Chapter 9 - The Child Nobody Remembered
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Claire stared at Daniel.
“What did you just say?”
Adrian moved closer to her.
“Don't listen to him.”
But Daniel continued.
“The hospital records were altered twice. The first version showed three children. The second showed four.”
Claire shook her head.
“No.”
Daniel pulled another document from the folder.
A neonatal record.
A fourth infant.
Female.
Transferred to a private facility.
The name of the mother was Claire Bennett.
The father was Adrian Park.
Claire's knees weakened.
“I gave birth to three children. Not four.”
Adrian took the document.
The medical record showed that a fourth baby had been delivered during an emergency procedure.
But the child had been declared stillborn.
Claire remembered the doctor.
The bright lights.
The pressure in her chest.
The nurse asking her to close her eyes.
She remembered being told that two babies had survived.
The third child, Lucas, had been taken away.
But there had been another?
Daniel watched her face.
“The fourth child was removed before you woke up.”
Adrian's voice was cold.
“Where is she?”
Daniel looked toward his father.
“Ask him.”
Adrian turned.
His father had gone pale.
“You knew?”
The older man said nothing.
“Father!”
Finally, he spoke.
“The fourth baby wasn't supposed to exist.”
Claire felt tears sliding down her face.
“What does that mean?”
His father looked at her.
“Your pregnancy was monitored by a private physician. There were complications. The doctor believed one of the babies had died before delivery.”
“But she was alive?”
He nodded.
“Daniel arranged for her to be transferred to another facility. I believed she would be adopted and protected.”
Claire stepped backward.
“You gave away my daughter?”
“I thought I was saving her.”
“From what?”
His father looked at Daniel.
“From the same people who were trying to destroy the family.”
The detectives moved toward Daniel.
He suddenly grabbed the document and tore it in half.
“There's no proof,” he shouted. “No original records. No surviving witnesses.”
A voice came from behind the detectives.
“That's not true.”
Everyone turned.
A woman stood in the doorway.
She was in her early forties, with dark hair and a small scar along her cheek.
Claire recognized her from the photograph.
The unknown woman.
“My name is Rebecca Shaw,” she said. “And I was the nurse who delivered your fourth child.”
Claire stepped forward.
“Where is my daughter?”
Rebecca looked at her.
“I've been trying to find you for five years.”
Daniel lunged toward the door.
The detectives restrained him.
Rebecca continued.
“The baby survived. I helped move her because Daniel had ordered the hospital to report her dead. But I couldn't let that happen.”
“Where is she?” Adrian demanded.
Rebecca reached into her bag.
She removed a photograph.
A teenage girl stood in front of a school building.
Claire stared.
The girl had her eyes.
Her chin.
And Adrian's unmistakable dimple.
“She was adopted by a family in Oregon,” Rebecca said. “They named her Lily.”
Claire pressed the photograph to her chest.
“Does she know?”
“No. She believes she's their biological daughter.”
Adrian looked at the picture.
“How old is she?”
“Four years and ten months.”
The same age as the twins.
Claire began crying.
Three children had been stolen from her.
She had found Lucas.
Now she had discovered Lily.
But Rebecca's next words shattered the fragile hope in the room.
“There's one more thing.”
May you like
She looked directly at Adrian.
“Lily wasn't the only baby transferred that night.”
