My husband, Ryan, stood at the foot of the bed with his arms folded. He barely looked at me. Instead, he glanced at the baby, let out a small, crooked smile, and said,
“We should get a DNA test. Just to make sure he’s mine.”
The words cut through the room like a blade. Everything stopped. A nurse froze mid-step. The doctor stared at him in disbelief. I clutched my baby closer, instinctively shielding him, as tears filled my eyes.
He shrugged, completely unbothered. “I’m just being careful. These things happen.”
“Not to me,” I said quietly. “Not to us.”
But the damage was already done. The nurse’s pitying look hurt almost as much as his accusation. Ryan acted as though he’d said something logical, as if my pain was an overreaction.
The following day, he doubled down. He asked the staff to document his request. He repeated it to my mother in the hallway, loudly, like he wanted witnesses. When I begged him to wait—until I’d recovered, until we were home, until I could think straight—he dismissed me.
“If you have nothing to hide, why are you upset?”
So I agreed. Not because I needed to prove myself, but because I wanted his doubt to be crushed by facts.
They took swabs from all of us—me, Ryan, and our newborn, who whimpered softly in my arms. The lab said the results would take a few days. Ryan walked around acting triumphant, telling people he only wanted “peace of mind.”
On the third day, my OB asked me to come back in for a brief consultation. Ryan didn’t bother coming. He said he was busy.
I arrived alone, my baby strapped to my chest, expecting a routine conversation—or maybe an apology delivered through a professional smile.
Instead, the doctor walked in holding a sealed envelope, her face drained of color.
She looked straight at me and said, in a low, steady voice,
“You need to call the police.”
My heart began hammering so violently I could feel it in my throat.
“The police?” I asked, panic flooding my voice. “Why? Did Ryan do something?”
Dr. Patel placed the envelope on her desk but didn’t open it. Her tone was careful, deliberate. “I want to choose my words very precisely,” she said. “This isn’t about relationship issues. This concerns a possible crime—and your baby’s safety.”
