Chapter 6: The Bride Who Visited My Dead Wife
I didn't remember crossing the room.
One moment, I was standing beside the vanity with the death certificate in my hand. The next, I was directly in front of Simone, close enough to see the tiny tremor in her lower lip.
"Say her name again.""
Simone swallowed.
"Elena.""
My first wife.
The woman whose death had left me sitting alone in a hospital room with a newborn baby and a future I couldn't imagine surviving.
The woman whose funeral I had attended while my mother held my shoulders and told me I had to be strong for Ava.
The woman whose wedding ring I had kept in a small wooden box for seven years.
Alive.
According to Simone, she was alive.
I gripped the edge of the vanity.
"Where did you see her?""
Simone looked toward Ava.
"Not in front of her.""
I slammed my palm against the marble surface.
"Stop using my daughter as an excuse to keep secrets!""
Ava jumped.
I immediately regretted raising my voice.
I turned toward her.
"I'm sorry, baby. I didn't mean to scare you.""
She nodded, but she had begun crying again.
I knelt and wrapped my arms around her.
"Everything is going to be okay.""
I didn't know whether that was true.
But I knew she needed to hear it.
When I stood, Simone was holding out her phone.
"I took a picture," she whispered.
I snatched it from her hand.
The photograph showed a woman sitting beside a window in a private room. She wore a pale blue blouse, and her dark hair fell loosely around her shoulders.
Her face was thinner than I remembered.
There were lines around her eyes that hadn't been there seven years ago.
But it was Elena.
I knew the slight tilt of her head. I knew the way her left eyebrow lifted when she was worried.
I knew the small crescent-shaped scar near her chin from when she'd fallen off a bicycle as a child.
My knees weakened.
"Where was this taken?""
Simone pointed to the location information displayed beneath the photograph.
A private bridal suite in the same venue.
I looked up sharply.
"She's here?""
Simone nodded.
"She came through the service entrance this morning.""
My mother made a strangled sound.
"You let her into the building?""
"I didn't bring her here!"" Simone snapped.
"She contacted me last night. She said she needed to see Ava.""
I looked at my daughter.
Ava was watching us with wide, frightened eyes.
"Why didn't you tell me?""
"Because she asked me not to.""
"You kept my supposedly dead wife a secret while planning my wedding?""
Simone flinched.
"I was trying to find out whether she was telling the truth.""
"And the recorder?""
Her face collapsed.
"I was supposed to get Ava out before Elena came to the ceremony.""
I stared at her.
"Why?""
"Because Elena said she would only reveal herself if Ava was safe.""
"Safe from whom?""
Simone looked toward the side door.
Andre had remained silent throughout our argument, his expression unreadable.
"From him," she whispered.
I turned toward Andre.
He lifted both hands.
"I didn't bring Elena here.""
"Then why are you involved?""
"Because Nia asked me to protect her daughter.""
Simone shook her head.
"You're lying. Nia said she didn't trust you.""
Andre's expression hardened.
"Your sister said a lot of things after spending years hiding from people who wanted her silent.""
"Stop using her name!""
"Then stop pretending you know what happened to her!""
Their voices rose over each other.
Ava covered her ears.
I stepped between them.
"Enough! Both of you.""
The room fell quiet.
I took a breath and looked at Simone.
"You have one chance. Tell me everything you know about Elena.""
She stared at me for several seconds.
Then she began.
"Three weeks ago, I received a letter at my apartment. There was no return address. Inside was a photograph of Nia and a note saying that my sister was alive.""
She wiped her face.
"I thought it was a cruel joke. I had spent twelve years believing she was dead. But the letter included details about the accident that only my family knew.""
"What details?""
"That the car had been found near a bridge. That the driver was never identified. That my parents refused to let anyone view the body.""
I remembered the photograph Andre had shown me.
Nia had looked older, tired, but unmistakably alive.
"What did you do?""
"I called the number on the letter. A woman answered. She told me Nia was alive and that she had been protecting a child for years.""
"Ava.""
Simone nodded.
"She said there had been a mistake at the hospital. She said someone had used my sister's identity to make a baby disappear.""
I felt sick.
"And you believed her?""
"Not at first. Then she sent me a second photograph.""
Simone opened her phone gallery and showed me an image of a handwritten letter.
I read the first line.
*Simone, if you're reading this, it means Elena has finally found the courage to come home.*
My vision blurred.
I looked at Simone.
"Elena wrote this?""
"Yes.""
"How do you know?""
"Because she mentioned things about your marriage that nobody else knew. She described the scar on your shoulder from your motorcycle accident. She remembered the song you played the night you proposed.""
I couldn't speak.
Those memories belonged to a life I had buried.
I remembered Elena sitting cross-legged on our apartment floor, laughing because I'd forgotten the words to the song I'd chosen for our first dance.
I remembered her resting her hand on my chest when I couldn't sleep.
I remembered her whispering that if we ever had a daughter, she wanted to name her Ava.
Then I remembered the hospital.
The doctor telling me there had been complications.
The nurse placing a baby in my arms.
The death certificate.
The funeral.
Everything I believed about the worst day of my life had been built on paperwork.
"Why didn't she come to me directly?"" I asked.
Simone looked away.
"Because she thought you'd been involved in what happened to Nia.""
I shook my head.
"That's impossible.""
"She said your father told her you knew about the hospital arrangement.""
"I didn't know anything!""
"I know that now.""
The words came out softly.
She was no longer defending herself.
She was confessing.
"I agreed to help Elena because she said Ava might be in danger. She wanted to get Ava out of the building before you learned who she was.""
"That doesn't explain why you planned to send my daughter away with a stranger.""
Simone lowered her eyes.
"The man who contacted me said he worked for Elena. He promised he would take Ava to a safe place and bring her back after everything was settled.""
"And you believed him?""
"I wanted to.""
She looked up at me.
"I was afraid that if you found out Elena was alive, you would leave me. I thought if I could get Ava somewhere safe, then Elena would explain everything and we could still have our wedding.""
I stared at her in disbelief.
"You thought I would marry you after you hid my daughter and my first wife from me?""
"I thought I could fix it before you found out.""
"You cannot fix a lie by building another lie on top of it!""
She began sobbing.
"I know.""
For a moment, I felt the weight of what she had done.
Simone had not simply hidden information.
She had used a frightened child as a piece in a game she didn't understand, hoping to protect her own future.
I turned away from her.
"Where is Elena now?""
Simone pointed toward the hallway.
"Room twelve. The private suite beside the bridal room.""
I looked toward the open doorway.
"Take me to her.""
Andre stepped forward.
"Wait.""
I turned.
"What now?""
He held out his hand.
"Give me the DNA report.""
"No.""
"You need to understand what it means.""
"I understand enough.""
"No, Caleb. You don't. The report proves Nia is biologically related to Ava.
It doesn't prove Elena is alive, and it doesn't prove who raised the child in the hospital. Someone wants you to confuse those facts.""
I stared at him.
"Why would you say that if you were trying to protect Ava?""
"Because I am trying to protect her.""
"Then tell me the truth.""
Andre glanced at Denise.
My mother looked as if she wanted to disappear into the cream-colored walls.
Finally, Andre spoke.
"Nia gave birth to twins.""
Simone stopped crying.
I stared at him.
"Twins?""
"Two girls. One named Amara. The other named Ava.""
My daughter lifted her head.
"There's another girl like me?""
Andre nodded slowly.
"Yes, sweetheart.""
I felt as if the floor had vanished beneath my feet.
Two babies.
Two names.
One missing-child report.
A death certificate that might have been falsified.
And a woman who had supposedly died giving birth, now waiting somewhere inside the same building.
"Where is the other girl?"" I demanded.
Andre didn't answer.
I moved toward him.
"Where is she?""
He looked at Ava.
Then at Simone.
Finally, he turned his attention to the hallway.
"She's closer than you think.""
Before I could stop him, he reached into his jacket and pulled out another photograph.
It showed two newborn babies lying side by side in clear hospital bassinets.
One had a small white bracelet around her wrist.
The other wore a pink one.
On the back of the photograph, someone had written two names.
*AMARA BROOKS.*
*AVA MITCHELL.*
Beneath them was a third line.
*ONLY ONE CHILD WAS RELEASED TO HER FATHER.*
My mother began crying.
Simone backed against the wall.
And from somewhere beyond the bridal-room door, a woman's voice called my name.
"Caleb?""
I knew that voice.
I had heard it in my dreams for seven years.
I turned toward the hallway.
A woman stood in the doorway of the adjoining private suite, one hand gripping the frame.
Her face was pale.
Her eyes were wet.
She looked directly at me.
Then she looked at Ava.
And whispered the words I had waited seven years to hear.
"I'm sorry I left you.""
I took one step toward her.
"Elena?""
She nodded.
Then, before I could reach her, she looked past my shoulder toward the side exit.
Her expression changed.
"Caleb," she whispered urgently, "you have to get Ava away from here.""
I turned.
The man who called himself Andre was gone.
The side door stood open.
And on the floor, where he'd been standing moments earlier, lay a small white hospital bracelet.
It bore my daughter's name.
May you like
But beneath it, in faded ink, was a second name.
*AMARA BROOKS.*
