she laid everything out frankly, asking the mother-in-law to make up her mind about her.
That was when the woman’s nasty nature revealed itself fully. But Emily dealt with it simply – she stopped associating with her. John would visit, sometimes taking Tim, but Emily never invited her to their home.
John’s sister wasn’t much better. She also loved spreading gossip and pouring scorn on everyone. She always found excuses for her troubles: her husband leaving (though he found out about her affair), getting sacked from work (caught stealing), and having the electricity cut off (after all, she hadn’t paid the bill for six months). Initially, Emily tried to connect with her but realized that quietly nodding and agreeing with her complaints was against her conscience. After all, truth is often unwelcome.
And now it turned out that John’s mum and sister had been whispering in his ear. They must have been working on him for a while and finally succeeded.
Emily decided to give John a chance to come to his senses. She sat down at the table and asked her husband to join her.
“John, your family doesn’t exactly like me and they’ve filled your head with nonsense that could ruin our marriage.”
“If you have nothing to hide,” her husband replied, as if he hadn’t heard her, “then we’ll do the test.”
“Alright,” Emily conceded. “We’ll do it. But only with one condition.”
“What kind of condition?” John scoffed.
“When the test shows the child is yours (and it will), you pack your things and go to your mother’s. And we get a divorce.”
“Why?” John frowned.
“Because I won’t live with a man who doesn’t trust me, despite having no reason not to. If your mother’s opinion is more important to you, then go ahead! But if you use your own head, you’d realize I’ve never been unfaithful to you.”
John pondered. Emily hoped her husband might realize his mistake and stop this nonsense. But it seemed the seed had been well planted because, after a couple of minutes, John declared:
“We’re doing the test. That’s final.”
“Alright,” Emily nodded.
Perhaps John had been convinced Tim wasn’t his. Or maybe he didn’t take his wife’s words seriously. But the next day, samples were collected from him and Tim for the DNA test.
It took a week to get the results. During that week, John and Emily didn’t speak. Emily also noticed John’s coldness towards Tim.
She was eagerly waiting for the test results herself, just to throw them in her husband’s face. Emily had made up her mind. If John had come to his thoughts independently, she might have accepted it. But no, everything was fine until he listened to his mother. What’s next? Would his mother devise more schemes to drive a wedge between them and tear down her daughter-in-law? Emily would not tolerate it.
When the results arrived via email, Emily called John over. She opened the email but didn’t bother to look. She knew the result. She simply turned the phone screen to her husband.
He scrutinized it for a long time before smiling.
“Tim is my son! Seems like a weight lifted! We should celebrate!”
“Sure, we should,” Emily nodded. “But not about your parenthood – that was certain from the moment I got pregnant. We should celebrate our divorce.”
“What divorce?” John frowned. “Emily, are you serious? Yes, I had doubts! But do you know how many men raise kids that aren’t theirs?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t care,” Emily cut him off. “But I do know I won’t live with someone who doesn’t think for himself. Who’s willing to hurt someone close because of hearsay. Who even distanced himself from his son for a week because of imagined scenarios. Leave, John.”
John tried for a long time to save their family. He even apologized for his behavior and promised not to listen to his family again.
But Emily remained firm. Something seemingly trivial had so clearly revealed the man she had married and had a child with.
Emily felt sorry for whoever might end up with John in the future. They, too, would have a hard time contending with his family’s wicked tongues. But maybe John learned something and will be smarter next time. Though, probably not. People don’t change…
