Page 197 of Wrong Number Right Doctor

“Okay,” I say, relieved.

“There’s something else though—” he starts.

My breath almost stops. “What is it?”

He looks up at me. “The result excludes Mr. Chandler as the biological father.”

For a second, I can’t hear anything else. The room goes still around me.

Alester is not the father. Which only means one thing.

Dalton.

My hand moves to my stomach before I realize I’m doing it. Not protectively. Just instinctively, like I need to hold on to something while my brain catches up.

Dr. Acharya’s voice comes from very far away. “Maggie?”

I look up. He’s watching me carefully now, much more carefully than before.

“Have you told Mr. Chandler?” I ask.

“No.” The answer is immediate.

I blink. “No?”

“I had the result in my file, but I hadn’t reviewed it before you came in. So no, I haven’t spoken to him.”

Relief hits first. Then panic.

I stand. The chair scrapes behind me.

Dr. Acharya frowns. “Where are you going?”

I hear my own voice answer before I’ve fully thought it through.

“To tell him myself.”

He studies me for a moment. “You don’t have to do that immediately.”

“Yes,” I say. This time I’m steadier. “Yes, I do.”

Because if I let someone else tell him, I lose control of it again.

* * *

I expect to feel sick on the way to Alester’s house.

Instead, I feel weirdly clear.

Not calm. Definitely not calm. My hands are cold, my chest is tight, and the folder in my bag might as well be made of brick for how heavy it feels. But under all of that, there’s something solid I haven’t had in weeks.

A decision.

I didn’t mean to make it in Acharya’s office. I didn’t go in there planning to end anything. But the moment I heard the words excludes Mr. Chandler as the biological father, something in me shifted.

Not because it solved anything.

Because it didn’t.