“You’ll stay?” He bows his chin. “Will you stay until I wake up again?”
“I’m not going anywhere.” I look to the door. “I won’t go farther than the waiting room. I need to tell your mom and dad that you woke up.”
“Tell them I love them, and it’s okay.”
“You love them, and you’re okay,” I say through tears.
“It’s okay,” he gently corrects me. “I know why they did it.”
His eyes start to shut, so I don’t press for more.
“I’ll tell them,” I whisper as I press my lips to his forehead. “I love you, Liam.”
I love you, lilac. Happy Birthday.”
Chapter 53
Liam
One of those mail-in DNA kits altered my entire life.
Winola bought a bunch as a fun Christmas gift a few years ago. I swabbed the inside of my cheek and mailed it in.
When it came back, I read the results.
They didn’t mirror the results that Nicholas had received back from the kit he’d sent it months before.
Not one damn thing matched.
I took that to my mother, but she laughed it off as a hoax.
“How can you trust something like that?” she asked. “They must mix up samples all the time.”
It’s plausible.
So I took it a step further.
When Sebastian crashed at my place for a weekend before he met Tilly, I tossed the toothbrush he used into a plastic baggie and dropped that off at a DNA lab in Manhattan along with another swab from inside my cheek.
A trained professional took that sample.
Our DNA didn’t match.
Another visit to my mother followed along with another denial.
She pulled out a photo album filled with pictures of her pregnant with me.
She showed me the dated ultrasound image.
I accepted it all until I went to the doctor for a routine check-up and mentioned the shortness of breath I experienced when I worked out.
He ran tests, and then more tests.
The diagnosis was devastating.
I had a heart condition that was likely inherited.
The fact was that both my parents never had an issue. I asked.