Chapter 5: The First Question
The entire front porch fell into complete silence.
Olivia’s small, innocent voice still hung in the cold December air.
“Are you my daddy?”
Marcus Reynolds stood frozen on the top step, his mouth slightly open, eyes wide with shock. The small black ring box he had been holding had already slipped from his fingers and landed in the snow.
His new fiancée — the blonde woman in the bright red dress — took a shaky step backward. Her face had gone completely pale.
Patricia Reynolds gripped the doorframe so tightly her knuckles turned white. The shattered wine glass lay forgotten at her feet.
Kesha remained perfectly calm. She kept her hand gently on Olivia’s shoulder, giving the little girl a reassuring squeeze.
Marcus finally managed to speak, though his voice came out hoarse and broken.
“I… I don’t…”
He couldn’t finish the sentence.
His eyes darted between the four children standing in front of him. Noah and Ethan stared back with curious but guarded expressions. Sophia looked a little shy, half-hiding behind Kesha’s coat. Olivia, the one who had asked the question, simply waited for an answer with wide, trusting eyes.
The resemblance was undeniable.
Every single one of them had Marcus’s deep blue eyes, his strong jawline, and that same slight dimple on the left cheek when they smiled.
Marcus looked like he had been punched in the stomach.
His fiancée’s voice came out in a shaky whisper.
“Marcus… what is going on?”
He still couldn’t answer her.
Kesha decided to speak instead. Her voice was calm, clear, and carried across the porch without any anger.
“These are your children, Marcus. All four of them. Born eight years ago — two months after you walked out on me.”
She paused, letting the words sink in.
“You left before I even had the chance to tell you I was carrying quadruplets.”
A collective gasp came from inside the house. Several relatives who had been watching from the doorway now stepped forward, murmuring among themselves.
Marcus finally found his voice, though it sounded weak.
“Quad… quadruplets?”
Kesha nodded.
“Noah, Ethan, Sophia, and Olivia.”
She gently nudged the children forward one by one as she introduced them.
Marcus looked like he was about to collapse.
His mother, Patricia, finally found her voice.
“This… this has to be some kind of joke,” she said, though her voice lacked its usual confidence. “Marcus, tell me this isn’t true.”
Marcus didn’t answer. He couldn’t take his eyes off the four children.
Olivia, still waiting for a response to her question, tilted her head innocently.
“Mommy said you left before we were born. Is that true?”
The question hit Marcus harder than anything else.
He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
Kesha looked at him steadily.
“You don’t have to answer that right now,” she said quietly. “But they deserve to know who their father is. Even if you never wanted to be one.”
Marcus’s new fiancée suddenly stepped forward, her voice rising.
“Marcus, what the hell is this? You told me you didn’t have any children! You said your ex-wife couldn’t have kids!”
Marcus finally turned to look at her, his face full of panic.
“I… I didn’t know,” he stammered. “I swear I didn’t know.”
The blonde woman stared at him in disbelief, then looked at the four children again. Her engagement ring caught the light as her hand trembled.
Without another word, she turned and walked back into the house, pushing past the stunned guests.
Marcus didn’t even try to stop her.
May you like
He just stood there, staring at the family he had thrown away eight years ago.
And for the first time since Kesha had arrived, he looked completely and utterly lost.
