Emily loved surprises. Her family was fond of surprising each other with gifts during the Christmas festivities, so that was her favourite time of the year. Her husband, Trevor, enjoyed making Emily happy and would go big on Christmas surprises. That was the one thing that didn’t change even after they started having children. They now had three of them.
Trevor had consistently made sure Emily enjoyed Christmas. Emily thought it would be the same this year. They put up the decorations earlier in the month as a family, and everybody had the task of getting each other gifts to be presented on Christmas.
D-day came- it was Christmas. The spirit of cheer and generosity was in the air. Emily was excited as usual. They were hosting the extended family for Christmas. The house was full of people. The family gifting tradition meant everybody had a person to gift for Christmas. They would all bring the gifts under the tree and have a gifting session.
They prepared the food as a family and shared the meals amid conversations and laughter. The younger children were playing while the older ones joined the adults in preparing the meals. After it was ready, they sat down together to share the meal and then proceeded to gift-giving.
The gifting session involved picking the gift with your name tag, opening the gift and then trying to figure out who gifted you. It was a fun session, and Emily loved the element of surprise. Once everyone had their gift, Trevor stood up.
“I have one more gift for my lovely wife,” said Trevor.
“Babe, you didn’t have to,” Emily said with a grin on her face.
“I actually had to,” said Trevor in a serious tone.
“I’m trying to guess what this could be. The vacation I have been asking for since our youngest was born?” Emily asked teasingly.
The rest of the family joined in the guessing game. The gift was in an envelope and wrapped with wrapping paper and ribbon. It was all smiles until Emily opened the envelope. Her hands started shaking once she saw the word DNA.
“What’s the meaning of this, Trevor?” Emily asked.
“You tell me, Emily,” Trevor responded.
“Is this some twisted joke?” Emily asked Trevor.
“Tell them who’s the trickster between us,” Trevor shouted at Emily.
“This can’t be correct, Trevor. I don’t know where you got this, but this is inaccurate,” Emily pleaded.
“So the DNA testing lab gave me the wrong test results? I took a sample of my DNA and Jay’s, so there is no mistake,” Trevor told Emily. Jay was their last-born son. He was five years old.
Emily looked like she would pass out. She sought out support from the wall. The older people in the room, sensing there was more to the matter, sent the kids out. One suggested that they should leave Emily and Trevor to sort out the matter, but Trevor was adamant about them staying.
“No, you need to be here for this. She lied to all of us. Unless some of you are in on it too,” Trevor said, looking at Emily’s closest sister.
“I can explain it, Trevor,” Emily said.
“I am waiting for your explanation, Emily. You watched me raise a child who wasn’t mine for five years. I wondered why he was so different from the others, wondered if there was a family history that I didn’t know about that could have caused him to be sickly, but you remained quiet. What explanation can you possibly have, dear wife,” Trevor asked.
“I tried to tell, but it was never the right time. It was crisis after crisis with his poor health. Jay adores you, and I thought you would leave him if you knew the truth,” Emily argued.
“Oh, how noble and caring. You are despicable, Emily,” Trevor said and walked out of the room.
“I’m so sorry, Trevor. I am sorry,” Emily cried and chased after him.
Her sister held her back.
“Let him go,” said the sister.
The family dispersed. The news rocked their celebrations. Some stared at Jay as he played innocently with the other kids. Emily locked herself in her room for hours. Trevor went for a walk and was joined by some of the men in the family. Other family members left after a while, mostly to take the kids away as the adults dealt with the crisis.
Later on, Emily explained to Trevor that she had cheated on him with a colleague. It was a time when their marriage was tested. They were hardly talking to each other. Emily felt neglected, and there was a guy at work who gave her attention.
“I know it’s silly, but I felt wanted like a woman after feeling like you only saw me as the mother to your children,” said Emily.
“So it’s my fault?” Trevor asked.
“No, that’s not what I’m saying. I regretted it as soon as it happened, and that was why I quit the job,” Emily said.
“You said you didn’t like the working environment,” Trevor said.
“That too, but the affair made it worse,” Emily confessed.
“Did you know Jay wasn’t my child?” Trevor asked.
“When I discovered I was pregnant, we had just rekindled our relationship, and I hoped he was your child. My suspicions increased when Jay turned out sickly. None of our other children had delicate health,” said Emily.
“You didn’t think coming clean would somehow help address his issues?” Trevor asked.
“I trusted the doctors would figure out his issue without breaking up our family,” Emily replied.
Well, I still love that boy as though he is my flesh, but I don’t know if I can ever forgive you.”
“Would it have been different if I had told you the truth?” Emily asked Trevor after pleading for forgiveness.
“I guess we’ll never know,” Trevor said as a matter of fact.
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