Chapter 3 3

Today, someone showed up with the blessing charm to claim kinship.

I wasn't sure if my memory was real.

If it was false, my niece was never swapped and was undoubtedly the true heiress.

If it was true, I had switched my niece back, so she was still the true heiress.

After thinking it over, I asked curiously, "Where's the person who came to claim kinship?"

"We let her stay at Pine Hill Estate for now," Madison said, her eyes lowered.

I frowned. "You haven't done a paternity test, yet you let her stay in our mansion?"

"I didn't dare," she whispered, head bowed.

I sighed. "Have my grandparents been told?"

My dad shook his head. "We haven't dared tell them."

I understood. They feared the worst-case scenario.

If the daughter they raised for eighteen years wasn't theirs, how could they sever the bond built over that time?

If their biological daughter had been lost for eighteen years, how could they make up for those lost years?

I didn't mention my memory. Though I was certain my niece was genuine, I couldn't guarantee a ten-year-old's recollection was accurate.

But I believed a paternity test would prove everything.

"Here's what we do," I said after some thought. "You and that girl get a paternity test. Until the results come back, we keep this from Raelyn."

No one wanted to witness loved ones questioning their blood ties.

Ryland and Madison agreed with my plan.

"What if she's the real daughter?" Madison asked, still anxious.

I answered directly. "We go to the police and handle it as needed. If she objects, Raelyn can leave the Willis family and be with me."

"But," I added calmly, "I believe Raelyn is the real daughter."

Plans, however, didn't always hold.

I thought only Ryland, Madison, and I knew about this, but the next day, someone called me. "Ellen, something's wrong!"