August exhaled. His hands trembled slightly, though he kept them folded. “Your mother and I knew each other for a short time. She told me she was expecting. Then she vanished. Years later she contacted me asking for help. She had two infants. She insisted both were mine. A test was arranged. Before it could happen she disappeared again. After she died, I tried to locate the children. Only one adoption record existed. Tobias’s. The agency claimed they had no knowledge of a second child. I believed she had fabricated the story under stress.”
Jaxon nodded tightly. “She did not lie. I was the one who fell out of the system.”
Tobias felt every word like a blow. His life, which had always felt stable and mapped out, suddenly felt fragile.
“This can be fixed,” Tobias said softly.
August looked at both boys with an expression Tobias could not interpret. “If you are my son, I will take responsibility.”
“Words are not enough,” Jaxon replied.
“Then we will take the test,” August said.