**Diary Entry 15th Wedding Anniversary**
I should have known better than to hand her that envelope. But I needed to know.
“Happy anniversary, love,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady as I passed her the DNA test results.
Emilys fingers trembled as she held it, as if it might burn her. “You think this is a gift? On our fifteenth anniversary, William? Really?”
I stood by the window, watching the July sun flood our back garden in Hampshire. My shoulders tensed.
“You have to understand, Em. I had to know.”
Around us, the remnants of our celebrationhalf-drunk champagne, cake crumbs with fifteen candles, white lilies in a vase. Our country home, bought five years ago, suddenly felt cold despite the heat outside.
“Know what? That Oliver isnt yours?” She flung the envelope onto the table. “This is some horrible mistake. I never cheated on you, do you hear me? Never!”
I turned to face her, anger and pain warring in my chest.
“Then explain these results. Explain why they say theres less than a one percent chance Im his father!”
The front door slammed. Our fourteen-year-old daughter, Grace, stood in the doorwaytall like me, with the same sharp grey eyes.
“Whats going on? Are you two arguing? On your anniversary?”
Emily snatched the envelope. “Nothing, love. Just work stuff.”
“On a weekend?” Grace narrowed her eyes, inheriting my scepticism. “Fine. If you wont tell me, dont. Im going to Sophies. Were seeing a film.”
When she left, Emily sagged into a chair. “Wheres Oliver?”
“At the Parkers. They picked him up from footballhes staying over.” I poured myself more champagne. “Funny, isnt it? Fifteen years married, and Ive just found out Ive been raising another mans son for ten of them.”
“Hes not another mans!” Emily shot up. “Youre his fatheryou held him when he was born, you taught him to ride a bike, you”
“I thought he was mine!” I slammed my glass down, spilling champagne on the tablecloth. “Now I dont know what to think. Whose is he, Emily?”
“Mine and yours. Our son. Theres been a mistake with the test.”
“I checked three times, Em. Three! I didnt want to believe the first result.”
Emily looked like the ground had vanished beneath her. “When did you start doubting? Why did you even do this?”
I exhaled slowly. “Victor.”
“Victor? Your old colleague? Whats he got to do with it?”
“Two weeks ago, we ran into each other at B&Q. Got talking. Asked about you, the kids. Then he said something that made me wonder.”
Emilys hands went cold.
“What did he say?”
“He hinted you two had an affair. That you” I couldnt finish.
“What?!” Emily jumped up. “Me and Victor? Are you mad? I couldnt stand him! You said yourself he spent years trying to undermine you at work!”
“I know,” I ran a hand through my hair. “But then I started thinking Oliver doesnt look like me. Not like anyone in my family. And the timing fitswhen I was working away in Manchester that year”
“I cant believe youd trust Victor over me,” Emily whispered, sinking back down. “Fifteen years, William.”
“I wanted to believe you. Thats why I got the testto prove Victor was lying. But the results” I nodded at the envelope. “They say otherwise.”
Silence hung between us.
“What now?” Emily finally asked.
“I dont know.” I grabbed my coat. “I need time. Ill stay with James for a few days.”
She didnt protest. Just watched as I walked out of the house wed built together. When the door shut, I heard her sob.
James handed me a coffee in his cramped but cosy flat. “I dont get why you even did the test.”
I hadnt slept. It showed in the shadows under my eyes.
“You didnt see the way Victor looked at me when he said it. So sure. And youve seen Oliverhes nothing like me.”
“He looks like Emily,” James shrugged. “So? My Charlie takes after Lucy more than me.”
“But the test”
“Are you sure its accurate? Who did the analysis?”
I pulled a crumpled business card from my pocket. “GenoLab. Private, but well-reviewed. I checked.”
James turned it over. “So what now?”
“I dont know,” I rubbed my face. “Feels like the worlds collapsed.”
“Did you talk to Emily? What does she say?”
“That she never cheated. That its a mistake.”
“Do you believe her?”
I met his eyes. “Fifteen years, I did. Now I dont know.”
Emily sat across from the director of MedTest, her exhaustion hidden behind steel resolve. “I need the results as fast as possible.”
The director, a stout woman with glasses, nodded. “Three days. But DNA tests are serious. If you doubt another labs results”
“Im certain theres been a mistake,” Emily said firmly. “William is Olivers father. Ill prove it.”
Grace found her mother at the laptop, scribbling notes. “Mum, whats going on? Wheres Dad? Hes not answering my texts.”
Emily flinched and closed the screen. “Dads staying with Uncle James. Weve had a disagreement.”
“About what?” Grace crossed her arms.
“Your father doubts hes Olivers biological father.”
Grace froze. “What? How?”
“He did a DNA test. It says theyre not related. But its wrong, Grace. I know it is.”
“You cheated on Dad?” Her voice shook.
“No! Never!” Emily grabbed her hands. “I swear to you, I never betrayed him. I love him. Always have.”
Grace wrenched free. “Then how is Oliver yours? DNA doesnt lie, Mum!”
“Tests can be wrong. Labs make mistakes. People manipulate results.”
“What are you saying?”
Emily opened her notebook. “I think someone tampered with the results. Or there was a mix-up at the hospital. Or”
“Youre making up insane theories instead of admitting the truth!” Grace cried. “You lied to all of us! Poor Dad! Poor Oliver!”
“Grace, please”
“Dont touch me!” She stormed out, slamming the door.
Later, Emily met her friend Sarah at a café. “Is she coming?”
Sarah checked her phone. “Five minutes. She doesnt know its you.”
A woman in her forties enteredshort hair, wary eyes. Seeing Emily, she stiffened.
“What is this, Sarah?”
“I just need to ask you something, Irene,” Emily said.
“Ive got nothing to say to you.”
“I know you dated William before me,” Emily blurted. “And you worked at the hospital when Oliver was born.”
Irene turned back. “So?”
“Was there a mix-up? Or” She couldnt say the word *switch*.
Irene laughed bitterly. “You think I swapped your baby for revenge? Seriously?”
“I dont know what to think!” Emilys voice cracked. “A DNA test says William isnt Olivers father. I never cheated. How?”
Irene sat. “What exactly did the test say? That William isnt the father? Or that Oliver isnt yours?”
“Just that William isnt.”
“Where was it done?”
“GenoLab.”
Irenes expression shifted. “Funny coincidence. My niece Alice works there. Handles results.”
Emily and Sarah exchanged glances.
“Could she alter them?” Sarah asked carefully.
“I didnt say that,” Irene said quickly. “But Alice is very loyal to me. She knows about William.”
My grandmother, Margaret, waited in her tiny flat. At eighty, she was sharp as a tack.
“Sit, boy,” she ordered. “James told me. What nonsense is this?”
I sank into a chair. “Gran, its not nonsense. I have test results”
“Tests!” she scoffed. “When was the last time you looked in a mirror? At your grandfather?”
She pulled out an old album, pointing to a faded photoa boy of ten, the spitting image of Oliver.
“Whos this?” I asked.
“Your grandfather, Edward. My husband. 1953.”
I stared. “But thats Oliver!”
“Our family genes play tricks, William. You look like your father. James looks like me. Oliver? Hes Edward reborn.”
“But the test
