DNA Results

It is always the so-called 'normal' days that you need to watch out for. They're the times when you can get blindsided, king hit, or knocked for six. Much like the old idea that it is the quiet people who are the ones to avoid as they are usually the wild ones at heart. Well, both of these specks of wisdom came to enlighten me, Alan Webb.

I was married to my childhood sweetheart, Ellie almost as soon as we both graduated from university and had both landed good jobs. Me, as a teacher in a local junior school and Ellie as a nursing sister at the local private hospital. Good jobs with a future and security. With steady, almost guaranteed income, the banks had no hesitation in lending us money for our first home. Children soon followed. James, now aged 14 and Elaine, now aged 19, were both the pride of our lives. They seemed to be headed for a bright future. They had a steady flow of close friends, good academic grades and fought enough with each other to give Ellie and me many moments of shared subdued mirth at their pranks.

The relationship between Ellie and myself, while in no way extremely passionate, was stable. We argued occasionally, mostly about the kids. She always seemed very protective of them and struggled when I laid down the law about various issues that inevitably crop up when raising two children. She would argue to a point and then seem to reach a point within herself where she stopped and quickly changed the subject. This became the norm. Our sex life was adequate. We had sex maybe twice to three times a week, usually on the weekend when she was more willing. I would have loved it to be more during the week, but Ellie always shut me down with some excuse or another. I soon learned to take what I could get and left it for the weekends. I would not describe our sex sessions as 'making love', but more of a need to get our rocks off, especially me! I tried to increase the tempo and variety of our sex, but it was never successful. We just settled into our routine and left it at that. Besides, I should not complain. Ellie, to me was drop-dead gorgeous and we had two wonderful kids to raise.

The tendril of peaceful existence started to unravel on a Thursday. It was lunchtime in the staffroom. I taught Junior school, but it was attached to a large senior school campus. This meant that junior school teachers met and ate in a common staffroom with the senior teachers, many of whom I got to be quite friendly with. It was during this particular lunchtime, one of the few that I had the luxury of enjoying while not being on playground duty, or hunched over a pile of marking, that Pat Collins, the head of science in the senior school proposed a project to me. "Hey Al, can you help a team of my Year 12 Science students test out a new snazzy piece of equipment?"

Always eager to help, but wary of any possible pranks, I replied, "Sure Pat. Are you testing the size of the human brain and want to calibrate the machine for the largest extreme first?"

He chuckled. "No, nothing so easy. We have been given a simple DNA sampling unit on loan from the university. It is specifically for this team of Year 12s who have been identified by their scouts to excel and be given accelerated entrance into the uni's Science course next year. We are fairly privileged as this is the first time this has happened, at least to my knowledge."

"Ok," I responded. "But why do you need my help?" This situation had my interest fired up.

"Well, we need subjects to test the DNA samples on. For child safety reasons, we can't use any of the students or staff from here to run the tests on. We need some random subjects that cannot be traced by the team or university. Do you reckon you could help out? You can't tell me who the subjects are, but one of the subjects must be related to the parent and the other not. It will be up to the team of Science students to determine, using the DNA unit, which is which. I could use my own kids, but I might inadvertently give clues to the students. All that is needed is three strands of hair, one from the parent, one from the related child and one from the unrelated child. Are you in?" He looked at me expectantly while I hesitated. "You would be doing this group of students a huge favour. Opportunities like this don't come every day you know."

"Why not?" I replied. I already knew that I would use my own children as the subjects, but I wasn't about to tell Pat that. He gave me the special containers which ensured that no cross-contamination of samples would take place. "Why are you giving me six containers?" I asked.

"Just in case you mess up any of the samples," he replied.

"Right! Like junior teachers don't know anything huh?" I replied. It was an on-going banter between two good friends.

Thursday night was the perfect night for the sampling to take place. Ellie was not home as she had a late shift. I could just imagine how she would react to her kids being used in a Science experiment! Elaine also had a study friend over for the night. She was a long-time friend of Elaine's, Patsy Jefferson. We knew her parents, John and Shellie, from university days and often met with them socially. I loved being around Shellie, as she was an open, kind-hearted lady. John, her husband, while ok and conversational, always seemed slightly reserved. I often caught him looking at me in a strange way. It was a look that I couldn't quite place, but it contained a certain smugness. It was as if he knew something I didn't! But hey, it takes all kinds and Ellie loved being around them.

The hair sampling was easier than I thought. Obviously, mine was simplest and getting Elaine's hair strand was as easy as going to the bathroom and pulling one from the hairbrush in her cabinet. Each of us had our own cabinet in the bathroom and Elaine ALWAYS used her own brush, as did Ellie. Patsy's landed in my lap by pure coincidence. The two girls were frolicking in the lounge during a study break when Patsy fell near the dining table and caught her hair, which was shoulder length, in one of the chairs. Elaine rolled around the floor in laughter as Patsy tried to untangle the mess from all of the nooks and crannies in the chair. She was eventually successful, but it left a few tiny tufts of her hair in the chair. Bingo! Sample number three done. I now went to James' bedroom and removed one of his hairs from his pillow. Of course, he didn't know what I was doing as he was listening to music in the den at the time.

I now had four samples; mine, two related samples(Elaine and James) and one unrelated sample(Patsy). I still had two empty containers and certainly didn't mess up the other samples, so just for fun included one of Ellie's hairs, again from her hairbrush! This should be fun. I labelled them all very scientifically, A-E, and recorded whose was which. A was mine, while B and C were Elaine and James, D was Patsy and E was Ellie. I couldn't wait to get the results. It would certainly test the team's accuracy and give them some valuable diagnostic experience prior to their university entrance.

Needless to say, I gave the samples to Pat the next day. He seemed surprised by the extra two samples, but commented that it would make the testing activity more realistic. As it was a Friday, I wasn't expecting any results soon, so I just continued on with my normal routine for the next week. Once again, it was in staffroom that Pat approached me. "Hey Al. The team got the results back. They're ecstatic! The university mentors were very impressed with the way they conducted the activity and the way the DNA unit performed in relatively untrained hands. I can tell you that this team of students has a bright future in Science next year. It was a good move to give them five samples. It really had them challenged for a while. Anyway, here's the result report. I don't want to know who they are, or where they came from, but thanks again."

I waited until I got home to open the brown envelope as I had a full afternoon to prepare for my Year 6 class. The report was fairly simple. First it detailed the method used to determine the DNA sequences of each sample. Following that was a straightforward table illustrating the familial connections between the samples. It went like this:

A is not related to any of the other samples.

E is related to samples B and C.

D is related to samples B and C.

E is not related to sample D.

It then stated that the results were thoroughly checked by the university DNA lab and that the likelihood of error was extremely low. There followed a commendation on the manner in which the Year 12 students had conducted the activity and congratulated them on the high degree of accuracy which they were able to achieve. In fact, the letter stated, "The results are absolutely correct in every aspect."

It didn't hit me until I re-read the report. My hands started to shake as the ramifications of the results hit me for six. Yep, king hit from behind! It meant that I, sample A, was not related to my own kids, samples B and C! That couldn't be. I was their father! But Ellie was related to them. And what's this about Patsy? How could she be related to Elaine and James? The truth of these results was too much to bear. My mind went into overdrive, flitting from one thought to another, not wanting to settle on the one unmistakable fact that I was cuckolded all of my married life. "No, no, no, Ellie, no!" I shouted at an empty house. No one was home yet luckily. That empty house suddenly seemed to close in around me as I spun around and came to a dead feint on the kitchen floor.

"Dad! Dad, are you ok? What happened?" It was Elaine's voice that attacked my dead brain and woke me.

"I think so," I sort of mumbled. My eyes were still partly closed and all I could see was a blurry image of my daughter's face obviously distressed. My daughter, Elaine, or was she? Again, the horrible realisation surfaced and with a shot, I sat up and shook my head to clear the grogginess. As I rubbed my hand over my hair, I felt the lump where my skull cushioned the fall to the floor! "Ouch!" I couldn't help but call out as my hand came away with blood. Elaine was there again in a flash with a cloth and ice as well as a cool drink of water. I mumbled my thanks as I sipped the water and held the ice on the injury. "Sorry," I said. "I don't know what happened. I was just reading this report and next thing I knew, you were calling my name. I must have slipped or something. I think I'll be ok in a minute. I'll go down to the den and relax a bit. James and your mum will be home soon. Do think you can look after dinner?"

"Of course, dad," came Elaine's reply. "You certainly gave me a fright you know. I thought that you had a heart attack or something. CPR was going to be my next thing. All the PE training at school was suddenly going to make sense," she chuckled. "I love you. Now go and rest."

Those words hit my heart harder than a heart attack could. Elaine was my daughter, but she wasn't. I loved her dearly and she loved me as her dad. Only I wasn't her dad. I was only the dumb ass who paid for her upbringing, held her while she cried, listened to her crazy teenage whining and tantrums, changed her nappies in the middle of the night, kissed her on the cheek as she left for school each morning. I wasn't her dad. The DNA test slammed that into my face, but the resulting injury wasn't a black eye, it was a broken heart. The lounge chair in the den softened my descent as I sank down to sit and think. To sit and think! Think about what? Think about how Ellie had cheated on me not once, but twice. If twice, how many more times?

The two obvious cheats were years apart, so what happened in between, or before, or after! What about now? Is it still happening now? How could Ellie do that? She was my wife, my love, my partner. We did everything together. Others often commented on what a great partnership we had, or seemed to have. We hardly fought. We always had sex whenever we had the chance, albeit less frequently now as we were getting older and always on the weekend. Also, teenage kids don't allow for a lot of free, make as much noise as you like, time! "How, how?" was the word I inadvertently asked out aloud repeatedly as I sat there. I hadn't realised that Elaine had come down into the den with a cup of coffee for me.

"I don't know how either dad," she said, thinking the question was for her. "I couldn't see anything that you could have tripped on and floor is dry, so you didn't slip on anything. I found this by the way. You must have been reading this while you walked into the kitchen. Some sort of Science report. You really should do your marking while sitting at your desk dad!" With that scolding, she handed me my coffee, bless her, and the crumpled report, damn her!

"Thanks for both Lainie," I replied, using my pet name for her when she scolded me about anything. She smiled and left the room to continue with dinner.

I really had to get myself together until I could apply some logic to this situation and verify what was what. If I went on like this and there was some mistake, I would have already damaged my relationships with Ellie and my kids. My kids? Ellie had obviously cheated on me with John Jefferson! Not once, but twice at least! My hands began to shake. There I went again. I needed to control my emotions and my outward behaviours immediately. Luckily, as a teacher, I was used to doing both, especially when dealing with the OMG, 'that's absolutely AWESOME' parents who funnel their children into my classes each year! I was able to compartmentalise this by the time I had finished my coffee and the ice had started to drip down my face. Just in time too, as James and Ellie came through the door.

"Are you ok dad?" asked James. "Getting on, old man? Maybe we need to buy a wheelchair!" he joked as he came to inspect the head wound. "That's gotta hurt," he again joked as he left to his room.

"What happened Al?" Ellie asked as she also inspected the wound from a purely medical standpoint. "Hmm. No stitches needed, but that ice is going to have to be there for a while. What was Elaine thinking, using one of my good tea towels for this. I will have to spray it and soak it to get the blood out. I'll be back in a minute with another cloth and some new ice." With that she breezed out and attended to the new wound dressing. I was proud of myself. I had kept in control, though, each time she touched and probed the wound, I couldn't help but recoil slightly, not from the pain, but from the betrayal which seemed evident to me now. Of course, Ellie thought it was from the pain.

"Don't be such a sook!" she crooned as I attempted to move away from each touch. "Come on up for dinner. I need a shower. Elaine has been busy cooking up a storm for her poor injured dad!" she laughed. I didn't laugh as I tumbled up the stairs to sit at the table with my family. My family? Huh! That lie was flavouring every thought now. I almost lost it. Luckily, everyone put my strange behaviour down to my recent fall and made light of everything. Later as I made my way to bed, I realised that I had survived my first day of deceit. I could do this!

As a teacher, I had a number of days each year which could be treated as 'sick' days. Due to the highly stressful nature of teaching, these days could also be used as 'mental health' days. The advantages of being in a unionised work force! I decided to see the junior principal and arrange for a week off class. She knew my record and knew instinctively that my request was for something serious. "This is a little out of the blue Al. Is there anything I should know about?" She paused expectantly.

"I'd rather not say at the moment boss. I just need to have the alone at home time to figure some serious issues out. In my present state of mind, I won't be doing any of my students a favour."

"Rest easy Al. I know your work ethic and I know that you're not just slacking it. I hope that your time out is productive for you. Now go. I will arrange a relief teacher for your class for the week. Just leave all of your planning for the time away on your desk for the relief teacher"

That weekend was surreal. I maintained normal conversation around the house, but managed to spend as much time away from Ellie as possible, feigning one job after another around the yard which just had to be done. Mealtimes were the most difficult. Always a time of light family banter, I had to really concentrate on my contributions to the said banter. I just couldn't look Ellie in the eyes at all. I faked a smile now and then continued on. My heart broke again and again as I looked and listened to James and Elaine. Night was easy to escape to, as I would retire early, blaming all of the yard work and the recovery from my fall. Ellie didn't seem fazed at all by my lack of interest in sex over the weekend, and maybe it was my paranoid state of mind, but I think she tried to hide a sigh of relief!

Monday morning, I followed my normal workday routine. Ellie had a week of day shifts, so she would be gone during my normal school hours. James would be at school as normal and Elaine had a full study week at uni. For all intents and purposes, I would be at school as normal while the rest of the family followed their normal day. Perfect. I had a free run to investigate anything I needed to. My logical teacher brain took over and I soon had a list of items which had to be checked.

1.Check Ellie's personal stuff for anything which might give me some answers about, who, when, where, why?

2.Check Ellie's movements while at work. If there was anything going on, it would have to be based at her work. She never had 'girls nights out, or any social event out on her own.

3.Buy a tracking device for Ellie's car.

4.Check John Jefferson's movements.

5.See a lawyer and detail my options.

Number one was relatively easy now that I had the run of the house. I carefully searched everything. Ellie's wardrobe, bedside table, even the attic! I couldn't find anything incriminating anywhere. There was one strange thing though. One of the photo albums in the den had been taken out and replaced many times. I only knew this because of the lack of usual dust on a particular album. I noticed this as I sat defeated in my usual chair, sipping on a coffee, pondering where else I should search. Out of curiosity, I pulled the clean album from the shelf. No one ever looked at the photo albums anymore, so I was keen to find out why this one had been so recently opened. I was shocked at the contents of this album. It was almost a shrine to John. There were photos of him at university, even some of him and Ellie in fairly intimate poses, obviously while at uni. "Ok, uni is a wild time for most developing adults, but to keep photographic evidence?" I thought. I also seem to remember that we promised to be exclusive during our courtship at uni. Something wasn't right!

There were photos of him holding Elaine as a baby. What made me want to vomit, was a picture of him, Ellie and Elaine in the hospital shortly after Elaine was born! The happy family picture! This sequence continued chronologically with similar photos including James. More 'happy family' pictures followed with all of them together at various locations. I noticed that they were mostly places that we had been to together, so the pictures must have been taken while I was distracted by something else. I couldn't remember any of the photos being taken while I was within earshot or sight! The photos certainly didn't show up on the kitchen table for everyone to see after the events.

The pictures not taken in familiar social situations all seemed to be taken in one of the local hospital areas. Ellie almost always seemed to be dressed in her hospital scrubs, but there were a few which showed her dressed in very revealing dress. This would normally have been a source of pride for me. Ellie was always a looker and when she dressed carefully, she could turn the heads of any nearby male over the age of 18, even now. However, no pride was felt at all. Only a sense of complete betrayal. She wasn't getting dressed up for me. She was impressing John. Asshole John! I could now place the furtive glances and sly knowing smiles whenever we met as a group socially. I could almost hear John thinking, "That poor dumb bastard. He doesn't have a clue about Ellie and me screwing at will. He doesn't even know about our two love children!"