Page 135 of David's Love

“I got some information online, and then I went to an address and looked for Eleanor Winston.”

My hackles rise.

“And then I spoke to her neighbor. Because apparently she’s dead. Eleanor. Not the neighbor. And then I got this.”

She tosses the ziplock bag on the bed before looking at me, terrified.

“And you need to do a paternity test. Because I think and have proof to confirm that Julie is your daughter.”

The sky falls on me so fast that I lose my breath.

“What??”

She’s white like chalk.

“What did you just say?”

“Julie, your assistant, is your daughter, David.”

A nervous laugh finds its way to my lips.

“What are you talking about. She can’t be my daughter. There's no way.”

“Oh, but I think there is.”

She looks down, and faster than her, I leap to my feet and grab the ziplock bag from the bed before crushing back into my seat.

“What is this?”

I stare blankly at the contents of the ziplock bag, unable to calm down or focus on the papers tucked inside.

“It’s what Anna gave Eleanor. And Eleanor gave Sylvia.”

“Why?”

“Why what, David?”

“Why would she do that?”

I take them out. And spread them on the bed.

“Who are we talking about now?”

“Why would Anna do that? Leave these… What are these? Notes?”

A nervous hand leafs through the sheets of paper.

I pick one up.

“That’s not the one. Look,” she says, picking up a couple.

One looks like a lined sheet of notebook paper. The second one is more fancy. They both have Anna’s handwriting on them. And then I spot the letters we had exchanged.

“I didn’t read those. Just so you know,” Elizabeth says with tension in her voice. “And you need to see this.”

She hands me a copy of Julie’s birth certificate.

And right there, under the father’s name, I spot Ned’s name.

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