Chapter 15 - Lucas’s anger
Lucas took the news harder than I expected.
He had a wife.
Sarah.
A twelve-year-old son.
Now he had biological paternity to a five-year-old child conceived without his knowledge.
He called me through counsel first.
Then asked to speak directly.
We met in a therapist’s office.
He said:
“I don’t want custody.”
I had not asked.
“I know.”
“I need you to know.”
“Okay.”
“I also don’t want to pretend she doesn’t exist.”
“Okay.”
He stared at the floor.
“My sample was taken from me.”
“Yes.”
“And used to create your daughter.”
“Yes.”
“That sentence makes me feel insane.”
“Me too.”
Sarah sat beside him.
She looked devastated but not hostile.
“What does Maddie know?”
“Nothing about Lucas specifically.”
“Good.”
Lucas asked:
“Do we tell her?”
“Eventually.”
“When?”
“With a child-development professional.”
He nodded.
Then:
“Grant is her dad.”
That surprised me.
Lucas continued:
“I’m not going to walk into a five-year-old’s life and tell her DNA changed her father.”
There.
A man who had every reason to center his violation chose not to center himself in a child’s identity.
Grant could learn from that.
May you like
Whether he would was another question.
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