My Sister-In-Law Framed Me, So I Booked the DNA Test

My sister-in-law kept a notebook. In it, she'd logged every date her brother and I had slept together.

Six years married, and we finally had a child of our own.

Before I could even say the words, she pulled out that notebook and threw it down in front of me.

Last month you and my brother were together five times, tops. The rest of the time you were away on business trips. Is this baby really his?

My husband swallowed the whole story, tore up the pregnancy report, and slapped me across the face. "My sister's right. Six years and nothing. Why would you suddenly get pregnant so easily now?"

I was thrown out, sent back to my parents' house. My sister-in-law's parting words: they'd only take me back after the eighth week, once the paternity test was done.

I quietly blocked every one of them, then turned around and booked a paternity test and an abortion for a month later.

The thick notebook slammed down on the coffee table, and in the same moment Anthony Dickerson's hand came up and cracked across my face.

My head rang, and the last of the joy was still sitting on my lips.

Through the blur, I watched Hester Dickerson pick up the pregnancy report and rip it to shreds.

There was a faint sneer at the corner of her mouth. "I've never met anyone like you. Cheating on my brother and acting like you've got every right to."

I steadied myself and looked at Anthony. "You believe her?"

His face was red with anger. Before he could get a word out

Hester pointed at the notebook on the table. "My brother's a man, he doesn't keep track of these things. But I do."

"It's all right there in my book, every time you two slept together. Last month it was only five. Six years you couldn't conceive, and now, right after a business trip, suddenly you're pregnant?"

"The Dickersons have carried one son a generation for eight generations. We are not letting some other man's blood into this family."

I fired back. "Six years without a child, and that was because your brother's sperm didn't measure up!"

"Then how did you get pregnant so easily this time?"

I gave a bitter smile. Six years of endless pills, endless injections, and in Hester's mouth it all came down to one word: easily.

"Anthony, you're really going to let your sister slander me like this?"

He turned his head away. "Slander or not, you know in your own heart."

I sucked in a breath, and a cold went through me from head to foot.

The moment that slap landed, I should have seen straight through the man in front of me, his cowardice, his stupidity.

Ever since Hester moved in, she'd been feeding him poison, stirring up trouble.

And he always took his sister's side. Time after time, she was the reason we fought.

Afterward he'd use her age as an excuse and ask me to let it go.

Every time I let it go, she only pushed harder.

This time she'd gone as far as logging the most private thing in my life.

My cheek burned, and I dropped down onto the couch.

Hester shot Anthony a look. He hesitated, uneasy, and stayed where he was.

She rolled her eyes at him, turned, and went into the bedroom. When she came back out, she had my suitcase.

She opened the door and threw the suitcase out.

I shot to my feet. "What do you think you're doing!"

She waved a hand. "My brother's too soft-hearted to tell you to get out."

"I'm not as easy to talk to as he is. I will not have a woman who cheats on my brother staying in our house."

I looked at Anthony, unmoved. "Your house? Don't forget this apartment is my premarital property!"

"So what? You married my brother, so my brother has a share in it too. And you're the one at fault, so it's only right you walk away with nothing."

Hester actually made me laugh.

"Is that what you think too?"

Hester never even finished high school. She knew nothing about the law.

Anthony was a graduate of a top university. That was the very reason I hadn't cared, back then, that his family was ordinary.

His eyes darted away, and his silence said he agreed with every word she'd said.

I walked up to him and shoved his arm, hard.

"Get out of my way."

I stepped out the door and grabbed my suitcase.

Behind me, Hester's voice came, sour and pointed. "We'll see how long you stay smug."

The door slammed shut, closing me out.

I called my mom and told her I wanted to come home for a few days.

There was a short silence on her end, then she asked if I'd fought with Hester and Anthony again.

Every time I'd gone back to my parents' these past years, it had been because of Hester.

The taxi stopped at the front gate of the complex. I paid, then dragged my suitcase inside.

I ran into Aunt Beatrice walking her dog. She took one look at me and asked,

"Did you two have a spat?"

I shook my head. "No, I just missed Mom. Came home to keep her company for a bit."

She clearly didn't believe me, but she let it go.

The moment I stepped inside, my dad took the suitcase from my hand.

"Come in, come in. Your mom made that pork rib soup you love."

"She put in extra lotus seeds this time. Good for an expecting mother, helps with energy and calms the nerves."

"Dad, Anthony doesn't trust me. He hit me."

The soup bowl in my mom's hands dropped straight to the floor.

Tears welled up in her eyes at once.

My dad's face filled with anger and hurt.

"I'm calling him. He owes us an explanation."

He fumbled for his phone while my mom pulled me into her arms and cried.

"Whatever it is, why can't people just talk it out? How could he raise his hand to you?"

She cupped my face. "Does it hurt?"

I shook my head, crying.

My dad got through, his tone softening a little. "How could you hit her? Whatever the problem is, can't you two work it out calmly?"

"You come over here and apologize to Jacqueline, and promise you'll never lay a hand on her again."

Anthony hung up before my dad even finished.

My dad froze, hurt flickering across his eyes.

My parents were honest, kindhearted people.

They'd long thought of Anthony as their own son.

All these years of marriage, whether it was money or careers, they'd done everything they could to prop up our little family.

Anthony had always been good to them too, always able to coax a smile out of them.

This was the first time he'd ever been so cold to them.

The phone rang again. This time it was Hester. "You should ask yourselves what kind of daughter you raised. The young one's shameless, and so are the old ones."

"You want my brother to apologize? Not a chance."

"After the baby's eight weeks along, go get a DNA test. If it's my brother's child, we'll naturally take your daughter back."

My dad deflated and dropped down onto the couch.

My mom cried quietly.

They'd lived upright lives, all of them. When had they ever been insulted like this?

Grievance and heartache churned inside me. I bit down hard and went into my room.

A friend had sent me a lawyer's card. I called the number right away.

"Hello, I want a divorce."

The lawyer and I set up a meeting for the next day to talk through the details.

I'd barely put the phone down when group messages started going off, one after another, nonstop.

Irritated, I opened them.

It was the family group chat. I scrolled up. It was Aunt Beatrice.

She'd posted the wrong message, and by the time she tried to delete it, it was too late.

She'd written, "I saw Jacqueline back at her parents' place. She didn't have to say it, I could tell, she must've fought with her husband."

"Always bragging about their son-in-law, so educated, makes so much money. What good is any of that? She's still running home after a fight."

"Oh no, why did this go here, wrong chat, wrong chat, wrong chat."

Aunt Beatrice sent a flood of stickers, trying to bury what she'd said.

Then, out of nowhere, Hester posted a voice message.

"Aunt Beatrice, you're not wrong. My brother's wife and my brother really did fight. He even slapped her once."

Someone chimed in, "A husband and wife shouldn't be hitting each other."

Hester sent another voice message. "It's not my brother's fault. You elders can judge for yourselves."

"Last month my brother's wife went away on a business trip. She comes back this month and suddenly says she's pregnant. Six years married and she never got pregnant, but one business trip and she's expecting?"

She even posted the dates recorded in that notebook to the group.

Someone said, "Are you saying Jacqueline cheated?"

My father sent a voice note, his voice shaking with anger: "Our Jacqueline isn't that kind of person!"

Aunt Beatrice spoke up again: "Don't get worked up, uncle. Anthony's an honest, decent boy. He wouldn't accuse Jacqueline out of nowhere, would he?"

More voices piled in under her, agreeing.

Some took Anthony's side, some just wanted the show, and a small few tried to smooth things over.

Within minutes the chat was at 99+ unread.

Then Hester tagged me: "Don't forget, Jacqueline the DNA test is in two weeks. Then we'll all find out whether my brother's wife really got wronged."

Someone spotted the flaw: "Going by the dates in the notebook, the number of weeks Jacqueline's been pregnant checks out fine."

Hester replied: "What would you know!"

She kicked that person out of the chat.

"On the day, I'll livestream the whole thing for everyone."

I couldn't help replying: "Hester, are you really that sure of yourself? Aren't you afraid of embarrassing yourself?"

"You're the one who'll be embarrassed, not me. It's all in my notebook. There's no way it's wrong."

Seeing how firm she was, a lot of people in the chat chose to believe her.

One after another, they stepped up to blame me and my parents.

Most of these people had, at one time or another, been helped out by my mom and dad.

I saw right through them. When they needed favors or loans from my parents, they couldn't grovel humbly enough.

Now, over rumors built on nothing, they'd found their chance to attack us.

The next day, after seeing my lawyer, I went straight to the hospital.

I'd booked the DNA test and the abortion for the same day.

The doctor asked me, "It wasn't easy for you to get pregnant. Are you sure you want to end it?"

I nodded firmly. Better than letting the child be born to a father like that, better to spare him the suffering of ever coming into the world.

I believe in genes. A child carrying Anthony's blood, I had no faith he would ever understand me.

I came out of the doctor's office and walked into the hospital lobby.

From a distance I saw Anthony, bent low over a woman on a bench, wearing a fawning smile.

That cringing, ingratiating look was one I'd never seen on him before.

For a moment I thought I'd mistaken him for someone else.

He was wearing the brown jacket I'd bought him last week, coming back from a business trip.

He had a few report slips in his hand and jogged over to the window.

Whatever they told him at the counter sent him hurrying back to the woman.

He half-knelt beside her, took the ID card she handed him, then trotted back to the window.

Back and forth, several times, and not once did his face show a trace of impatience. He kept that fawning look the whole way through.

He helped the woman to her feet, her handbag hooked over his own shoulder.

As they walked, he fussed over her, his voice so gentle: "Careful. Take it slow."

The scene cut straight into me.

I'd always thought of Anthony as a proud man. I'd even told my parents specially:

any help for Anthony couldn't be too direct, it would wound his pride.

So it turned out that behind my back, he'd been playing the dog for other people all along.

They came straight toward me, and I strode up to meet them.

Anthony saw me and froze for a moment. "What are you doing here?"

I looked at the woman. "Who is she?"

"Go home first. I'll explain when I get back."

I wouldn't leave. He snapped at me harshly, "Get out of here."

Then he turned instantly, putting his smile back on for the woman. "Ms. Lawrence, I'm sorry you had to see that."

The woman ran her eyes over me with a haughty look.

She smiled faintly. "Manager Dickerson, I'll wait for you in the car."

Once she was gone, Anthony yanked me off to the side.

"What are you making a scene for? You nearly cost me that deal."

"What kind of deal makes you willing to play the dog?"

"You" Anthony forced his anger down and asked in a low voice, "Why are you at the hospital? What's wrong with you?"

His belated concern stirred nothing in me.

"Yesterday, in the chat, what your sister said. Did you see it?"

Anthony kept checking his watch. "Yeah. I saw it."

"She's not wrong, either. Do the DNA test, it's better for everyone. If you haven't wronged me, what are you afraid of?"

Fire surged up in my chest, and I lifted my hand and brought it down hard across Anthony's face.

"That's what you owe me and the baby."

My Sister-in-Law Wrecked My Career and My Future, and After Getting the Test Results I Endured the Pain of an Abortion

After leaving the hospital, I went home and rested for half a day.

The next day I showed up on time at the client's company.

My team had worked ourselves to the bone for three months to land this project.

Once we signed with the client today, everyone's bonus would double.

My boss had promised that when the project was done, he'd promote me to vice president.

For those three months I stayed late every single day. Last month I traveled out of state for work, and it made me miss my period.

It wasn't until I collapsed at the station and got rushed to the hospital

that I found out I was pregnant.

When I held the pregnancy test in my hands, my heart was full of joy.

Anthony and I had wanted this baby for so long.

I hailed a cab home right away to tell him the news.

At first Anthony was thrilled, busy showing off the news to everyone.

Then Hester pulled out a notebook and, with one word impossible turned the whole thing on its head.

Anthony had doted on this sister since they were kids. In college, she'd gone off to work and sent him money all the time.

He felt he owed her.

Whatever Hester said, he believed.

The meeting went smoothly, right up until the signing. Then the door banged open.

Hester came storming toward me.

She raised her hand, and I could see the slap coming down.

A coworker beside me was quick, catching her arm.

His voice stayed even. Whatever this is, settle it in private.

Hester shook off his hand, her eyes sharp.

I hadn't even come looking for you, and here you are handing yourself over.

Clay Whitney was a young intern, fresh out of school. Under Hester's interrogation, his face flushed red.

I don't know you.

Ha. Of course you don't know me. It's enough that I know you.

Caught off guard by the sudden scene, everyone in the room froze where they stood.

I stepped forward and pulled at Hester. What are you making a scene for? Whatever it is, let's talk outside.

Hester refused. So now you're worried about embarrassment? You weren't worried when you cheated on my brother. When you were fooling around with this pretty boy, why weren't you thinking about my brother then?

Every face in the room was hungry for the drama.

My boss and the client both went dark.

I raised my voice to stop her. Hester, what are you talking about! I haven't done anything wrong!

Yesterday you had the nerve to hit my brother. What's wrong with him buttering up Ms. Lawrence? He did it for this family.

So she'd come to avenge Anthony.

Don't let Jacqueline fool you all with that prim little act. She's already carrying another man's kid, and she still wants my brother to play the sucker!

Hester! One more lie out of you and I'll sue you for defamation!

Clay finally understood what was going on.

He shook his head frantically. Team Lead Summers and I are completely innocent. There's nothing between us.

Hester's face said she didn't believe a word. Last month it was you who went on that business trip with my sister-in-law, and she came back pregnant. My brother can barely have kids. What a coincidence!

It really wasn't me!

Clay was almost in tears.

My boss called security. As Hester was hauled out, she kept shouting that the baby in my belly was a bastard.

Once Hester was gone, the conference room went dead silent.

I stood there, furious and mortified, every pair of eyes fixed on me.

I bowed to the client's representative over and over, apologizing again and again, and the contract was signed on time.

On the way back to the office, I saw my boss's face and knew the promotion was gone.

I apologized to Clay, who'd done nothing.

I took my annual leave and shut myself in at home.

During that time, Hester kept goading me online.

I quietly recorded my screen, saved it all, and sent it to my lawyer.

Two weeks later, I brought a videographer to film every step, and went to the hospital to have my blood drawn for the DNA test.

By the time Anthony and the others arrived, I'd already finished the procedure.

When Hester saw me, her phone was livestreaming.

She shoved the camera right in my face.

A smug little scoff at the corner of her mouth.

Sister-in-law, here's some good news for you. My brother just landed that big project of Ms. Lawrence's.

Just like I said, once he was rid of you, his career took off.

My face went pale, and I pressed a hand to my belly. Hester, do you really hate me that much?

Hester was quiet for a moment, then said with pure venom, Yes. If it weren't for you

Just then a nurse came out holding the DNA results and called out, Is Anthony here? The report says the baby is yours.

Hester's face changed. Her livestreaming phone dropped to the floor.

Anthony held the report, checking it over and over.

Joy broke across his face and he ran forward to hug me. Honey, we're having a baby!

The corner of my mouth curved up. Too bad. It's too late.