To Tell or Not To Tell - 1

I first wrote this novella in five parts (based on real events) for the Confessions community where it did not get a lot of reads. Hopefully, it will do better in the Chapters community.

***

“Hello-o-o! Mom, dad, I’ve got you something!”

Julie heard her eldest son’s excited voice at the door and came out from the kitchen, “Hi, honey! What is it?”

She looked at him, snowed on and pink-cheeked from the cold outside, standing at the door, waiting.

“Hi, mom! Is dad home?”

“Yes, honey, he's upstairs.”

“Could you call him, please? I’ve got something for both of you. Or more like for all of us.”

“OK, won’t you come in?” Julie said, going upstairs to Paul’s office. He mostly worked from home these days.

“No, I have no time, need to go back to campus. I only have a second.”

“Paul, could you come down for a second?” Julie yelled from the staircase landing, still looking at her son, trying to figure out if she should be worried. “Mark has something for us.”

“Coming!” Paul shouted and Julie descended back to Mark. He just turned 21 a month before, and Julie still couldn’t get used to the idea that he was all so grown up. Quite literally: Two years ago, Mark moved out of the house when he finally received a swimming scholarship from a college 30 miles away. It wasn’t that far from home, but too tiresome to commute every day, especially in peak traffic hours. His room in the house was still waiting for Mark even though their youngest, Nick, who just started high school, hinted several times that he could use an “upgrade.”

As Julie brushed early November snow off Mark’s light coat, she happily thought that Mark looked a lot like her husband Paul: Same tall and lean built, straw hair, and long muscular legs and arms, with large feet and hands. “Like flippers,” Paul and Julie always joked, “Perfect for swimming.”

“Is everything alright at college, Mark?” Julie said, trying to read his face for signs of trouble.

“Yes, mom, everything’s fine. Just busy, but that’s not new,” Mark smiled, eagerly looking upstairs for his father. He seemed happy, Julie pointed out to herself, so no reason to worry.

Paul finally emerged at the top of the stairs, “Hi, son! We didn’t expect you today.”

“Hi, dad! I didn’t think I’d come, either, and I do have to go back right away. But I need to give you something. Came in the mail today.”

“What is it, you sound so mysterious?” Julie said.

Mark got a box out of the bag he was holding in his right hand all this time. “This!” he said, beaming with joy and looking at his parents triumphantly as they now stood next to each other.

“What is it?” Paul asked.

Julie saw “23 and Me” logo on the cardboard box and her heart sank to her stomach. She felt blood draining away from her face and limbs. She quickly turned away from Mark and tried to regain control by taking a deep breath. Feeling weak in her knees, she leaned on the hallway wall.

“Are you OK, mom? It’s like you saw a ghost or something!” Mark was attentive, as always. His eyes exuded genuine concern and love.

“I’m fine, honey, just a little… hot,” she said. Julie was a butt of family jokes for her hot flashes, so she hoped it’d work.

“Again? You wanna sit down?” Mark asked, not even attempting a joke.

“No, honey, I’ll be fine,” Julie said and straightened out, fanning her face with the right hand. Paul shot her a quick understanding look.

“Ok then, I’ll give it to dad,” Mark said and handed the box to Paul. Paul took it reluctantly.

“Remember you both were always saying that you had all those family histories of how our ancestors came to America from different parts of Europe and maybe even Asia, but no one knew where from exactly?” Mark was rapidly explaining. “Well, now we can find out! I got us a family DNA kit.”

“Wow, son, I don’t know what to say,” Paul mumbled, shocked, staring down at the box.

“Don’t worry, dad, it was on sale. It’s my early Christmas present to you!”

“Christmas??? We are still two weeks away from Thanksgiving!” Julie said, grasping at the straw.

“It takes 6-8 weeks to process the samples, mom. If we send them back right away, we can get the results by Christmas! I’ll be back tomorrow to pick up your tubes.”

“Tubes?” Paul asked, still shell-shocked.

“Yes, you need to spit into a tube, it’s all there in the box. You just need to follow the instructions carefully and label the samples correctly. Have Alicia and Nick do that, too, the kit is for the entire family, plus one spare just in case. Leave one for me, I’ll do it tomorrow and mail them all back together.”

“Ok, but…” Paul started objecting.

“No buts, dad, it’s already paid for, and I really have to go now. Just read and follow the instructions. Can you imagine our family Christmas dinner this year? Maybe we’ll find some new long-lost relatives or something… I’m so excited!” Mark said through the door as he was leaving and waiving bye at them, “I’ll see you tomorrow. Love ya!”

“Love you too!” Julie and Paul waved at Mark as he got into his car and drove off.

***

Without saying a word, they both moved to the living room, as if on autopilot, and deflated into the armchair and loveseat across from each other. Carefully, as if he was handling a bomb, Paul set the box on the coffee table between them and they both stared at it in silence for several long seconds.

“What do we do now?” Julie whispered out in desperation.

“Want some wine?” Paul asked, getting up from his chair.

Julie looked at the big clock on the living room wall. It was 4:45 pm. Alicia and Nick should be home about 6 pm, and she was about to start dinner just as Mark came. “Aren’t you going back to work?”

“Not after this,” Paul smirked. “Red or white?”

“White, please.”

Paul went into the kitchen. Julie heard him opening a new bottle of wine and pouring it into the glasses. Her mind was racing.

“We have to tell him,” she said, as Paul returned with the glasses.

“Now, sweetie, let’s talk this through,” Paul said, sitting down next to her and handing her one glass. He took her free hand into his and squeezed it gently.

“What’s there to talk about?” Julie said. She took a sip and set the glass on the coffee table next to the ‘23 and Me’ box. “We should have told him years ago, when he was little!” she added, not looking into Paul’s eyes. She had always been against this secrecy.

“We’ve been through this, honey, so many times already! We both decided then that it was best not to tell him!”

“Then, yes, and look where we are now! Where are you going?” Julie asked as Paul got up and headed to the kitchen.

“To get us some snacks,” Paul said without turning. “I’m getting hungry.”

“How can you even think about this now?.. How do you tell your 21-year-old son he was adopted?” Julie almost shouted out. She heard the sounds of kitchen drawers and fridge opening, and a knife cutting something. About three long minutes later, Paul reemerged with a platter of cheese, saltines, cut pears and grapes.

“This is exactly what we need to talk about,” Paul said in a calm voice, setting the plate on the coffee table. “What if we don’t?”

“What do you mean?”

“What if we simply don’t take the test?”

“Right! And what would you tell Mark? ‘We don’t want your gift, son, send it back!’” Julie said mockingly.

“Yes, why not?” Paul said, chewing on a piece of pear with cheese. “We can say we can’t accept this gift because it’s too expensive.”

“You must be kidding, Paul! Mark clearly told you that it’s already paid for. He must have worked his ass off, saving for this. Did he ask you for any money recently?”

“No,” Paul answered. “You?”

“Nope. Well, I’d give him like 20 bucks here and there, but nothing big.”

They sat in silence for a second, thinking. Paul worked as an upper-level manager in a large IT company, and Julie managed her own real estate firm with ten agents. They both made good living and could afford anything within reason. But they also raised their kids in understanding that if they wanted something they’d have to work their butts off for it. Never spoiled them.

“I suspect he really wanted to make it a surprise. It’s probably like 400-500 dollars for the whole family now,” Julie said, remembering how they researched DNA test costs years ago. “Poor boy. Did you see how excited he was? He probably can’t wait to learn more about his family history!”

“Oh God, not THAT family history!” Paul said. “It would crush him if he finds out. We can’t tell him, sweetie!”

“But we’ll have to, dear! We cannot reject his Christmas gift!”

“Why not?”

“Are you serious? Imagine you gave me a Christmas gift and I said I don’t want it.”

“Like it never happened,” Paul smirked, “Remember how many times I bought you a nice silk blouse or earrings and you’d always ask for a receipt to return them?”

“To exchange, Paul, because they were either not my size or not my style. You can’t exchange a DNA test!”

“I guess you are right,” Paul said. His mind was churning out all sorts of ideas, and he blurted out the first fully formed one, “What if we track down his real parents and ask them to give us a DNA sample instead of us?”

“Wow, Paul, really? All of that by tomorrow?”

“Why tomorrow?”

“Mark said he’d come back tomorrow to collect the samples to mail them, remember?”

“Well, I could probably come up with something to stonewall this.”

“For how long? We moved, Paul, because of all of this, and haven’t been back there for 20 years. Where will you look for those two imbeciles now?”

“I have people. Sweetie, you’re forgetting who your husband is,” Paul said carefully. At his limited spare time, Paul was volunteering to search for missing persons. With his exceptional computer skills and extensive networks of professionals, he was superb at it.

“All right, even if you do track them down, there’s no guarantee they’d agree to give you a DNA sample.”

“We can always incentivize them,” Paul said, rubbing his three fingers. “Remember, they literally sold him to us?”

“Ok, let’s assume for a second, even though you were the one who insisted on our move because you didn’t want them to use us as their meal ticket for the rest of our lives… But let’s assume you work this out with them, do you think they have two more kids?"

"Oh God, I hope not!" Paul exclaimed. "Those two should never ever procreate again!"

"Well, but we'll need Alicia's and Nick's replacements too, or will have to tell them they were adopted.”

“Oh, shit, I didn’t think about that,” Paul said, slapping himself on his forehead.

“Clearly,” Julie did NOT say to her husband. She was on the verge of tears. To calm herself down, she took a gulp of wine and chased it with a piece of pear and a saltine with cheese. It seemed to have helped a little.

Paul got up and started to pace the room, thinking. He always came through for his family, he was an excellent husband and great father. He’d find a solution, he thought, he just needed some time to think through all of this carefully. Time he didn’t have. Julie was watching him, and pictures of Mark’s childhood were flashing before her eyes. Were they good parents to him?

“Let’s tell him the results were wrong, when they come in!” Paul suddenly said, throwing up his arms.

“Wow, honey, I always marvel at how your brain works,” Julie was genuinely surprised. “How did you get to this idea, through some backward calculation?”

“Yes, if you wanna call it that. It’s a simple algorithm, sweetie: We have this gift we cannot reject, so we'll have to take the test. The test will produce the results showing we are not his parents, so the only thing we can do is to tell him the results were wrong.”

“You really are grasping at straws here, aren’t you, dear?” Julie said. “How would you explain that the results were wrong only for him, and not for our other two kids?”

“I don’t know…” Paul rubbed his temples.

“Besides, you know our son. If he sets his mind on something, he’ll get it done. He’d get another test kit if he needs to. It’ll just delay the inevitable.”

“You are right, of course. ‘Our son,’” Paul sighed. “Maybe we could do something about the samples? Let’s read the instructions.”

They opened the box. It had six sealed tubes in it, with what looked like a small, flattened funnel on one end. Paul took one out, looked at it, touched the funnel and said, “Hmm, I guess that’s where you spit in, it’s like a collector.”

Julie was reading the instructions out loud: “Make sure you don’t eat, chew gum, or brush your teeth at least 30 min before collecting the sample…”

“There, stop! We can tamper with Mark’s tube! Wash it with dish soap or put something transparent in it, like clear mouth wash or rubbing alcohol, to kill his DNA.”

“It’s sealed, honey, how will you explain to him that the seal is broken?”

“I don’t know, maybe he won’t notice?”

“I wouldn’t take that chance.”

“Well, we could tell him we opened it by mistake.”

“There’s one extra here,” Julie said, taking another tube out and shaking it in front of Paul. “Are you going to open it by mistake, too?”

“What if we ask Nick to spit into two tubes, like one got damaged or something, and then swap it for Mark’s?” Paul continued thinking out loud.

“Doesn’t DNA test show the person’s age?”

“I’m pretty sure it doesn’t, but let me check,” Paul said, googling it up on the phone.

Julie was thinking this over. Perhaps it was a way out.

“Nope, no DNA test can determine the person’s age, yet,” Paul looked at Julie, a flicker of hope in his eyes. “Maybe in the future it will, but not now.”

Julie thought a little more and finally said, “It won’t’ work, honey.”

“Don’t rain on my parade, sweetie. Why?”

“Because the DNA test will also show the closest blood relations. It will be like Nick is related to himself. Even twins have a slightly different DNAs, and Nick and Mark are not twins.”

Paul dropped his head into his hands in desperation. He was out of ideas.

They suddenly heard commotion at the door. Like two criminals caught at the crime scene, they hurriedly put the tubes back into the box. Julie looked at the clock as the door opened and Alice and Nick rolled in, bringing fresh cold air inside. It was 5:30 pm.

“You kids came back early!” Julie said, smiling at them awkwardly.

“Yeah, Nick’s practice finished earlier than usual,” Alice explained. A high school junior, she was driving now and always waited for Nick to be done with his basketball practice to take him home. Just like Mark did that before for her. She even proudly drove Mark’s first car now.

“Coach Jenkins had some family thing to go to,” Nick added. “What’s for dinner, mom?”

“Yeah, what’s for dinner, mom? We are starving!” Alice echoed.

“Dinner!!!” Julie said, horrified. “We… I… completely forgot!” she blurted out.

“You? Forgot? That’s new!” Alice said, only now registering her parents’ unusual demeanor. “What were you guys doing anyway?”

“We? Nothing!” Julie said, as Alice approached her for a kiss.

“Nothing, ha? What’s this, then?” Alice pointed her index finger at the wine glasses and snacks. “Are we celebrating something?”

If only she knew, Julie thought, lost for words.

“How about we have something delivered, ah?” Paul saved them both. “Let’s give mom a break from cooking for a chance.”

“That’s a great idea,” Nick said, heading to his room upstairs. “I want Italian.”

“How about you?” Paul asked Alice.

“I wouldn’t mind Italian,” Alice responded.

“Italian it is then,” Paul said. Kids’ wishes were always their command. “Why don’t you take my card, sweetie, and place the order for all of us, while mom and I wrap it up here.”

While Paul was taking his credit card out of his wallet, Alice noticed the kit and the instructions that Julie didn’t manage to stuff back into the box.

“Oh, 23 and Me!” she said excitedly, picking up the box. “So it came today! Were you guys reading the instructions or something?”

“You knew about this?” Julie asked.

“Yes, Mark told me like a week ago.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Mark swore me into silence. He wanted it to be a surprise gift. He worked his butt off for this. Why? Is there a problem?” Alice asked, looking at Julie with concern.

“Nope, no problem at all,” Paul said, handing her his credit card. “Here, sweetie, order anything you want.”

“Anything, dad?”

“Anything within reason,” Paul said.

Alice sat on the sofa, opened an app in her phone, pulled up a menu and clicked through the options. “Ok, done! Should be here in about 15 minutes.”

“I still can’t believe how easy it is these days,” Paul mumbled, stuffing his credit hard back into his wallet.

“DoorDash rules! Meanwhile, sit down and tell me what’s going on,” Alice said. “You guys are clearly up to something.”

I wonder who the parent here is, Julie thought to herself. They do grow up too fast.

“Nothing, really,” Paul said as he sat down next to Alice. “First, tell us about your day, honey.”

“Well, Annie and I did a really cool project in our journalism class today…” Alice started excitedly as Paul listened attentively. Julie’s mind drifted back to the DNA test as she was washed over with the memories of Mark’s adoption. It all came back as if it just happened yesterday…

Continue to Part 2 below: