Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 77170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
He leads us over to a table where he’s printed out some documents. “This will all look like a mess to you, but these are the DNA strands that show the relation. Normally in situations like this, I expect to find that you shared a grandparent maybe three or four generations up. That’s not the case here.” He shuffles his documents and then slides a page in front of us. “Do you see the strand?”
We all nod, though it looks like nothing to me.
“Mr. Murphy,” he says to my father. “You and Jack share grandparents on the patrilineal side.”
Dad wrinkles his brow. “Say what?”
“It means,” Tucker continues, “that you have the same paternal grandparents.”
“My father had two siblings,” Dad says. “The one who I was named after, Sean Murphy, passed away without having children. The other, my father’s sister, was married and had three children, all by her husband.”
“She’d be a nonissue anyway. We know who Jack’s mother is, and this concerns the patrilineal line, not matrilineal.”
“Maybe it’s a grandparent on the other side,” I say. “No, wait. You said paternal side.”
“Right,” Tucker says.
“Well…my father’s name was Sean Murphy,” Jack says.
“That’s what your mother tells you,” I say.
He turns to me, his jaw rigid. “Hey, my mother’s a good woman.”
I nod. “I apologize. That’s not what I meant. It wasn’t a dig on your mother. It was a dig on your grandmother.”
Jack nods. “I see what you mean.”
Dad shakes his head. “None of this makes a lick of sense. I might believe you if you said Brendan was the key. That he and Jack shared a great-grandparent. But Jack and me? It doesn’t add up.”
“I only read the DNA, sir,” Tucker says. “And I can tell you, almost for certain, that you two”—he nods to Dad and then to Jack—“share paternal grandparents. It’s clear as day.”
“I’d say it’s about as clear as mud,” Dad says.
“You have another set of results coming,” Tucker says. “They’re not going to be as quick as I am. But let me know what they say.”
Dad stands. “Good idea. I know Ruby Steel recommended you and all, but you got this one wrong.”
Dad walks out.
Jack and I sit there, staring at each other.
Jack shakes his head. “I’ve got to agree with your dad,” he says. “None of this makes any kind of sense.”
“Dad seems a little weirded out by it.” I inhale. “Is there a way to see whether this could’ve been a half-sibling or something?”
Jack nods. “I’m surprised your father didn’t think to ask that. It would make more sense if it were a half-sibling situation. The product of an affair, or…”
“A rape. A child given up for adoption,” I say, thinking of Lauren and Pat Lamone.
“Yes, exactly,” Tucker says. “But that’s not the case here. The two of you—Jack and Sean—are full-blooded first cousins on the patrilineal side. There is no indication of a half-sibling situation.”
I shake my head. “Doesn’t make sense.”
“Sure doesn’t,” Jack agrees. “Although, apparently I’m your uncle.”
“Crazy.” I meet Tucker’s gaze. “You must’ve made a mistake.”
Tucker shifts in his seat. “I don’t make mistakes. But like I said, see what the other clinic tells you.”
I rise. “Thank you for your time.” I hold out my hand.
Tucker shakes it. “Not at all. Anything for Ruby.”
Jack and I leave, and we find Dad waiting for us in the parking lot. He’s smoking a cigarette, something he almost never does.
“What the hell?” I say.
“I keep a pack in the car. For emergencies.”
“So being related to me sent you to smoke,” Jack says.
“Not at all,” Dad says. “You’re a nice young man. I’d be proud to be a relation. But this doesn’t make sense.”
“I agree,” I say. “Something’s rotten here.”
“You heard Tucker,” Jack says. “He doesn’t make mistakes.”
Dad flicks his ashes on the asphalt. “Yeah, but he was recommended by the Steel family.”
“My grandfather was a Steel.”
“An illegitimate Steel,” I say. “No offense.”
“None taken.”
“How long have you known about your ancestry?” I ask.
“Pretty much my whole life,” Jack says.
“And you never wanted a piece of their pie?”
Jack shrugs. “I never needed a piece of the pie. Mom and I came into some money not long after…”
“Not long after what?”
“Not long after she was raped. After she gave away my brother.”
“Really? Where did the money come from?” I ask.
“I was a kid, so I didn’t ask a lot of questions. But as I understand it, when my father passed away, he left a pretty sizable estate to my mother. But that’s according to my grandmother. Everything came through her.”
Dad rubs his jawline. “So William Elijah Steel… Maybe he did have some money.”
“It’s possible that his father, George Steel, knew about him,” Dad says. “Probably made arrangements. Siphoned off the money to give him a small estate.”
I nod. “That does make sense.”
“There sure are a lot of questions we need answered,” Jack says.