Chapter 6 - The Caldwell Name
The DNA test was performed two days later.
Ethan insisted on using an independent laboratory selected by his attorney.
Rosa agreed.
Victoria demanded a second laboratory.
Ethan refused.
“You’re not part of this process.”
Those words traveled through New York society faster than any official statement.
Within seventy-two hours, rumors began spreading.
A child.
A former lover.
A wedding in danger.
A maid living inside the Caldwell estate.
Reporters appeared near the front gates.
Rosa stared at them from an upstairs window.
“This is exactly what I was afraid of.”
Ethan stood behind her.
“I’ll handle it.”
“You can’t handle the internet.”
“I can protect Lily.”
“From photographers?”
“From anyone who comes onto this property.”
Rosa turned.
“She shouldn’t have to hide.”
“You’re right.”
“Then what happens if the test says what we already know?”
Ethan had been asking himself the same question.
“I become her father.”
Rosa’s expression hardened.
“You already are her father.”
He understood the correction.
“What I mean is that I become present.”
“That doesn’t happen because you write a check.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Ethan accepted the hit.
Rosa continued.
“She doesn’t know you.”
“She trusts you because you were kind to her at the hospital.”
“That isn’t the same as being her father.”
“I know.”
“You missed three years.”
His face tightened.
“I know.”
“I’m not saying that to punish you.”
“I know.”
Rosa sighed.
“She has routines.”
“She likes strawberries cut into four pieces.”
“She hates thunderstorms.”
“She wakes up at 6:15 almost every morning.”
“She wants Button beside her when she sleeps.”
“She calls blueberries blue bubbles.”
Ethan smiled despite the ache in his chest.
Rosa continued.
“She thinks the moon follows our car.”
“She cries when cartoons have sad endings.”
“And she asks questions until adults regret teaching her how to talk.”
Ethan laughed softly.
Then Lily appeared in the doorway.
“I heard that.”
Rosa turned.
“You were supposed to be napping.”
“I finished.”
“That isn’t how naps work.”
Lily walked toward Ethan.
“Are you my daddy?”
Everything stopped.
Rosa closed her eyes.
Ethan looked at her.
Neither had planned this conversation.
He crouched.
“Who told you that?”
“Mr. Harold.”
Rosa muttered something in Spanish.
Ethan almost smiled.
Lily waited.
“Maybe,” Ethan said carefully.
“We’re checking.”
“With the doctor?”
“Sort of.”
Lily considered this.
Then she touched his cheek.
“You look like me.”
His throat tightened.
“I think you look better.”
Lily smiled.
“Can I call you Ethan?”
“You can call me anything you want.”
She thought carefully.
“Okay, Ethan.”
Rosa covered a laugh.
Ethan nodded solemnly.
“Fair enough.”
Lily turned toward the piano room.
“Can I play?”
Rosa started to object.
Ethan answered first.
“Yes.”
They entered the east parlor together.
Lily climbed onto the bench.
Her tiny fingers touched the keys.
A simple melody filled the room.
Ethan stopped beside the doorway.
It was the same melody his mother used to play when he was a child.
He stared at Rosa.
“Did you teach her that?”
Rosa shook her head.
“No.”
Ethan looked toward Lily.
May you like
Then he whispered,
“My mother did.”
