Chapter 5: The Baby Nobody Mentioned

Principal Harris locked the office door.

The click sounded unnaturally loud.

Maya stood beside the desk, her phone still glowing in her hand. The two messages remained on the screen, each word more disturbing than the last.

Ask her what happened to Elena's first baby.

“Who sent this?”” Principal Harris asked.

“I don't know.””

“Did you give anyone your number today?””

“No.””

“Has anyone contacted you about your mother before?””

Maya hesitated.

The principal noticed immediately.

“Maya?””

“There was a letter.””

“What letter?””

“In my grandmother's things. I found it three years ago, but I didn't understand what it meant.””

Maya slipped her phone into her pocket.

“It was addressed to Ruth. The envelope had no return address. Inside, someone wrote that if I ever learned the truth about my mother, I should look for a woman named Evelyn.””

Principal Harris went completely still.

“Evelyn what?””

“There was no last name.””

“Did you keep the letter?””

“Yes.””

“Where is it?””

“At home.””

The principal turned toward her desk, opened a drawer, and began searching through a stack of business cards.

“Evelyn was Elena's nurse,” she murmured.

Maya stared at her.

“You know her?””

“I knew of her. She worked at St. Catherine's Medical Center before it closed.””

“Why would my grandmother have a letter about her?””

“I don't know.””

“You keep saying that.””

Principal Harris stopped searching.

“Because I have spent twelve years discovering that almost everything I was told about my own daughter was incomplete.””

She pulled out a card and placed it on the desk.

*DR. SAMUEL REED — RETIRED OBSTETRICIAN.*

Maya looked at the name.

“The note.””

“Yes.””

“He delivered me?””

Principal Harris nodded slowly.

“He was Elena's physician during her pregnancy.””

Maya's breath caught.

“What pregnancy?””

The principal stared at her.

“Yours.””

Maya almost laughed.

“Then why did that text say first baby?””

“I don't know.””

“Stop saying that!””

Maya's voice bounced off the office walls.

She pressed both hands against her forehead, trying to make the information fit together.

Her mother had a secret. Her grandmother had kept a letter. The principal had hidden a warning. And now a stranger knew enough to mention a baby nobody had ever told Maya existed.

“What if I had a brother?”” Maya whispered.

Principal Harris looked away.

“What if I had a sister?””

The older woman sat down.

“Maya, I need to tell you something about the week Elena disappeared.””

Maya lowered her hands.

“I'm listening.””

“Your mother came to see me the evening before she vanished. She was frightened. She kept looking over her shoulder, and she asked whether I could keep something safe for her.””

“What?””

“A document.””

“What document?””

“I never saw it.””

“Then how do you know it existed?””

“Because she told me she had proof that someone had falsified a medical record.””

Maya felt a chill despite the warm sunlight filling the office.

“Whose record?””

“Elena wouldn't say.””

“Did you call the police?””

“I wanted to. She begged me not to.””

“And you listened?””

“She told me that if I contacted anyone, you would be taken away from the family.””

Maya stared at her.

“Taken away by whom?””

“I don't know.””

The principal looked down at her hands.

“I believed she was experiencing extreme stress. She had been working with Dr. Reed, and she told me she had discovered something troubling. I thought she needed time to calm down.””

“Then she disappeared.””

“Yes.””

“And you never saw her again?””

“No.””

Maya walked to the window.

Outside, a teacher was helping a student straighten his graduation cap. A mother lifted her phone to photograph her daughter, both of them smiling.

Maya had imagined this day countless times.

She had pictured walking across the stage, receiving her diploma, and making her grandmother proud.

She had never imagined standing in a principal's office learning that her entire family history might be built on a lie.

“Did you ever think my mother might have been murdered?”” Maya asked.

Principal Harris rose slowly.

“Every day.””

Maya turned around.

The principal's eyes glistened.

“I went to the police repeatedly. I hired investigators when I could afford them. I contacted hospitals, shelters, and morgues. Every time I thought I was close, another door closed.””

“Why didn't you tell Ruth?””

“I did.””

Maya frowned.

“What?””

“Ruth knew I was searching for Elena. She knew I believed Elena had a child. But she told me she had never met me, and she refused to let me near you.””

Maya's mouth went dry.

“She knew who you were?””

“Yes.””

“Why would she keep me away from my own family?””

Principal Harris looked toward the photograph still lying on her desk.

“Ruth told me Elena had asked her to protect you.””

Maya shook her head.

“Protect me from what?””

“I don't know.””

The answer no longer sounded like ignorance.

It sounded like a wall.

Maya picked up the photograph of her mother and the principal.

On the back, beneath the handwritten warning, she noticed a faint impression in the paper, as though another sheet had once been pressed against it.

She tilted it toward the window.

Letters appeared in the sunlight.

Not ink.

Pressure marks.

Maya traced the words with her fingertip.

*TWIN DELIVERY — TWO LIVE INFANTS.*

She stopped.

The photograph trembled in her hand.

“Principal Harris.””

The older woman looked up.

Maya turned the picture around.

“What does this mean?””

Principal Harris stared at the impression.

For several seconds, she didn't move.

Then she reached for the photograph and sat down heavily.

“Oh, Elena,” she whispered.

Maya grabbed the desk.

“Tell me!””

The principal looked at her with tears gathering in her eyes.

“Your mother gave birth to twins.””

The room seemed to shrink.

Maya shook her head.

“No. That's impossible.””

“The record says two infants were delivered alive.””

“Where is the other baby?””

Principal Harris pressed her fingers against her mouth.

“I was told the second infant died shortly after birth.””

“By whom?””

“Dr. Reed.””

Maya's eyes widened.

“Did you see the baby?””

“No.””

“Did you see a death certificate?””

“No.””

“Did you attend a funeral?””

The principal couldn't answer.

Maya backed away from the desk.

“So you believed a doctor who told you your grandchild died, but you never saw a body, never saw a certificate, never asked where the baby was buried?””

Principal Harris began to cry.

“I was grieving. Elena had disappeared. I was trying to find you. I believed what I was told.””

Maya's voice dropped to a whisper.

“And what if the baby never died?””

The principal looked at her.

Neither woman spoke.

Then a sharp knock struck the office door.

“Principal Harris?”” Mrs. Collins called from the hallway.

“There's someone here asking for Maya Bennett.””

Principal Harris wiped her face.

“Who?””

A pause.

Then Mrs. Collins answered.

“He says his name is Samuel Reed.””

Maya looked at the medical card on the desk.

Principal Harris stood so quickly that her chair rolled backward.

“Do not let him in,” she ordered.

But the door handle began turning.

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