“The results aren’t mine to open.”But he was almost certain Steven was her father.
Aria handed him Sophie and took the envelope from him.She drew in a deep breath and tore it open.She pulled out the paper and looked at it.Then she handed it to Ryan.“Ninety-nine point nine percent probability.Steven is your father.”
He watched her pace and waited for her to say something.“I knew he was after we talked about the plant.But to have it confirmed by science… I don’t know how I feel.”
“When are you going to tell him?”
“Tonight.I’ll call him and tell him and arrange to see him tomorrow.You’re working, aren’t you?”
“Yes, but I should be able to come over around five thirty or six if you want to wait.”
“I do want to wait.Do you mind?”
“Of course not.Are you going to hear him out?”
“I guess I’ll have to, won’t I?”
Not necessarily, but he hoped she would.It would be hard, if not impossible, for Aria to keep an open mind about whatever Steven told her.Given that it had been so long since she’d seen her father, he wondered if anything the man said would change the way she felt.
*
Aria wasn’t atall sure she wanted to hear her father’s story.But she’d told him she’d listen after she called him last night to tell him the results of the DNA test.Obviously, he hadn’t been surprised at the results.He’d said several times that he didn’t expect forgiveness, that he simply wanted to tell her what had happened.Then, if she never wanted to see him again, he would respect her wishes.
Ryan showed up about five thirty and gave Sophie a bath and put her in her jammies.She’d fed her before he got there and her clothes showed it.“We started cereal,” she said.
“So I see,” Ryan said with a laugh.“Did any go in her mouth?”
“Ha-ha.Next time you can try it.”
“I’d love to.We’ll be back.”He carried Sophie off, and she heard him talking to her.“What did you think about cereal?Oh, really?You like it, huh?”
He was so cute when he talked to Sophie like that, her heart simply melted.
Ryan had just returned with Sophie, all clean and sweet-smelling and wearing her jammies when the doorbell rang.Aria froze, then sucked in a breath and started toward the front door to answer it.“Why don’t you take Sophie into the den?I think we’ll all be more comfortable in there.”
“You’re sure you want me here?Sophie and I can go to her room.”
She paused.“Don’t you dare leave.”
Her father looked much as he had the first time she’d seen him.It was obvious he’d tried to look his best, and equally clear the he didn’t have a lot of money to do it with.“Come in.”
He came in and she led him into the den.She and Ryan and Sophie sat on the couch and her father sat in a side chair.He didn’t seem to know what to say so she said, “Start at the beginning.Why did you leave?”
“I left because I had post-traumatic stress and it was getting worse.I was afraid of what would happen if I stayed.I think your mother realized that’s what happened; that was why I left.”
“If she did she never told me.”But she remembered her father acting differently than usual.Mostly that he stopped talking to her.
He closed his eyes.“I-I hoped she knew.Maybe she didn’t.”
“She never said a bad word about you.So she must have suspected something.”
“I lost my job right before I left, but she didn’t know that.She wanted me to go to the VA and see if they could help me.But that didn’t happen.”
“You didn’t go?”
“I went but I never saw anyone.I waited for hours.They were busy, told me to come back the next day.But I didn’t.”
“Why?”
