“No,” I said instinctively, shaking my head in disbelief.
“Yes, Travis,” she answered quietly. “You are that child.”
Everything inside me shattered in an instant as I let out a hollow laugh that carried no humor at all.
“This is insane,” I said, staring at her as if she had just destroyed my entire reality.
“I did not recognize you at first when we met,” she rushed to explain, desperate to make me understand. “I only saw a kind and intelligent young man who deserved better, and I grew close to you before I noticed the similarities.”
She admitted that months later she had someone investigate quietly, and eight months before the wedding she had confirmed the truth that I was her biological son.
“Eight months ago, and you still married me,” I asked, my voice rising despite myself.
She lowered her head in shame and whispered that she had tried to push me away but had failed because she could not let go completely.
