Chapter 8 - Jessica’s version
Eventually Jessica agreed to a meeting.
Lawyers present.
Michael.
Me.
No children.
She began:
“Claire was my younger sister.”
There.
Not cousin.
Sister.
Michael went still.
“Why have I never heard her name?”
“Because she left the family.”
“When?”
“When you were small.”
“What did she do?”
Jessica looked at him.
“She was unstable.”
That word.
Universal family solvent.
“She became pregnant at sixteen.”
Michael’s hands tightened.
“By who?”
“A boy she refused to name clearly.”
“Was I the baby?”
Jessica stared.
Then:
“Yes.”
The room went silent.
Michael closed his eyes.
Not enough.
“Then who are you?”
“I am your mother.”
“You’re my aunt.”
“I raised you.”
“Did you adopt me?”
“Yes.”
There.
Finally.
Harold Hayes had adopted Michael too.
Legal kinship adoption.
Finalized when Michael was approximately fourteen months old.
Original birth record sealed under state law.
Jessica continued:
“Claire was incapable of raising a child.”
“She was sixteen.”
“Exactly.”
Michael’s face hardened.
“So you took me.”
Jessica’s lawyer intervened.
“No one is alleging an unlawful adoption.”
Jessica nodded.
“Claire consented.”
May you like
That word would become the next battlefield.
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