Chapter 4: The Secret at 2:17 A.M.
I called my mother before Caleb had even finished reading the anonymous message.
She answered on the second ring.
“Emma? Is everything all right?””
“Mom, I need you to tell me what happened at 2:17 a.m. on October fourteenth, twenty-two years ago.””
Silence.
Not the confused silence of someone searching her memory. Not the startled pause of someone hearing an unexpected question.
This was different.
It was the silence of someone who had been waiting for the question to come.
“Where did you hear that time?”” she whispered.
Caleb looked at me.
I switched the call to speaker.
“Someone sent us a photograph of two babies at St. Agnes,” I said.
“One had a hospital band marked Carter. The other was marked Morgan. The message said you knew what happened at 2:17.””
My mother's breathing became uneven.
“Emma, where are you?””
“Outside Ruth's house.””
“Leave. Both of you. Go somewhere public, and don't speak to anyone about that photograph.””
Caleb stepped closer to the phone.
“Why? What happened at 2:17?””
“Caleb, please.””
“You don't get to call me by my name and then refuse to explain why someone thinks you know what happened to me.””
My mother made a sound like a suppressed sob.
“I didn't know they would take you.””
“Who?””
“The doctor. The hospital administrator. I don't know who was involved.””
“Then what do you know?””
For several seconds, all I could hear was the faint rustling of paper on her end of the line.
Finally, she said, “At 2:17, a nurse came into my room and told me your brother had been born.””
Caleb went completely still.
“My brother?””
“Yes.””
I gripped the phone.
“Mom, you told me Elias was your only baby.””
“He was the only one I was allowed to take home.””
The words landed like a stone dropped into deep water.
Caleb stared at the pavement.
“Were we twins?””
“I believe you were.””
“Believe?””
“I never saw the second baby. I never held him. I never received a birth certificate for him. All I had was a nurse's voice telling me I had given birth to two boys.””
“Why didn't you tell anyone?””
“I did!””
Her voice rose so sharply that I flinched.
“I asked the doctor. I demanded to know why there were two names on the paperwork. He told me the second baby had been stillborn. He said I was confused from the medication.””
“But you remembered,” I said.
“Yes.””
My mother began crying.
“I remembered because the nurse had placed a second hospital bracelet on my wrist. She told me I had two beautiful boys. I remember asking whether they were healthy. She said both were breathing.””
Caleb leaned against the porch railing.
“Then what happened?””
“The next morning, Dr. Harris told me one of the babies had died before I could see him. Later, he told me Elias had died, too.””
“Both of us?””
“Yes.””
Caleb stared at the photograph on his phone.
“Then how did I survive?””
“I don't know.””
“Where is the other baby?””
“I don't know.””
He struck the railing with the heel of his hand.
“Everybody keeps saying they don't know! My whole life is built on a lie, and every person who knows something expects me to accept another half-answer!””
My mother didn't defend herself.
When she spoke again, her voice was barely audible.
“You have every right to hate me.””
“I don't hate you,” Caleb said.
“I don't even know you. That's the problem.””
The words hurt more than an accusation would have.
I could hear my mother trying to steady her breathing.
“Emma, there is something else you need to know.””
I closed my eyes.
“What?””
“After the hospital told me both babies had died, a woman visited me. She said she was from the hospital's patient services department. She brought documents for me to sign.””
“Did you sign them?””
“Yes.””
“What did they say?””
“I was heavily medicated. I thought they were forms for the funeral arrangements.””
Caleb's voice turned cold.
“Did you read them?””
“Not until weeks later.””
“And?””
My mother hesitated.
“One of the documents stated that I had given birth to a single male infant who had died shortly after delivery. The second child's existence had disappeared from the record.””
I felt sick.
“Who brought the documents?””
“Her name was Evelyn Price. I remembered it because she wore a silver ring shaped like a serpent.””
Caleb lifted his head.
“Evelyn Price?””
My mother stopped breathing for a moment.
“You know that name?””
“No,” he said slowly.
“But Ruth mentioned a woman with a silver ring. Years ago, when I asked about my adoption papers, she told me a social worker had helped arrange everything.””
“Did she say the woman's name?””
“No. She said the records had been handled by someone from the hospital.””
I looked at Caleb.
“Do you still have your adoption papers?””
“Somewhere at home.””
“Then we need to find them.””
My mother interrupted.
“There's something else. The woman who brought me those forms returned about a month later. She told me that if I continued asking questions, I could lose my daughter, too.””
My stomach dropped.
“Me?””
“Yes.””
“Why would she threaten you with me?””
“Because she knew I had another child. She knew how much I had to lose.””
I couldn't speak.
For twenty-two years, I'd believed my mother was simply a woman who had lost a baby before raising me. I'd never imagined someone might have used my existence to keep her silent.
Caleb straightened.
“Mrs. Carter, I'm going to find Evelyn Price.””
“Don't,” my mother begged.
“Please. I waited twenty-two years to stop being afraid.””
“And I have spent twenty-two years not knowing who I am.””
He ended the call.
For a long moment, neither of us moved.
Then a car slowed on the street opposite Ruth's house.
Its headlights swept across us.
A dark sedan stopped beside the curb.
The driver's window lowered.
A woman with silver hair looked directly at Caleb.
Even from several yards away, I noticed the ring on her right hand.
A silver serpent curled around her finger.
Caleb stepped off the porch.
“Evelyn Price?””
The woman's expression changed.
She raised the window.
“Wait!”” Caleb shouted.
The sedan pulled away.
He ran into the street, but the car accelerated through the intersection and disappeared around the corner.
When he returned, his face was pale.
“You saw the ring?”” he asked.
I nodded.
He looked at his phone.
An incoming message had appeared from the same unknown number.
*You were warned. Evelyn is not the person you should fear.*
A second message followed.
*Ask your mother why the hospital's original birth register has her signature beside the name of the second baby.*
Caleb read it twice.
Then he looked at me.
“Your mother signed something she says she never saw.””
I swallowed.
“And someone is trying to make us believe she knew more than she's admitting.””
He glanced toward the road where the sedan had vanished.
“Tomorrow, we're going to the hospital archives.””
I nodded.
But as we walked toward his car, I couldn't shake the feeling that the woman in the silver ring hadn't come to threaten us.
May you like
She had come to see whether we had finally discovered the truth.
And judging by the fear on her face when Caleb said her name, we were closer than she had ever expected us to get.
