Chapter 4: The Second Child
“Michael isn't the only one.””
Jennifer's words hung in the auditorium like smoke after an explosion.
Richard stared at her, his broken phone dangling from his hand.
“What does that mean?”” he demanded.
“Jennifer, what does that mean?””
She backed toward the wall.
“Not here.””
Richard let out a bitter laugh.
“You keep saying that as if changing the location will change what you've done.””
Emily stood beside me, still wearing her graduation gown. The gold honor cord rested around my shoulders, its bright strands catching the overhead lights whenever I moved.
She took my hand.
“Mom, is there another child?””
Jennifer looked at her daughter.
For the first time that afternoon, she seemed unable to meet Emily's eyes.
“Please, Emily. I need you to trust me.””
“I trusted you for eighteen years.””
“That isn't fair.””
“Neither was telling me that Dad was nobody while you hid documents about the day I was born.””
Jennifer pressed her palms against her temples.
Richard stepped forward.
“Was the baby alive?””
She said nothing.
“Was my son alive when you told me he died?””
Jennifer's shoulders began to shake.
“Richard, I was twenty-five. I was scared.””
“So was I!””
His voice echoed through the auditorium.
“I was a young man who wanted to be a father. You called me from that hospital and told me our baby hadn't survived. I spent eighteen years believing my son was buried somewhere I would never find.””
He swallowed hard.
“And all this time, you knew something I didn't.””
Jennifer wiped her cheeks.
“I didn't know where he was.””
Richard stared at her.
“You just admitted there was another child.””
“I said Michael wasn't the only one.””
“Then who else?””
Jennifer looked at me.
That frightened me more than anything she had said.
“Daniel,” she whispered, “you have to understand that I never wanted you to get hurt.””
I removed the gold cord from around my neck and carefully placed it in Emily's hands. I didn't want Jennifer to turn this into another argument about my worthiness to stand beside my daughter.
“Don't tell me what you wanted,” I said.
“Tell me what you did.””
Her lips trembled.
“You remember my mother asking you to sign those papers?””
“Yes.””
“She made me promise that if I ever told you the truth, I would lose Emily.””
Emily stepped forward.
“You would lose me because you told Dad the truth?””
Jennifer closed her eyes.
“Your grandmother believed that Daniel would leave us if he knew everything.””
I felt something cold settle in my chest.
“Everything about what?””
Jennifer shook her head.
“I can't explain it in the middle of a crowd.””
“Then start with the part you can explain.””
She stared at me for a long moment.
Finally, she said, “There were two babies in the maternity ward that night. Yours and Richard's.””
Emily frowned.
“Dad wasn't biologically related to either of us.””
“I know,” Jennifer snapped, then immediately looked ashamed.
“I'm sorry. I didn't mean—”
“Keep going,” I said.
Jennifer took a shaky breath.
“Richard and I had been seeing each other before I got back together with Daniel. When I discovered I was pregnant, I wasn't certain who the father was. I knew there was a chance the baby was Richard's.””
Richard looked as if she'd slapped him.
“You told me you were certain.””
“I was afraid you would leave.””
“So you lied?””
“I was afraid of losing both of you!””
Emily's voice was sharp.
“You didn't lose Dad. He stayed. You were the one who lied to him.””
Jennifer looked away.
She continued.
“Richard's family was wealthy. His father was preparing to take over a major development company, and he had already told Richard that he would disinherit him if he married me. When I became pregnant, Richard panicked. He said he couldn't bring a child into that situation.””
“I said I needed time,” Richard protested.
“I never said I didn't want my child.””
“You left me alone in a parking lot outside your father's office!””
“Because my father had threatened to have me cut off!””
“And I was supposed to trust you?””
Their argument rose around us, each accusation uncovering another piece of a past neither of them had ever shared.
Emily finally shouted, “Stop!””
They fell silent.
She held the envelope against her chest.
“Was I Richard's baby?””
Jennifer looked at her.
“I don't know.””
The answer struck Emily harder than any accusation could have.
“You don't know?””
“The hospital records were changed. Your grandmother arranged everything. She said she could protect all of us if we followed her instructions.””
Richard's face tightened.
“What instructions?””
Jennifer began crying again.
“She said one baby would be registered under the correct parents, and the other would be raised by Daniel. She said that if the biological fathers were kept separate from the children, nobody could challenge the arrangements.””
I stared at her.
“You're saying you deliberately hid the identities of two babies?””
“I didn't arrange the paperwork. My mother did.””
“But you knew.””
“Yes.””
The word came out almost inaudibly.
Emily took a step away from her mother.
“How could you do that to me?””
Jennifer reached for her.
Emily pulled back.
“Don't touch me.””
Jennifer's hand fell to her side.
Richard sank into a chair.
“My son,” he whispered.
“Where is he?””
Jennifer shook her head.
“I thought he was safe.””
“Where?””
“I don't know.””
“You expect me to believe you have no idea where my child is?””
“I haven't seen him in years.””
Richard stared at her in disbelief.
Then he looked at me.
“Daniel, you said you held a baby that night.””
I nodded slowly.
“I remember holding a newborn boy. Your photograph brought it back. The birthmark behind his ear was exactly the same.””
“Was it Michael?””
“I don't know.””
Emily suddenly pulled a folded sheet from the envelope.
“Wait.””
She spread it across the back of a nearby chair.
It was a hospital discharge summary, with several sections blacked out. A name had been written across the top in faded ink.
*Daniel Carter.*
My name.
I stared at the document.
“That isn't mine.””
Jennifer covered her mouth.
Emily read the next line.
“Patient discharged with infant male, October 15.””
My legs nearly gave way.
“I never took a baby home from that hospital.””
Richard snatched the document.
Beneath the discharge date was a signature.
Mine.
It looked like my handwriting.
But I had no memory of signing it.
Emily pointed to the bottom corner.
“There's a reference number. Maybe the hospital still has the original.””
Richard looked at Jennifer.
“Did you give Daniel my son?””
Jennifer shook her head.
“I don't know which baby went home with whom.””
The room fell silent.
I stared at my own signature.
For eighteen years, I had believed my greatest sacrifice was giving up my savings, my comfort, and eventually my marriage to raise a little girl who needed a father.
Now I was looking at a document suggesting I might have been involved in something far more terrible without ever knowing it.
Emily squeezed my hand.
“Dad, we need to find out what happened.””
I nodded.
“We will.””
Richard stood.
“I'm coming with you.””
Jennifer grabbed his sleeve.
“Richard, please. If you do this, you could destroy everything.””
He pulled free.
“You destroyed everything when you let me mourn a living child.””
As we started toward the exit, Jennifer called after me.
“Daniel!””
I stopped.
She was trembling so badly that she had to hold the back of a chair.
“There is something else,” she whispered.
“Something your daughter doesn't know.””
Emily turned around.
“What?””
Jennifer looked directly at me.
“The baby you brought home that night wasn't the only child who left the hospital.””
She paused, tears streaming down her face.
“Someone else signed for a second baby. And that person wasn't Richard, me, or my mother.””
Richard went completely still.
“Who was it?””
Jennifer's eyes locked on mine.
“Your father, Daniel.””
I couldn't breathe.
May you like
My father had been dead for twenty years.
And if Jennifer was telling the truth, he had somehow been involved in the night my daughter was born.
