Teresa’s face turned ghostly pale. She still couldn’t believe that Jennifer wasn’t Evelyn’s daughter. This is impossible. Jennifer knows everything about Hannah’s childhood. If she isn’t my real sister, then who is she? Teresa thought, her mind spinning.
Seeing Teresa getting so upset, Miriam quickly said, “Hey, Teresa, don’t panic yet. Let’s wait for your mom to arrive, and then you can all go to the hospital together and get another test done face-to-face.”
“The only reason I did the DNA test between you and Jennifer was that I always felt she treated you poorly. You two are just so different—she can be so extreme and intense sometimes.”
“I don’t know if you see what I mean, but the test confirmed it—you and Jennifer are blood-related, just not sisters.”
Teresa was still confused. ‘Related by blood, but not sisters? What does that mean? That’s confusing. Is she saying Jennifer isn’t my real sister, but we’re still related somehow? So does that make us some kind of relatives? Is that it?’ she wondered.
“Yeah, that’s my guess,” Miriam replied. “Maybe one of your mom’s relatives accidentally switched the babies or something like that.”
Teresa wasn’t sure if Jennifer was really her sister, but if not, she saw no reason to keep tolerating Jennifer’s behavior, and she could finally stop feeling responsible for her.
“Miriam, I can’t throw you guys a welcome dinner today. I need to go back and deal with this,” Teresa said.
“Alright,” Miriam replied. “If you want, let Mike stay with me. I can watch him for you.”
“No need. I’m just heading home. His dad’s there now. Jonathan can look after Mike,” Teresa said.
With that, Teresa took Michael home, the DNA test results tucked safely in her bag. She’d have to sort out the rest with Jennifer and Evelyn herself.
When Teresa got home with Michael, she found the door was open and realized Jonathan was already back.
Jonathan met her gaze. “Dinner’s on the table,” he said.
Teresa had no mood to join him for dinner now. “I’m heading out. You look after Mike,” she said.
“Where are you going?” Jonathan asked.
But Teresa was already out the door, moving like a whirlwind.
Jonathan looked at Michael, who was looking right back at him.
The two of them just stared at each other until Jonathan finally said, “Alright, honey. Go wash your hands. Dinner’s ready.”
“Daddy,” Michael said, hugging Jonathan’s leg. “Daddy… Mr. Daddy Lime.”
Jonathan’s expression softened. “What’s wrong?”
“Daddy, can you buy Mommy a new car? Her car broke down, so now she has to take taxis everywhere. Even when we went to pick up Miriam, we had to take taxis both ways,” Michael said.
Jonathan frowned. ‘Didn’t Teresa say her car was just in the shop for maintenance?’ he thought.
Michael added, “Mommy’s car broke down. She told me herself.”
Hearing this, Jonathan made a call. “Bobby, check what’s going on with a Porsche for me. I’ll send you the license plate number.”
“Got it, Mr. Lynn,” Bobby replied.
Soon, Jonathan got the information—Teresa’s car had been in an accident. It happened right around the time she was planning to leave Nareigh—the same day Michael tried to find her. But Teresa didn’t go out, so she wasn’t the one driving.
Jonathan looked at Michael, puzzled. “How did your mom’s car end up breaking down?”
“Mommy let Jennifer use her car, and then it broke. Today, we were riding in Jennifer’s car, and she kicked us out. Mommy was really upset,” Michael said, rubbing his eyes.
“What?” Jonathan’s anger spiked. “Jennifer kicked you both out of the car?” He remembered that Jennifer’s car was actually the one Teresa had bought for her.