Chapter 2 - THE BABY WHO WAS NEVER DEAD
Daniel chased after the nurse.
I didn't.
Something inside me told me not to move.
Not yet.
I grabbed Emma's hand.
She squeezed mine immediately.
“Don't let Grandma take me.”
“I won't.”
The promise came out before I had time to think.
Daniel returned three minutes later, breathing hard.
“He got away.”
Eleanor looked furious.
“You had no right to chase him.”
Daniel stared at his mother.
“You just told me Claire's daughter was supposed to die.”
“I said nothing of the sort.”
“I heard you.”
Everyone had.
The wedding guests were no longer pretending this was a family disagreement.
Phones were out.
People were recording.
Vanessa suddenly approached me.
“Claire, please.”
I turned.
“You knew.”
She started crying.
“I didn't know everything.”
“How much did you know?”
She looked at Emma.
“Enough.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“What does that mean?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“It means I was told the baby was alive.”
My heart stopped.
“Who told you?”
She looked at Eleanor.
Eleanor closed her eyes.
“Don't.”
Vanessa ignored her.
“Five years ago, Daniel told me Claire had lost the baby.”
I felt my stomach tighten.
“You were already seeing him?”
Vanessa nodded.
“Not officially.”
Daniel looked away.
“But several months later, I received an envelope.”
“What was inside?”
“A photograph.”
My voice became barely audible.
“Of Emma?”
“Yes.”
Vanessa pulled out her phone.
Her hands shook as she opened an old encrypted folder.
There it was.
A newborn baby wrapped in a pale pink blanket.
On the blanket was a handwritten card.
BABY GIRL — MERCER — 3:17 A.M.
I stared at the photograph.
The tiny face was unmistakable.
My daughter.
Alive.
I covered my mouth.
Five years of grief suddenly became something else.
Rage.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Vanessa began sobbing.
“Because Eleanor threatened me.”
“With what?”
“She said if I contacted you, she'd destroy Daniel's inheritance and make sure I went to prison.”
Daniel stepped toward his mother.
“Is that true?”
Eleanor remained silent.
Then Emma tugged my hand.
“Mommy?”
I looked down.
“Where did you get that picture?”
She pointed toward Vanessa's phone.
“That's the picture Mommy keeps in Grandma's blue box.”
Vanessa froze.
“That's impossible.”
Emma nodded.
“Grandma says I'm not supposed to remember.”
A chill ran through me.
“What does she say you shouldn't remember?”
Emma looked around the ballroom.
Then whispered:
“The woman who carried me away.”
Nobody spoke.
I looked at Eleanor.
Her face had gone completely white.
“Who carried her away?”
Emma pointed toward the kitchen doors.
“The lady with the butterfly necklace.”
Everyone turned.
May you like
And standing near the kitchen entrance was a woman wearing a silver butterfly pendant.
The same nurse who had just escaped.
