“Yes.”
Then she added:
“But before we do anything, I need to say something.”
I waited.
“If Lucas is your biological child, I will not lie to him.”
“But I’m also not letting anybody walk into his life and treat the last eight years like they didn’t happen.”
I stared at her.
For the first time that day, something inside me steadied.
“Good.”
Rachel blinked.
“What?”
“Good.”
I swallowed.
“Because whatever happened to me is not his fault.”
“And loving him for eight years is not yours.”
Her face collapsed.
We cried together in the principal’s office.
Two strangers.
Two mothers.
One boy neither of us understood how to share.
I did not call Adrian immediately.
That surprised me.
For eight years, he had been my first call for everything.
Instead, I called a lawyer.
Her name was Dana Reeves, a Bellmere family-law attorney recommended by a friend.
