Chapter 4: The Name on the Birth Record
Brielle looked as if Wesley had slapped her.
Her lips parted, but the words refused to come. She stood at the foot of the staircase with the brown envelope trembling between her fingers, while Calvin gripped the console table as though the entire house had begun to tilt.
Wesley looked from one face to the other.
“I'm waiting.””
“Wesley,” Brielle whispered, “I don't know.””
“That's not an answer.””
“I don't know if we're related.””
He stared at her.
“You don't know?””
“I found documents. I found letters. I found a photograph of your mother holding a baby.
I found a name that connects my family to yours. But I haven't seen a DNA test. I haven't seen anything that proves exactly what the connection is.””
“Then why did you look like you were going to faint when I asked?””
Brielle pressed the envelope against her chest.
“Because I was afraid you'd ask.””
Calvin straightened abruptly.
“That's enough. We're not doing this tonight.””
Wesley turned toward him.
“You don't get to end this conversation.””
“I'm your father.””
“And I'm your son! Apparently, that doesn't mean much when there's something you don't want me to know.””
Calvin's expression tightened, but Wesley didn't back down.
“You've been telling me to respect you my entire life. You taught me that a man takes responsibility for his choices. You taught me that lying makes a problem worse. Now I'm standing here asking a simple question, and you're acting like the truth will kill you.””
His father swallowed.
“Sometimes the truth destroys people.””
“Then maybe you should have thought about that before you started hiding it.””
Brielle closed her eyes.
“I never wanted this to happen.””
Wesley faced her.
“Did you know about this when we started dating?””
“No.””
“Did you know when you met my father?””
“No.””
“Did you know before you started coming here alone?””
She hesitated.
Wesley's face hardened.
“How long, Brielle?””
“Six weeks.””
He stared at her as though he had misheard.
“Six weeks?””
“That's when I found the documents.””
“And you didn't tell me.””
“I was trying to understand what they meant.””
“You could have tried understanding them with me!””
“I was scared!””
Her sudden shout silenced the room.
Brielle wiped her face with the heel of her hand, breathing unevenly.
“You think I wanted to discover something like this? You think I wanted to look at the man I love and wonder whether our entire relationship is built on a lie? I spent nights going through those papers, trying to find a reason they couldn't mean what I thought they meant.””
Wesley's anger wavered.
For the first time, he understood that Brielle might have been living with the same terrible uncertainty he was experiencing now.
But understanding her fear didn't erase the betrayal.
“You should have told me,” he said.
“I know.””
“You should have trusted me.””
“I know.””
“Then why didn't you?””
Brielle looked toward Calvin.
“Because your father told me there was a reason the truth had been hidden. He said revealing everything without understanding it could hurt people who had nothing to do with what happened.””
Wesley slowly turned to his father.
“What people?””
Calvin rubbed both hands over his face.
“Your grandmother. Your mother's family. People who have spent years trying to move forward.””
“My grandmother has been dead for eight years.””
“Your mother's sister is still alive.””
Wesley froze.
He had met his maternal aunt, Vanessa Brooks, only a handful of times. She lived outside Macon and rarely attended family gatherings. Wesley had always assumed their distance came from the painful memories surrounding Denise's death.
“What does Aunt Vanessa have to do with this?””
Calvin said nothing.
Wesley stepped toward him.
“Dad.””
“I don't know everything Brielle found.””
“That's convenient.””
“It's the truth.””
“Then tell me what you do know.””
Calvin looked toward the windows, where the rain had begun to ease.
“Before your mother married me, she was involved in a family situation that became complicated. There were legal documents, disagreements, and decisions that weren't mine to make.””
“What family situation?””
“I'm trying to explain.””
“No. You're trying to give me another sentence that sounds important without telling me anything.””
Wesley snatched the envelope from Brielle's hands.
She didn't resist.
He removed the folded document and opened it carefully. The paper was a photocopy of a birth record. Some of the print had faded, but the name of the mother was legible.
Denise Marie Carter.
Wesley's stomach tightened.
His mother had used the surname Carter after marrying Calvin, but the record listed a date from before their wedding.
Below her name was the name of a child.
The father's name was blank.
The child's name was partially obscured by a dark mark on the copy.
He tilted the paper beneath the overhead light.
“Who is this?””
Calvin stepped closer.
“Let me see that.””
Wesley pulled the paper away.
“No.””
“Wesley, please.””
“Read it out loud.””
His father stared at the document.
“I can't.””
“You can't, or you won't?””
Calvin's silence answered for him.
Wesley examined the date again. The child had been born nearly two years before Wesley.
He felt suddenly cold.
“Mom had another baby.””
Brielle covered her mouth.
Calvin's eyes filled.
Wesley shook his head, struggling to process the information.
“Did she give the baby up for adoption?””
“It's more complicated than that,” Calvin said.
“Of course it is.””
“Your mother believed she was doing what was best for the child.””
“Where is the child now?””
Calvin's lips trembled.
“I don't know.””
Wesley laughed in disbelief.
“You expect me to believe you married a woman with a child somewhere in the world, and you never found out what happened to that child?””
“I knew about the child.””
The admission landed heavily.
Wesley went still.
“You knew?””
“Yes.””
“For how long?””
“Since before we got married.””
Wesley stared at him.
“You knew Mom had another child before you married her, and you never told me?””
“You were sixteen when she died. You were already struggling with losing her. I didn't want to burden you with something that had no bearing on your life.””
“No bearing on my life?”” Wesley's voice rose.
“That's my brother or sister!””
“We didn't know where the child was.””
“You could have told me!””
“And what would you have done? Spent your childhood searching for someone we might never have found?””
“At least I would have known!””
Calvin flinched.
Wesley looked down at the birth record again.
Then something caught his eye.
The document contained a second name in a field near the bottom. It wasn't his mother's.
It was the name of a witness.
*Monica Thompson.*
Brielle's mother.
He looked up slowly.
“Why is your mother's name on my mother's birth record?””
Brielle made a strangled sound.
“I don't know.””
“Stop saying that!””
“I swear to you, Wesley, I didn't know until I found the papers.””
He held the document toward her.
“Is this your mother's handwriting?””
She studied the name, shaking her head.
“No. It's typed.””
“Did she ever mention my mother?””
Brielle's eyes filled again.
“Not by name. But when I was little, she used to say there was a woman she owed a debt to. She never explained what she meant.””
Calvin sank onto the sofa.
For the first time, he looked old.
Wesley stood in the middle of the room, surrounded by the ruins of everything he had believed about his family.
His mother had another child.
His father had known.
Brielle's mother had somehow been involved.
And the woman Wesley loved might be connected to him by blood.
He folded the document carefully, though his hands were shaking.
“I'm calling Aunt Vanessa.””
Calvin shot to his feet.
“No.””
Wesley stared at him.
“Excuse me?””
“Don't involve Vanessa until we understand what happened.””
“She's my mother's sister. If anybody can tell me the truth, it's her.””
“Your aunt doesn't know everything.””
“Then whatever she knows is more than you've given me.””
Wesley pulled out his phone.
Calvin reached toward him, then stopped when Wesley raised his hand.
“Touch me, and I swear to God, I will walk out of this house and never come back.””
His father froze.
Wesley found Vanessa's number and pressed call.
The phone rang four times.
Then a woman's tired voice answered.
“Wesley? Baby, is everything all right?””
He looked at Calvin, whose face had gone pale again.
“No, Aunt Vanessa. Nothing is all right.””
“What happened?””
Wesley swallowed hard.
“I found a birth record with Mom's name on it. It says she had a child before me.””
The silence on the other end lasted so long that Wesley checked to make sure the call hadn't disconnected.
Then Vanessa whispered, “Oh, Lord.””
Wesley closed his eyes.
“You knew.””
It wasn't a question.
Vanessa began to cry.
May you like
And before she could explain, Wesley heard her say the words that changed everything again.
“Your mother didn't give that baby away, Wesley. Somebody took that child from her.””
