Chapter 10: The Daughter I Brought Home
“Because the child you're holding isn't the baby your mother brought home.””
The voice on the phone was unmistakable.
It was older, rougher around the edges, but I knew the rhythm of it. I knew the way the speaker paused before saying my name, as though every syllable mattered.
Thomas Whitmore had been dead for eleven years.
I had watched them lower his coffin into the ground.
I had stood beside my mother beneath a black umbrella while rain soaked through my shoes. I had held her hand when she collapsed against the grave, and I had listened to the priest say that my father had gone to a better place.
Now someone was speaking to me in his voice.
“Who is this?”” I whispered.
Daniel tried to take the phone.
I turned away.
“Don't touch me.””
“Emily, that isn't Thomas.””
“How would you know?””
He looked at the blood on his shirt.
“Because I saw the death certificate.””
“So did I.””
The voice returned.
“Emily, listen to me. You have very little time. Richard knows you've found the documents. He'll come for Lily before sunrise.””
My daughter stirred against my chest.
I pressed my lips to her forehead.
“Tell me something only my father would know.””
There was a long silence.
Then the voice said, “When you were six, you broke your mother's blue vase and blamed the dog. There was no dog. You cried so hard that I bought another vase, but you begged me not to tell your mother because you thought she'd stop loving you.””
My knees weakened.
I had never told Daniel that story.
I had barely thought about it in years.
The voice continued.
“You were wearing yellow pajamas with little white ducks. You hid the broken pieces beneath your bed. I found them when I went to tuck you in.””
I covered my mouth.
“Dad?””
“Yes, sweetheart.””
The word broke something inside me.
I sank onto a wooden crate in the basement, holding Lily so tightly that she began to fuss.
“Where are you?””
“Somewhere safe.””
“Are you alive?””
“Yes.””
I started crying.
All the grief I'd carried for eleven years came rushing back at once. The funeral. The empty house.
My mother's quiet despair. The way I'd believed there was no one left who could tell me what my childhood had really been like.
“You let me bury you,” I whispered.
“I had no choice.””
“You had eleven years to find me!””
“I tried.””
“Then why didn't you?””
His voice cracked.
“Because Richard was watching you. If I'd contacted you, he would have known I was alive. I thought distance was the only way to keep you safe.””
I looked at Daniel.
He was staring at me, his expression unreadable.
“Dad,” I said, “what does he mean about Lily? What does he mean she isn't the baby my mother brought home?””
Thomas exhaled.
“Because the baby your mother brought home wasn't the baby she gave birth to.””
The room seemed to contract around me.
“Explain.””
“Your mother gave birth to three children. Richard took two. Thomas and Evelyn were allowed to raise you because Richard believed you were the least important of the three.””
“But there were four babies.””
“No,” Thomas said firmly.
“There were three babies born that night.””
I looked at the declaration in my hand.
“The document says the fourth child was exchanged.””
“That was Richard's way of making the records impossible to understand. He switched one of the children with a baby born to another woman at the same hospital.””
I stared at Lily.
“No.””
“Your mother discovered the exchange years later. She found out that the child she had raised was not her biological daughter.””
My breath caught.
“Me?””
“Yes.””
I shook my head violently.
“No. She knew me. She loved me. She raised me.””
“She loved you more than anything in the world, Emily. Biology never changed that.””
“Then who was my biological mother?””
“That's what Evelyn spent the last months of her life trying to uncover.””
My mind raced through the photographs, the birth records, the bracelet, and the trust.
“Then who is Lily?””
Thomas was silent for a moment.
“Lily is the child Richard has been searching for.””
Daniel stepped forward.
“Mr. Whitmore, if you're alive, tell us where you are. We can get you out.””
Thomas laughed bitterly.
“You sound exactly like your father, Daniel.””
Daniel flinched.
“I am not my father.””
“Then prove it. Tell Emily what happened to the money you took from the trust.””
Daniel's face drained of color.
I turned toward him.
“What money?””
He looked away.
“Emily—”
“What money, Daniel?””
Thomas answered for him.
“Three million dollars was transferred from the trust six months before Lily was born. Daniel authorized the transaction.””
I stared at my husband.
“Is that true?””
He nodded slowly.
“Yes.””
“What did you do with it?””
“I used it to pay for a private investigation.””
“Into what?””
“Your mother's death. The hospital records. The missing children.””
“And you never told me?””
“I couldn't.””
I laughed, but tears were running down my face.
“You couldn't tell me that you were investigating my dead mother? You couldn't tell me that you knew my family was being hunted? You couldn't tell me that you were stealing money from a trust that supposedly belonged to my daughter?””
Daniel's voice broke.
“I was trying to find the truth before my father did.””
“And did you?””
He looked at Lily.
“Not until now.””
Thomas interrupted.
“Emily, you must take Lily to the old Whitmore estate. There's a room beneath the west wing that your mother sealed before she died. The original records are hidden there.””
“Why should I go there?””
“Because the bracelet Lily wears is the key.””
I looked down at the silver band.
The engraved name was beginning to feel like a message from someone who had known all along that this moment would come.
“Dad, why would my mother put a key on a baby's bracelet?””
“Because she knew Richard would search your belongings. He would never suspect that the key was hidden in plain sight.””
A noise sounded outside the basement door.
Footsteps.
Daniel grabbed the phone.
“Mr. Whitmore, someone is here.””
Thomas's voice sharpened.
“Get Emily and Lily out of there. Now.””
The line went dead.
Daniel moved toward me.
“Come on.””
I didn't move.
“Who is Lily's biological mother?””
He stared at me.
“I don't know.””
“Who is mine?””
“I don't know that either.””
“Then you know nothing.””
I rose, carrying Lily toward the back exit.
Daniel followed, struggling to keep up.
Outside, a black SUV sat across the street.
The headlights flickered twice.
Then a familiar figure stepped out.
Richard Ashford.
He held a phone against his ear and smiled when he saw me.
“Emily,” he called.
“I was hoping we'd have another chance to talk.””
I turned to run.
A second man emerged from the alley behind us.
He grabbed Daniel by the collar and slammed him against the wall.
Richard walked toward me.
“Give me the baby.””
I backed away.
“Stay away from us.””
He sighed.
“Your mother was just as stubborn.””
He reached into his coat and removed a photograph.
It showed a woman I had never seen before, holding a newborn baby in a hospital room.
On the back was a name.
*LILY'S BIOLOGICAL MOTHER: ELENA VOSS.*
Richard watched me read it.
“Do you know who Elena Voss was, Emily?””
I shook my head.
“She was the woman whose baby was exchanged for yours.””
My heart stopped.
“And if you want to know why your mother raised you as her own, you should ask the man who arranged the exchange.””
He turned toward Daniel.
“Your husband.””
Daniel struggled against the man holding him.
“Emily, don't listen to him!””
Richard smiled.
“Your husband didn't marry you by accident. He knew exactly who you were from the beginning.””
He stepped closer.
“And now that Lily has been born, he has finally completed the plan.””
I clutched my daughter.
Richard held out his hand.
“Come with me, Emily. I'll show you the truth about your husband, your mother, and the child you're holding.””
Then he leaned closer and whispered something that made my blood run cold.
“Because Elena Voss wasn't a stranger to your family.””
May you like
He pointed at the photograph.
“She was your mother's sister.””
