During the Thanksgiving holiday, Opal Wilson held a squirming little bundle -- a little girl, the embodiment of hope, promise and joy.

Wilson was ready to love her first grandchild. Affection, presents and educational toys were stockpiled. There were pictures, videos and heirlooms to share. The events that brought the child into her life, however, left the door of doubt cracked open.
Deep inside Wilson, a classic conflict rumbled. Was her son the father of this child? And that question forced Wilson into the realm of unforgiving scientific facts: a DNA test to determine paternity, to which more and more potential grandparents are turning to make sure the child at hand actually is their grandchild.

As courts grapple with issues ranging from inheritance and heirship to medical issues and visitation rights for grandparents, DNA testing to prove the genetic tie between grandparent and grandchild can provide a critical link.

And in many cases, it goes beyond a parent's attempt to confirm or refute paternity on behalf of their own son. From the standpoint of a growing number of would-be grandparents, the chance of a misplaced money or property commitment isn't nearly so devastating as the idea that the connection to a child could be ripped to shreds in a case of contested kinship.

"I would say that in at least 75 percent of the cases we see, the grandparents are involved in some way, whether it's bringing the people in to be tested or asking and paying for the tests themselves," said Amie Caskey Roberts, spokeswoman for DNA Services of America's Shreveport office.

"In many cases, the dad's parents are wanting to know before they bond with the child," she said.

Most of the DNA testing services in the Shreveport-Bossier City area -- there are nine listed in the business pages of the telephone directory -- said they do five or six paternity tests per month. DNA Services of America did 27 such tests in January, but on average, they conduct about 20 paternity tests a month, Roberts said.

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It was a fling, a one-night stand after a night at the bar in the winter of 2005.

Five months later, the woman showed up at the apartment of Wilson's son in Atlanta, saying she was pregnant with his child.

Wilson, who works in the telemetry unit at LSU Health Sciences Center, wanted to believe the child was her granddaughter, but she couldn't quite convince herself.

"The baby looked so much like him," she said, "but I know you can't just take people's word for it. I thought, 'I've got to do DNA."'

Deoxyribonucleic acid -- DNA for short -- is the blueprint for life itself. The details of a person's DNA can tell a lot, and comparing a child's DNA to a purported father's DNA can establish or refute a paternity claim.

Almost every human cell has DNA, down to the tiny slivers of flesh inside the mouth. Take a sample from the child, a sample from the supposed father, extract the DNA, compare the results.

Wilson, her son and the baby went to the DNA Services of America office Nov. 24, where a technician swabbed the inside of the cheek of the mouth of the baby and of Wilson's son. The baby's mother hadn't made the trip, preferring instead to send the child with him for the Thanksgiving trip to Shreveport.

The $450 Wilson paid for the testing bought her an answer. It did not necessarily save any heartache.

"He went back to Georgia, and lo and behold when the test came back, it said there was zero probability he was the father," Wilson said

Wilson and her son arranged a three-way call to the mother, although the woman did not know Wilson was on the line. When her son told the woman about the test results, she did not apologize, she did not protest. Instead, she asked one question, Wilson said: "'When did you have time to get the test?'"

"She cut off the conversation pretty quickly after that," Wilson said. "She said, 'Now I've got to think about my daughter,' and she hung up."

"She was looking at my son as a meal ticket. He drives a nice car and lives in a lovely apartment. It was clear from the conversation that she knew all along he wasn't the father."

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Science can figure out who a father is, or in this case, is not. Sometimes, science can offer a person a reprieve or a second chance. Science cannot, however, provide a clear-cut formula for picking up the pieces.

"I didn't think he would be so devastated," Wilson said of her son, "but he was."

Wilson and her husband packed the things they had purchased for the child who might have been their granddaughter, packed the pictures they had taken and shipped them to the child's mother.

But there were things that couldn't be sent away. The feel of a baby nuzzling into the neck of her holder, the taste of a tender kiss on her tiny forehead.

"I still have dreams about the little girl," Wilson said.

The discovery that a child is not the much-anticipated grandchild can trigger a response akin to that of a death in the family.

"I could see it being a very difficult thing," said clinical psychologist Jean Hollenshead. "The longer it goes on (before the discovery that the child is not related), it could be very difficult on a person.

"Any time there's a sudden void in one's life, there needs to be a coping strategy, and something like this can leave a gaping hole."

Teresa James, a case manager for DNA Services of America's Shreveport office, said it's been her experience that, more often than not, the tests confirm that the man being tested is the father of the child in question. Whatever the test results, there's a definitive answer.

"The results give you an answer, and you can make decisions," James said, adding the results "are devastating to some clients."

"It's not a who's-your-daddy business we're in," she said. "It's more dignified than that. When I get a call, it's from someone who needs help. The results are life-changing, one way or the other."

The changes aren't always the expected ones. Back in Atlanta, Wilson's son — unequivocally proven to have no biological connection to be the child — felt pangs of fatherhood.

"My son asked me if he could still be involved with the child," she said. "I told him that there was another man involved, and he didn't need to get in the middle of that.

"I told him he needed to meet someone, fall in love, get married and do it the right way."