Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN WHO TRIED TO TAKE MY BABIES
Claire remembered the night Noah and Sophie were born.
Rain battered the hospital windows.
Her contractions had lasted nineteen hours.
She had been alone until an exhausted nurse named Maribel held her hand and whispered:
"You're doing beautifully."
Claire remembered begging someone to call Ethan.
Then the delivery.
The fear.
The moment a doctor told her both babies were alive.
But she had never known Victoria Sullivan's name appeared on documents connected to their care.
She stared at the form Lucas had found.
"This can't be right."
Ethan leaned forward.
"What is it?"
Lucas placed the document between them.
"An authorization entered into the hospital system while Claire was receiving postpartum treatment."
Ethan read it.
His expression darkened.
"Mother arranged this?"
Claire shook her head.
"I didn't even know she was there."
A memory returned.
Waking from medication.
Two empty bassinets beside her hospital bed.
A nurse saying the babies had been taken for routine examinations.
The terrible minutes before they were returned.
Claire had been frightened.
But exhausted enough to believe the explanation.
Now her hands trembled.
"What was she planning?"
Lucas answered carefully.
"We don't know yet. The document alone doesn't establish that the authorization was valid or used."
Ethan looked toward the door.
"She's downstairs."
Claire immediately shook her head.
"Don't confront her yet."
He turned.
"She tried to take our children."
"We don't know exactly what happened."
Claire's voice was firm.
"And I'm not letting your anger destroy the evidence."
Ethan stared at her.
Then slowly nodded.
"You're right."
It was the first time in ten years she'd heard him say those words.
Sophie looked between them.
"Did Grandma Victoria know about us?"
Claire hesitated.
"She may have known more than we realized."
Sophie lowered her eyes.
"Then why didn't she want to meet us?"
Claire's heart broke.
She pulled her daughter closer.
"That has nothing to do with your worth, sweetheart."
Noah looked toward Ethan.
"Do you agree?"
Ethan's voice trembled.
"Completely."
Then he looked at Sophie.
"You deserve to be loved. Both of you."
Claire noticed his eyes.
The regret looked real.
But regret couldn't change a decade.
Ethan swallowed.
"Claire, I know I have no right to ask anything of you."
She remained silent.
"But I want the truth."
She nodded.
"So do I."
Lucas arranged for the records to be preserved and reviewed independently.
Then he revealed something else.
"Claire, I found the nurse who worked your delivery."
Her heart quickened.
"Maribel?"
"Maribel Santos."
Claire nearly cried.
"She's alive?"
"Yes. She's retired and living near Milwaukee."
Ethan looked up.
"Will she speak with us?"
Lucas nodded.
"She's already agreed to discuss what she remembers through the appropriate process."
He hesitated.
"But she told me something important."
Claire leaned forward.
"What?"
Lucas looked directly at her.
"Maribel remembers Victoria Sullivan arriving at the hospital with a private attorney."
Claire's stomach tightened.
"And?"
"She remembers an argument outside the nursery."
Ethan went still.
"About what?"
Lucas lowered his voice.
May you like
Then spoke the words that made Claire's blood turn cold.
"Your mother wanted both babies transferred to a private facility before Claire woke up."
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