Chapter 8: Four Babies and One Impossible Lie
Nobody spoke.
Claire laid the photograph on her desk, smoothing its curled edges with her palm.
Four newborns lay side by side in a hospital nursery. Two boys wore yellow and blue blankets. A little girl slept with one hand beside her cheek. The fourth baby was wrapped in white.
All four had the same tiny red birthmark above the left eyebrow.
I stared at the photograph.
“That's impossible.””
Claire shook her head.
“No. What's impossible is that the hospital managed to erase a birth from its official records without anyone noticing.””
Sarah gripped the edge of the desk.
“I gave birth to twins. I remember two babies. I was awake when they were delivered.””
“I'm not questioning what you remember,” Claire said gently.
“I'm telling you what the records showed.””
She pulled a chair toward Sarah.
“Please sit down.””
Sarah didn't move.
“Who is the fourth baby?””
Claire glanced at Noah, then at me.
“I don't know the child's current identity. The original record was altered, and the placement documents were removed. But I know the baby was born within the same hour as your twins.””
Rebecca covered her mouth.
“And Lily?””
Claire nodded.
“Lily was recorded separately under a different case number. That's why the original file lists three infants. The fourth birth was deliberately excluded.””
Noah frowned.
“Then why are there four babies in the photograph?””
“Because someone took it before the records were changed.””
Claire opened a folder and showed us a copy of an old hospital inventory.
Four infant identification bracelets had been issued that morning.
Only three were listed in the final discharge report.
I felt cold.
“Who signed the discharge report?””
Claire slid the paper toward me.
My father's name appeared at the bottom.
Daniel Carter.
Beneath it was another signature.
Evelyn Mercer.
Rebecca sat down abruptly.
“Evelyn delivered my baby?””
“No,” Claire said.
“She wasn't the attending physician. She was the administrator responsible for the neonatal unit that night.””
“Why would an administrator sign a discharge report?””
“That's what I asked sixteen years ago.””
Claire opened another folder.
“I discovered the discrepancy while helping my father prepare records for a routine audit. Four babies had been admitted. Only three had been discharged. One identification number had been reassigned to another infant who had died that same week.””
Sarah stared at her.
“They switched a living baby's identity with a dead child's?””
Claire nodded.
“And that wasn't the only irregularity.””
Noah leaned forward.
“Why didn't you report it?””
“I did.””
Her answer came without hesitation.
“I filed a formal complaint. I provided copies of the records to hospital administration and requested an investigation.””
“What happened?””
Claire's mouth tightened.
“My complaint disappeared. The administrator who received it claimed I'd misunderstood the documents. Then I was told my father had approved the changes himself.””
“Did he?”” I asked.
Claire looked down.
“My father was the records supervisor. He had access to the files, but he didn't authorize the transfers. He spent months trying to prove that someone had used his credentials.””
She swallowed.
“Then he died before he could finish.””
Noah's expression softened.
“I'm sorry.””
“Thank you.””
Claire opened a small notebook.
“Before he died, he gave me a list of names. He told me to keep it somewhere safe until someone came looking for the children.””
She turned the notebook toward us.
Four names were written across the page.
Ethan Carter.
Noah Carter.
Lily Mercer.
And a fourth name.
*Gabriel Carter.*
I stared at it.
“Gabriel?””
Claire nodded.
“That's the name recorded on the original identification bracelet.””
“Where is he now?””
“I don't know.””
“Someone must know!””
Claire's eyes sharpened.
“Someone does. The question is whether that person is willing to tell us.””
A knock sounded at the office door.
Claire went still.
“Stay here,” she whispered.
She walked to the door and opened it a few inches.
A nurse stood in the corridor holding a clipboard.
“Dr. Mercer wants to know whether you've finished reviewing the patient transfer records.””
Claire's expression didn't change.
“Tell her I'll bring them shortly.””
The nurse glanced past her.
Her eyes landed on Rebecca.
For a fraction of a second, she looked frightened.
Then she turned and hurried away.
Claire shut the door and locked it.
“That's not good.””
Noah stood.
“Why?””
“Because the nurse shouldn't know we're reviewing these records. They're restricted.””
Rebecca looked toward the door.
“Do you think Evelyn knows we're here?””
Claire nodded.
“I'd be surprised if she didn't.””
I looked at the four names.
“Can we find Gabriel through the identification number?””
“Possibly. The original registration ledger may still exist in off-site storage. But the records have to be requested through hospital legal counsel.””
“Then let's request them.””
Claire hesitated.
“There's a problem.””
“What problem?””
She opened the last page of her notebook.
A handwritten note had been folded inside.
If the fourth child is ever found, do not contact Daniel Carter. He will deny knowing the child. Contact the person who raised him instead.
Beneath the message was a name.
*Vanessa Carter.*
I felt as though someone had punched me in the stomach.
“Vanessa?””
Claire nodded slowly.
“She wasn't your stepmother when the records were changed. But she was listed as a witness to the original placement agreement.””
Sarah stood.
“Why would she be a witness?””
Claire looked at her.
“Because she worked at the hospital.””
The room seemed to shrink.
I thought about the way Vanessa had turned pale when Sarah appeared at graduation. The way she'd begged Dad not to explain anything. The way she'd insisted the past would ruin our family.
She hadn't simply married my father years later.
She'd been there when the children were separated.
“Did Vanessa know about the fourth baby?”” I asked.
Claire pointed to the note.
“Her name is written here because she was the last person recorded as having contact with Gabriel.””
Noah shook his head.
“This doesn't prove she raised him.””
“No,” Claire agreed.
“But it means she knew where he went.””
Sarah picked up the photograph of the four babies.
She stared at the child in the white blanket.
Then she whispered, “I remember him.””
We all turned.
“What?”” I asked.
Sarah pressed a hand against her mouth.
“I thought it was a dream. After the twins were born, I remember a nurse bringing another baby into my room. She told me the hospital had made a mistake with the bassinets.””
Claire leaned closer.
“What did the baby look like?””
Sarah closed her eyes.
“He had a red mark above his eyebrow. I remember asking why there were three babies in my room.””
She began to tremble.
“The nurse said I was exhausted and confused. She took the baby away.””
Noah's face hardened.
“Who was the nurse?””
Sarah shook her head.
“I never saw her again.””
Claire slowly opened a drawer and removed a staff photograph taken sixteen years earlier.
A row of nurses stood beside the neonatal unit's entrance.
Sarah looked at the photograph.
Then she pointed to a woman standing at the far left.
“Her.””
Claire's face went white.
“That can't be right.””
“Why?”” I asked.
Claire turned the photograph toward me.
The woman wore a hospital badge.
Her name was printed clearly beneath it.
*Vanessa Reed.*
My stepmother's maiden name.
Before anyone could speak, the office door rattled.
Someone tried the handle.
Then a man's voice came through the wood.
“Claire? Open the door. We need to talk.””
Claire backed away.
I recognized the voice immediately.
My father.
But he wasn't alone.
A second voice spoke from the corridor, calm and unmistakable.
“Open it, Claire. This has gone on long enough.””
Dr. Evelyn Mercer.
Claire grabbed the notebook and shoved it into Noah's hands.
“Whatever happens, don't let them take this.””
The handle rattled again.
Then my father spoke.
“Ethan, if you're in there, listen to me. Gabriel isn't the person you need to find.””
I stared at the locked door.
May you like
Dad took a shaky breath.
“Because Gabriel has been living with us for sixteen years.””
