"Becky, you have a sister," Rory said.
He waited for some reaction. "Do you remember Ruby?"
As memories flashed through her mind, Becky momentarily forgot she was crying. She was lost in thought for a minute before she said in grief, "But Daddy, didn't Mom say that she was not really my sister?"
"The DNA result your mother showed us was fake. She never really took any sample from Ruby for a DNA test. She just made it up to drive Ruby and her mother away." There was a brief spark of anger at the mention of this. But Rory did his best to hide the displeasure in his tone from Becky, who in her state would sense it easily. "Ruby is your half-sister," he told Becky.
He was extremely drunk that night. Rory remembered waking up the next morning with Sharon lying next to him in bed. His most vivid memory was the red stain that stood out in stark contrast to the white bed sheet. He was nonplussed. After he realized what happened that night, Rory had no choice but to marry Sharon.
After they got married, he became the responsible husband and took good care of Sharon. It was not until Ruby's birth that Rory began to entertain other ideas in his head. And when Donna later showed him the DNA report, he was furious and drove Sharon out of their house. Their marriage ended, and the two never saw each other again. It was only by accident that Rory heard that Sharon had married Steven, who treated Ruby like his own daughter. At that time, Rory truly believed Steven was Ruby's biological father.
It was not until recently when Rory found out the truth about the DNA test result that he realized Ruby could really be his biological child. Sharon was a virgin when they spent the night together. He was quite sure of this, although he was dead drunk and didn't remember anything that night.
"Then where is Ruby now?" Becky asked nervously. He shut his eyes for a moment before replying.
"She's in A City." If Ruby's retina were an actual match with Becky's, he would beg her to give it to her sister. In return, Rory would accept Ruby as his daughter, treat her well and give her a comfortable life.
"Really?" Becky's voice was even shakier. "Where is she, Daddy? Where is she now?" He heard the urgency in her voice. Pausing for a while, Becky suddenly recalled that when she was little, she overheard her parents quarreling about this very issue. She frowned at the memory before turning to her father. "I remembered hearing you say that her mother remarried and she had a new father," she told Rory. "What is her name now?"
There was silence before Rory replied, "Molly."
At that very instant, Becky's cellphone fell to the ground with a loud thunk. She was dumbstruck over what Rory was saying in the phone now. She was speechless, her face blank.
Hearing the name Molly, Becky was stunned. 'Molly, Why was it Molly?
Why did she have to be Molly?' she thought.
She tried to recover from the shock. It was several minutes before Becky finally came to her senses. She got up from her seat, then knelt down to fumble for the cellphone that fell. After patting around her, she picked it up and held it back to her ear. "Daddy, is Molly really Ruby, my half-sister?" she asked.
His heart heavy, Rory answered, "Yes." Steven had spoken to him before. The man wanted Rory to rekindle his relationship with Molly. What he truly wanted was for Rory to send his daughter abroad. But he never agreed, so the matter was put off.
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