Chapter 9 - THE SISTER WHO WASN'T SUPPOSED TO EXIST
Fay Delacroix had spent twenty-eight years believing she was an only child.
Now Evelyn Cain was telling her that Marguerite had another daughter.
An older daughter.
One whose existence had been hidden.
Fay stared.
“Where is she?”
Evelyn looked devastated.
“I don't know where she lives now.”
“What was her name?”
“Amelia.”
The room went silent.
Fay remembered a little silver bracelet in her mother's jewelry box.
The inside was engraved with a single letter.
A.
She'd always assumed it belonged to an aunt.
Now she wasn't sure.
Evelyn continued.
“Marguerite gave birth to Amelia when she was nineteen.”
Fay swallowed.
“What happened?”
“Her father was connected to Charles Vanderpool's business circle.”
Rafferty's expression darkened.
“Charles?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“Not Charles himself. His older cousin, Peter.”
Fay felt sick.
“Did he take the baby?”
Evelyn hesitated.
“There were guardianship papers. Marguerite believed she was signing temporary medical consent.”
“What did she actually sign?”
“An adoption authorization.”
Fay covered her mouth.
Evelyn continued.
“Marguerite spent years trying to challenge it.”
Tears filled Fay's eyes.
Her mother had carried another terrible grief.
A child taken from her.
A child she never stopped searching for.
“And nobody told me?”
Evelyn looked down.
“She was afraid the same people would target you.”
Fay began crying.
Rafferty offered her a tissue.
She accepted.
For a long time, neither spoke.
Then Fay asked, “Can we find Amelia?”
Rafferty nodded.
“We can help you examine the records.”
An independent attorney began tracing the old guardianship documents.
The original adoption agency had closed.
But archived records identified a child named Amelia Rose Delacroix.
She had been adopted by a family in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Her name was changed to Amelia Hart.
And according to public records, she was now thirty-four.
Married.
A mother of two.
Working as a school counselor.
Fay stared at the photograph.
The woman had Marguerite's gray eyes.
The same smile.
The same chestnut hair.
For a moment, Fay couldn't breathe.
“She looks like Mom.”
Rafferty smiled sadly.
“She does.”
Fay wrote a letter.
Not demanding anything.
Not insisting Amelia accept her.
Just explaining what they'd discovered and offering the chance to learn more.
Three days later, Amelia called.
Her voice trembled.
“Fay?”
Fay began crying.
“Hello.”
For several minutes, neither could say much.
Then Amelia whispered:
“I thought my mother gave me away because she didn't want me.”
Fay covered her mouth.
“She never stopped loving you.”
And in the silence that followed, two sisters began finding a family neither had known was waiting.
But that evening, Charles Vanderpool's attorney delivered one final threat.
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If Fay continued investigating the old adoption records, Charles would seek custody of Josie on behalf of Nathan.
And suddenly, the little girl who loved blue paper boats was at the center of another battle.
