The Surrogate He Discarded

The soft click of the closing door echoed through the room.

Isobel remained standing by the entrance, her fingers unconsciously clasped together. The silence that followed was so heavy that even the ticking of the clock on the wall seemed unusually loud.

Her gaze moved from Morgan... to Julian... then finally to Leanne.

None of them looked relaxed. None of them smiled.

An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of her stomach.

”Morgan...”

She forced a small smile.

”What’s going on?”

Morgan stepped away from the window and walked toward her. His movements were calm, but his eyes betrayed an emotion she couldn’t quite decipher.

Was it joy or relief?

He stopped an arm’s length away.

”Sit down first.” Morgan said gently,

Isobel looked at the empty chair but remained where she was.

”I’d rather hear it standing.”

Morgan exchanged a glance with Julian. The older man gave a faint nod.

Morgan took a slow breath before speaking.

”I have to apologize, I took something from you without permission.”

Isobel blinked.

”Huh? What is it? If it is for the twins, then it’s okay.”

”It wasn’t.” There was guilt in Morgan’s voice.

Isobel’s brows knitted together.

”Then... what was it for?”

Morgan didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he reached for the envelope resting on the coffee table and handed it to her.

”I needed you to see this.”

Isobel accepted it with trembling hands. The paper suddenly felt far heavier than it should. Her eyes scanned the first page, but the medical terminology blurred together.

She looked back at Morgan.

”I don’t understand.”

Morgan leaned forward, his usually serious face even became more solemn.

”The report compares your DNA with someone else’s. This is a paternity test.”

A chill crawled up Isobel’s spine.

”Whose?”

Morgan’s voice was gentle.

”My father’s.”

Everything inside the room seemed to stop. Even the air seemed to freeze.

Isobel stared at him without blinking.

”What...?”

Her breathing became shallow.

”A paternity...You must be mistaken.”

The words refused to register, then she laughed nervously.

”No.”

Morgan slowly shook his head.

”The test was conducted by trustworthy personnel.”

Isobel lowered her gaze. At the bottom of the report, one sentence seemed to leap from the page.

Probability of biological parentage: 99.9999%.

Her vision blurred.

”I...”

The word escaped as nothing more than a whisper.

”This... this can’t be...”

She shook her head, harder this time, as if the motion alone could erase the words on the page.

”I have a father?” she whispered, her voice trembling. ”I’m... not an orphan?”

The realization finally found its way into a complete sentence, but she could scarcely believe she had spoken it.

Without warning, fragments of her childhood flooded her mind. The lonely days in the orphanage. The cruel taunts and mocking laughter from other children in school, because she had no parents. The nights she cried herself to sleep, wondering why no one had ever come for her.

The countless birthdays when she secretly hoped someone would knock on the door and tell her she wasn’t alone.

The tears she always tried to hide every time she saw a child her age riding on her father’s shoulder.

She had spent her entire life believing she had been abandoned by a family who never wanted her.

Morgan’s voice broke through her thoughts.

”Julian Foster...”

He paused, allowing the name to settle.

”...is your biological father.”

The room spun.

Isobel instinctively reached for the back of the chair before her knees gave way.

Morgan caught her before she could fall.

”No...”

She buried her face in her trembling hands.

”How could it be?”

Hot tears slipped through her fingers.

”I thought my father was dead.”

That was what she had always believed.

That was what she had told herself every time she wondered why she had no family.

Her voice cracked.

”But why... why would he abandon me?”

Silence answered her. It hurt more than any explanation.

Julian’s own eyes glistened. He wanted to say something, but words failed him.

Then, Morgan gently held her shoulders.

”He didn’t abandon you.”

She looked at him through blurred vision.

”He didn’t even know you existed.”

Those words struck her harder than anything else.

Didn’t know she existed.

The resentment she had unknowingly carried for years suddenly had nowhere to go.

In its place was an emptiness so vast it stole her breath.

”So, all this time...”

Her lips quivered.

She looked from Morgan... then to Julian, then to Leanne , then back to Morgan.

”I wasn’t an orphan.”

Julian could no longer hold back.

He crossed the room and wrapped Isobel in a tight embrace.

”No, sweetheart.”

His voice trembled with emotion.

”You were never alone. You had a father. Sorry, I didn’t know.”

The words shattered the last of Isobel’s composure.

She broke down in Julian’s arms, sobbing with years of loneliness, unanswered questions, and silent heartache pouring out all at once.

For the first time in her life...she knew who her father was.

And with that single revelation, everything she thought she knew about herself had changed forever.

...

The room remained silent except for Isobel’s quiet sobs.

Julian held her as though she were afraid the young woman would disappear if he let go.

Morgan stood beside them, one hand resting gently on Isobel’s shoulder, but his eyes remained fixed on his mother.

Leanne appeared remarkably composed, even magnanimous, but he knew the calm was only on the surface. Inside, she was hurting. Her husband was embracing a daughter he had fathered with another woman, a young woman who looked so much like that woman.

But Leanne turned to him and offered a small, reassuring smile, silently telling him that it was all right. None of this was Julian’s fault.

Her father is Albert, not Julian, she mouthed.

Morgan understood immediately.

...

After what felt like an eternity, Isobel’s sobs gradually subsided. She pulled away from Julian and wiped her face with trembling hands.

”I’m... sorry.”

Julian cupped her cheek.

”You don’t have to apologize.”

”I’ve cried enough,” Isobel whispered with a self-deprecating smile. ”I must look terrible.”

”You look like someone whose entire world was just turned upside down,” Morgan replied softly.

”And anyone would have reacted the same way.”

Morgan handed her a glass of water.

She accepted it with a murmured thank you, though it took several attempts before her trembling fingers could bring the glass to her lips.

After taking a sip, she looked at Morgan.

”I... I still don’t understand. How did your father become my father? And who is my mother?”

The question hung heavily in the room.