Chapter 4: The Second Baby
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Dr. Samuel Harris stood at the end of the corridor with a gun in his right hand. Evelyn Carter faced him from the opposite doorway, holding the photograph of two newborn babies as if it were a weapon of her own.
Damien stepped in front of Emma and Sophie.
“Put the gun down, Samuel,” Evelyn repeated.
The doctor laughed bitterly.
“You don't get to give me orders anymore.””
“I gave you everything you asked for.””
“And you took everything I had.””
Emma tightened her arms around Sophie.
“What is happening?”” she demanded.
“Why is everyone in my family holding photographs of babies?””
Harris shifted his gaze toward her.
“Because your family has spent twenty-eight years making sure you never learned that you weren't the only child born that night.””
Emma stared at him.
“What?””
Evelyn closed her eyes briefly.
Damien turned toward his mother.
“What is he talking about?””
She didn't answer.
Harris raised the photograph.
“Your mother gave birth to twins, Emma. Two little girls. One was registered as Emma Isabelle Carter. The other was registered under a different name.””
Emma felt the floor tilt beneath her.
“Twins?””
Sophie looked up at her.
“Does that mean I have another aunt?””
Nobody answered the child.
Emma forced herself to speak.
“Where is she?””
Harris's expression hardened.
“That depends on which of these people you believe.””
Evelyn stepped forward.
“Samuel, stop this now. You have no idea what you're doing.””
“Oh, I know exactly what I'm doing.”” His voice rose.
“I spent twenty-eight years watching you destroy a woman's life because she refused to surrender her children to you.””
Damien's face turned white.
“Mother?””
Evelyn looked at him.
“Your father was dying. He wanted to protect the family's future.””
“From two newborn babies?”” Damien demanded.
“From Isabelle's decisions!””
The words burst out of her before she could stop them.
Silence followed.
Emma took one step toward Evelyn.
“What decisions?””
Evelyn's fingers tightened around the photograph.
“Your mother was young. Emotional. She wanted to take both children away from everything your father had built. Richard believed she would regret it.””
“Then he could have talked to her,” Emma said.
“He tried!””
“And when that didn't work, you stole us?””
Evelyn's expression crumpled for the briefest moment before hardening again.
“I did what I believed was necessary.””
Damien stared at her as if the woman before him had become a stranger.
“You signed the adoption papers.””
“I arranged a safe placement.””
“You forged Father's signature after he died.””
“I preserved his wishes!””
“You used a dead man's name to erase two children from our family!””
His shout echoed through the corridor.
Sophie began to cry.
Emma knelt beside her, but her eyes remained fixed on Evelyn.
“One child,” she whispered.
“You said I was the only child who existed. You told my mother I was dead. What happened to my sister?””
Harris lowered the gun slightly.
“Your sister was adopted by a family outside Boston. The placement was arranged through a private agency. Evelyn paid to keep the records sealed.””
Emma's heart hammered.
“Do you know her name?””
“I do.””
“Tell me.””
“I will. But first, I want immunity from prosecution.””
Evelyn laughed once, sharply.
“You think anyone will believe you? You're a disgraced physician who falsified medical records and threatened a family with a gun.””
Harris's face twisted.
“You ordered me to declare Isabelle mentally unstable. You paid me to certify that one child had died. You made me sign reports claiming the second child was too dangerous to remain with her mother.””
Emma's blood ran cold.
“You told my mother I was dead?””
Harris looked at her.
“Yes.””
“Why?””
“Because Evelyn threatened to destroy my career. I had made mistakes. Serious mistakes. She knew about them and used them to control me.””
“So you destroyed my mother's life to save your own?””
He looked away.
“I told myself the children would have better lives.””
Emma stood.
“You don't get to tell yourself that anymore.””
Harris's jaw tightened.
“You think I don't know that?””
“Then tell us where my sister is.””
He opened his mouth.
A loud crash interrupted him.
The security lights flickered back on. Mr. Collins appeared at the corridor entrance, holding a heavy metal flashlight.
“Police are on their way!”” he shouted.
“I pressed the emergency alarm!””
Harris spun toward him.
Damien moved instantly, knocking the doctor's gun hand against the doorframe. The weapon fell and skidded across the concrete.
Evelyn screamed.
Harris shoved Damien into a stack of boxes and ran toward the exit.
“Stop!”” Damien yelled.
Two security guards entered from the opposite end of the corridor. Harris tried to push past them, but one tackled him to the ground.
The other kicked the gun away.
Emma covered Sophie's ears as the doctor struggled and shouted that they had no idea what Evelyn had done.
Within minutes, police officers filled the storage facility.
Evelyn stood motionless beside the wall, her expensive dress untouched by the chaos.
When an officer approached her, she lifted her chin.
“I am Evelyn Carter. I have legal representation.””
The officer glanced at the photograph in her hand.
“Ma'am, I need you to put that down.””
She hesitated.
Then she placed it on a nearby shelf.
Emma picked it up.
The image showed Isabelle sitting in a hospital bed, exhausted but smiling. Two tiny babies lay beside her, each wrapped in a different blanket.
On the back, Isabelle had written:
My girls. October 14. No one will ever separate you.
Emma pressed the photograph to her chest.
“She knew,” she whispered.
Damien came to stand beside her, a red mark forming along his jaw.
“She knew you were twins.””
“She knew someone might take us.””
He nodded slowly.
“And she was right.””
A female detective approached them and introduced herself as Detective Morgan. She asked Damien to explain the situation, then took Emma aside to record her statement.
When Emma described the anonymous messages, the detective's expression grew serious.
“Do you still have them?””
Emma showed her the phone.
Detective Morgan read the messages twice.
“Did you recognize the number?””
“No.””
“Has anyone contacted you since you started working at Carter House?””
Emma thought of the strange looks she had received from certain employees, the questions about her necklace, the manager who had suddenly become nervous whenever Damien entered the restaurant.
“No one directly.””
The detective wrote something in her notebook.
“We'll investigate.””
Emma glanced toward Evelyn, who was speaking quietly with another officer.
“Will she be arrested?””
“That depends on the evidence and the charges we can substantiate. But we have reason to investigate the alleged falsification of medical records and the circumstances surrounding your adoption.””
“And my sister?””
“We'll pursue that lead.””
Emma swallowed.
“What if she's been told the same things I was told? What if she thinks her family never wanted her?””
Detective Morgan's expression softened.
“Then the truth is going to be difficult for her, too.””
Across the room, Damien stood beside Sophie, who had fallen asleep again in his arms.
He looked exhausted.
Older than he had when Emma first met him.
When the detective finished, Emma approached him.
“Did you know about the twins?””
“No.””
“Did you know my mother was searching for me?””
“No.””
She studied his face, looking for a lie.
“What did you mean when you said your father died believing I was dead?””
Damien glanced toward the police officers.
“My father left a letter before he died. It said Isabelle had lost the baby and that he hoped one day she'd find peace.””
“Where is that letter?””
“At my mother's house. In Father's study.””
Emma felt a chill.
“Then we need to see it.””
Damien nodded.
But before they could leave, Detective Morgan returned carrying a clear evidence bag.
Inside was the photograph Evelyn had brought to the storage facility.
“Ms. Carter,” she said, addressing Emma, “there's something you should know.””
Emma looked at the image through the plastic.
The photograph showed Isabelle with the twins.
But someone had written a name beneath each baby.
The name under Emma's blanket was familiar.
The name under the second baby was not.
*Charlotte Evelyn Carter.*
Emma looked at Damien.
“Charlotte?””
His face drained of color.
“My father's younger sister was named Charlotte.””
He paused, his eyes fixed on the photograph.
May you like
“She disappeared when she was nineteen.””
And Detective Morgan added, “According to the records we have so far, Charlotte Carter vanished on the same night your mother gave birth.””
