The Surrogate He Discarded

Leanne’s fingers tightened around her husband’s hand.

She had lived beside him for decades.

She knew every smile he forced...

Every silence he hid behind...

And she knew, without a doubt, that whatever was troubling him was no small matter.

A quiet sense of unease settled in her heart.

Whatever secret Julian was carrying...

She was determined to uncover it.

...

Morgan waited until after dinner before asking his father to join him in the study.

The room was illuminated only by the warm glow of a chandelier, its light casting shadows across the polished mahogany shelves. Outside, the night was still, broken only by the distant sound of the city.

Julian remained standing for a long moment after the door closed behind him, his hands clasped behind his back. His shoulders, usually straight with quiet authority, seemed unusually heavy tonight.

Morgan noticed it immediately.

”Dad...” he asked cautiously. ”Is something bothering you?”

Julian let out a slow, weary sigh.

It was the kind of sigh that carried years of regret.

”I need you to tell me something first.” His voice was calm, but strained. ”Have you ever looked deeply into Isobel’s background?”

Morgan frowned.

”I had someone do a routine investigation when I first met her at the hospital. The time she offered to nurse the twins.” He leaned back against his chair. ”Nothing unusual came up. She was abandoned as an infant outside an orphanage. There was no information about her biological parents.”

Julian lowered his gaze, as though confirming a fear he had desperately hoped was wrong.

”I need your help on something.”

Morgan straightened.

”What is it?”

Julian swallowed before speaking, each word seeming to cost him.

”I want you to arrange a paternity test.”

Morgan nodded without much thought.

”A paternity test? Between whom?”

Julian slowly lifted his eyes to meet his son’s.

”Between me... and Isobel.”

Thud!

The expensive black pen slipped from Morgan’s fingers and struck the wooden desk, the sharp sound echoing through the silent room.

For several seconds, neither of them spoke.

Morgan stared at his father, convinced he had misheard.

”...Who did you say it is?”

”Isobel,” Julian repeated quietly. ”I believe... she might be my daughter.”

Morgan’s heart skipped violently.

His father had been married to his mother for over forty years. All his life, he knew that his father was a loyal man and that he loved and adored his mother.

There had never been rumors. Never a scandal. Never another woman.

”Dad...” His voice turned hoarse. ”Are you telling me... you cheated on Mom?”

The question hung heavily between them.

Julian closed his eyes.

”It is not what you think it is.”

He answered almost immediately, yet there wasn’t even a trace of certainty in his voice.

”It happened twenty-three years ago.”

Morgan’s brows knitted together.

”The kidnapping?”

Julian nodded slowly.

”You were still young then, but you probably remember that I went missing for four months.”

Morgan did.

Those four months had nearly destroyed the Foster family.

His mother barely slept. The company had nearly collapsed.

Everyone believed Julian was already dead.

”When I escaped...” Julian continued quietly, ”...I was badly injured. I couldn’t even remember my own name.”

His fingers curled into a fist.

”A young woman found me. She and her older brother hid me from the people chasing me.”

His eyes gradually became distant, as if he were looking beyond the walls of the study and into another lifetime.

”She nursed me back to health.”

His lips curved into a bittersweet smile.

”Without my memories... I believed I was simply an ordinary man.”

Julian rarely spoke about those missing months. The doctors explained that after his surgery, he regained some of his memories but lost others.

Morgan remained silent.

This was the first time he had ever heard his father mention another woman.

”I stayed with her during those four months.”

His voice cracked almost imperceptibly.

”And somewhere during that time...”

He paused, unable to continue for several seconds.

”...I fell in love with her. Maybe it was gratitude that I mistook as love.”

The confession seemed to steal all the air from the room.

Julian’s eyes slowly reddened.

”When your grandpa’s men and the authorities finally found me, my memories returned.”

He shut his eyes tightly.

”But everything about those four months... disappeared.”

His jaw tightened.

”I forgot about her.”

The words were barely above a whisper.

”I forgot the promises I made...”

”I forgot the life we shared...”

”And I left her behind without even realizing it.”

Silence swallowed the room.

Julian drew in a shaky breath before continuing.

”I never questioned those missing pieces because everyone told me it was normal after severe trauma.”

His voice grew heavier with guilt.

”But today, when I met Isobel...”

He stopped, struggling to steady himself.

”It was her smile....”

”The way she tilted her head when she listened. It reminded me of her.”

”Her name was Rosella.”

Julian paused, and his voice cracked.

”She was a gentle person. She showed kindness to others without expecting anything in return.”

His gaze drifted toward the dark window.

”Isobel, she... unlocked a part of my memory that has been sealed for a long time. It felt as though fate was forcing me to remember someone I had buried without knowing.”

Morgan remained frozen.

A strange feeling settled inside his chest.

If what Julian suspected was true...

Then Isobel wasn’t merely someone who had wandered into the Foster family. She had belonged to it all along.

He suddenly recalled every inexplicable instinct he’d had around her.

The fierce urge to protect her. The inexplicable trust he had placed in her from the very beginning.

Even his twins had adored her almost instantly.

At the time, he had dismissed it as a coincidence.

Now... None of it felt like a coincidence anymore.

Morgan finally broke the silence.

”I’ll arrange the DNA test,” he said quietly.

Then his expression darkened.

”But if it comes back positive...”

He looked directly into his father’s troubled eyes.

”...what are you going to tell Mom?”

The question lingered in the room like an approaching storm.

For the first time in decades...

Julian had no answer.