Chapter 2 - THE ULTRASOUND INSIDE THE ENVELOPE
Alex reached the law office in eleven minutes.
He barely remembered the drive.
The archived envelope was waiting inside a conference room.
Cream paper.
His name.
Elena’s handwriting.
The seal untouched.
Alex opened it with trembling fingers.
Inside was a letter dated five years and eleven months earlier.
Alex,
I am not sending this to change your mind about our marriage.
I am sending it because you deserve the truth even if I do not deserve your love anymore.
I am pregnant.
The doctor believes there are four babies.
Alex stopped reading.
Four.
Even knowing the children existed did not prepare him for seeing those words written before their birth.
Behind the letter was an ultrasound.
Four tiny sacs.
Four beginnings.
There was another page.
A note from Elena’s obstetrician confirming a high-risk multifetal pregnancy.
Then a handwritten line from Elena:
If you want no part of this, tell me yourself. Please do not send your mother.
Alex lowered the paper.
The records manager, Margaret Cole, stood near the door.
“Ms. Cole, did my mother open this?”
“No.”
“Then how did she know it was about a pregnancy?”
Margaret hesitated.
“I remember that week.”
Alex looked up.
“Tell me.”
“Elena called the office.”
“How many times?”
“Several.”
“Did she speak to me?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Your mother told reception you had instructed us not to put her through.”
Alex’s jaw tightened.
“I gave no such instruction.”
Margaret looked increasingly uncomfortable.
“There was also a voicemail.”
“Where?”
“Archived with the correspondence log.”
They found it.
The recording was damaged, but Elena’s voice was unmistakable.
“Alex, I know you’re angry. The doctors say this pregnancy could become dangerous. I’m not asking you to come home. I just need to know whether I’m facing this alone.”
The message ended.
Alex sat motionless.
Then Margaret opened another scanned document.
A call note.
BEATRICE VANCE RETURNED CALL TO MS. RIVAS.
Alex stared.
“What did my mother say?”
Margaret shook her head.
“I wasn’t on the call.”
“But someone documented it.”
There was one handwritten sentence beneath the note.
Ms. Rivas advised Mr. Vance understands situation and declines involvement.
Alex closed his eyes.
His mother had not simply hidden a letter.
May you like
She had spoken to Elena.
And apparently convinced her that Alex knew four babies were coming and wanted nothing to do with them.
