Chapter 2
For several seconds, I forgot how to breathe.
The little girl near the entrance had my dark brown eyes.
My nose.
The same dimple in her left cheek that I saw every morning in the mirror.
Even the way she twisted her fingers together when she was nervous reminded me of photographs of myself at eight years old.
Lily tightened her arms around my waist.
“Mom?”
That one word snapped me back.
I held her closer.
The stranger slowly walked toward us.
“My name is Rachel Monroe,” she said. “And this is Sophie.”
Patricia immediately grabbed her purse.
“We’re leaving.”
Daniel blocked her.
“No.”
His voice was quiet.
But I had never heard him speak to his mother that way.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
Patricia stared at him.
Rachel looked between us.
Then she looked at the hospital bracelet beside Lily’s ruined birthday cake.
Her face went white.
“You have one too.”
I turned toward her.
“One what?”
Rachel opened her handbag.
She removed a clear plastic evidence sleeve.
Inside was another hospital bracelet.
Her name was printed across it.
Rachel Monroe.
Below her name was a baby identification number.
I looked at Lily’s old bracelet, which I kept in a memory box at home.
I knew that number.
I knew it because I had stared at it hundreds of times over the years.
My knees almost gave out.
“No.”
Rachel’s eyes filled with tears.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
“Emily—”
“No!”
People at nearby tables turned again.
I didn’t care.
I pointed at Sophie.
“What are you saying?”
Rachel swallowed.
“I’m saying Sophie may be your biological daughter.”
Lily made a small sound behind me.
I turned immediately.
Her face was frozen.
Eight-year-old children shouldn’t have to understand words like biological daughter at their birthday dinner.
But Lily understood enough.
“You mean I’m not yours?”
My heart shattered.
I dropped to my knees in front of her.
“No.”
She started crying.
“No, sweetheart. Listen to me. Look at me.”
She tried to turn away.
I gently held her face.
“You are my daughter.”
“But she said—”
“I don’t care what anybody says.”
Rachel looked devastated.
“I never meant for her to hear it like this.”
Patricia scoffed.
“Oh, please. Someone had to say it.”
I stood so quickly that Daniel grabbed my arm.
“Say one more cruel thing to Lily,” I told Patricia, “and I swear you will never see either of us again.”
Patricia stared at me with pure contempt.
Then Rachel surprised everyone.
“She already knew.”
Silence.
Rachel was looking at Patricia.
My stomach twisted.
“What?”
Rachel reached into her bag again.
This time she pulled out several folded pages.
“She called me three weeks ago.”
Daniel’s head snapped toward his mother.
Patricia’s face hardened.
Rachel continued.
“She told me not to contact Emily.”
“Why?” I whispered.
Rachel looked at me.
“Because she said you were unstable.”
I almost laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because sometimes betrayal becomes so enormous your body doesn’t know what reaction belongs to it.
Rachel continued.
“She told me Daniel had already handled the situation. She said both families were better off leaving the past alone.”
I looked at Daniel.
“Did you know Rachel existed?”
He closed his eyes.
That was my answer.
My voice came out barely above a whisper.
“How long?”
“Emily—”
“How long?”
“Twenty-two days.”
My whole body went cold.
Lily was crying.
A strange little girl who might be mine was staring at me.
My mother-in-law had just struck the child I had raised from birth.
And my husband had known about the other family for three weeks.
“You lied to me.”
“I was trying to verify everything.”
“You lied to me.”
“I didn’t want to destroy Lily’s life because of one phone call.”
Rachel spoke quietly.
“I contacted Daniel because I had already done a DNA test.”
I stared at her.
“What DNA test?”
Rachel looked at Sophie.
The girl was watching us with frightened eyes.
Rachel lowered her voice.
“My husband, Mark, died two years ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
“He had a genetic condition. Last year, Sophie’s cardiologist recommended family testing because of her medical history. That led to questions.”
“What questions?”
Rachel hesitated.
Then she said it.
“Mark could not have been Sophie’s biological father.”
My eyes went to Sophie again.
She looked down.
Rachel continued.
“I thought the lab was wrong. I repeated everything. Then I tested myself.”
Daniel whispered, “Rachel is not Sophie’s biological mother either.”
I grabbed the table to keep myself standing.
That was impossible.
Unless—
Rachel pointed toward Lily.
“And based on the records I found, there’s a strong possibility Lily is my biological daughter.”
Lily screamed.
“No!”
She pulled away from me and ran.
“Lily!”
Daniel raced after her.
I followed.
We found her outside the restaurant crouched beside a brick planter, sobbing.
Daniel knelt beside her.
“Baby—”
“Don’t call me that!”
He froze.
Lily covered her ears.
“I don’t want another mom! I don’t want another dad!”
I wrapped my arms around her.
“You don’t have to choose anybody.”
“But that lady wants me!”
Rachel had followed us outside.
When she heard that, tears ran down her cheeks.
She stopped several feet away.
“No, Lily.”
Lily stared at her.
Rachel crouched down.
“I’m not here to take you away.”
“Then why are you here?”
Rachel looked at Sophie.
Then at me.
“Because somebody did something terrible to our families.”
Patricia came through the doors.
“Enough.”
Daniel stood.
“No, Mom. Not enough.”
She pointed toward Rachel.
“That woman shows up with a story and suddenly everyone believes her?”
Rachel’s expression changed.
“I brought more than a story.”
She pulled out her phone.
“I brought a recording.”
Patricia went completely still.
Rachel pressed play.
A woman’s trembling voice came through the speaker.
“If you are hearing this, then I finally found enough courage to tell the truth.”
Patricia took a step backward.
Daniel whispered, “Who is that?”
Rachel looked directly at Patricia.
“Linda Vale.”
The name meant nothing to me.
But it meant something to Patricia.
Her face drained of color.
Rachel continued.
“Linda was a nurse at St. Matthew’s Medical Center the night Sophie and Lily were born.”
Patricia whispered, “Turn that off.”
Rachel didn’t.
The recorded voice continued.
“Two baby girls were intentionally switched during the overnight shift.”
My knees weakened.
Intentionally.
Not accidentally.
Intentionally.
Rachel paused the recording.
Nobody spoke.
Finally, I looked at Patricia.
She was shaking.
“Why are you scared?”
“I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.”
“This is ridiculous.”
Daniel stepped toward her.
“What did you do?”
Patricia’s lips tightened.
“Nothing.”
Rachel reached into her handbag one final time.
She removed an old photograph.
She handed it to Daniel.
He looked at it.
Then he looked at his mother.
“What is this?”
I took the photograph from him.
Patricia stood in a hospital hallway.
The date printed in the corner was the night Lily was born.
Beside her stood a woman wearing blue scrubs.
On the back of the photograph, someone had written two words.
Patricia Carter.
Linda Vale.
I looked up.
Patricia backed away.
Daniel’s voice broke.
“Mom.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“What did you do?”
“I said nothing.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“What did you do to our baby?”
Patricia’s eyes filled with tears.
Then she looked at Sophie.
Not Lily.
Sophie.
And what I saw in her expression terrified me.
May you like
Recognition.
Patricia had seen that little girl before.
