Chapter 8: The Doctor Who Sold Two Children
Daniel took the phone from Emily.
He stared at the photograph.
"Richard Hale.""
Evelyn stepped closer.
"That's impossible. He's supposed to be retired.""
Emily shook her head.
"He isn't just retired. He's been living in Maine for years. Victoria told me he was helping with a private medical charity.""
Rose looked at the image.
Her mother stood beside the doctor, one hand resting against his shoulder.
She wasn't smiling.
She looked frightened.
"Why would my mother be standing beside the man who arranged Emily's adoption?""
Daniel zoomed in on the photograph.
There was something visible behind them.
A black SUV.
Its license plate was partially covered by mud.
Daniel immediately called his security director.
"I need a vehicle identification. Send this photograph to the team. Find the location.""
He ended the call.
Rose looked at Emily.
"Why didn't you tell me Victoria had contacted you?""
Emily's eyes filled.
"Because I didn't know she was connected to your family. I thought she was organizing a charity event.""
"Did she ever ask you to meet her alone?""
Emily hesitated.
"Yes.""
"When?""
"Three weeks ago.""
Rose frowned.
"What happened?""
Emily sat down.
"She offered me money.""
Daniel's expression changed.
"How much?""
"Two hundred thousand dollars.""
Rose stared.
"For what?""
"She wanted me to move away. She said I should leave Boston and never contact you again.""
Rose felt her throat tighten.
"Why?""
Emily shook her head.
"She wouldn't explain. She said it was an opportunity for a fresh start.""
Daniel leaned forward.
"Did you accept?""
"No.""
Emily opened her handbag and removed a small envelope.
"I kept this.""
Inside was a bank transfer receipt.
The sender was listed as a private company.
Whitmore Holdings.
The amount was $200,000.
Evelyn stared at it.
"That account belonged to Arthur.""
Daniel looked at his mother.
"How?""
"Because I closed it after his death.""
"Apparently, someone reopened it.""
Rose looked at the receipt.
"Victoria?""
Daniel nodded.
"Or someone working for her.""
By noon, the police had received copies of the financial documents, the surveillance footage from the wedding, and the photograph of Richard Hale.
But Rose was no longer interested in waiting.
She wanted to find her mother.
Daniel arranged a private car.
Evelyn insisted on coming.
Emily refused to let Rose go alone.
And so, shortly after one in the afternoon, the four of them left Boston.
The drive to Maine was quiet.
Rose sat in the back seat beside Emily.
She kept looking at the photograph.
"Do you think she'll recognize us?""
Emily stared out the window.
"What if she doesn't want to see us?""
Rose turned.
"Why wouldn't she?""
"Because she gave me away.""
"She didn't abandon you.""
"You don't know that.""
Rose reached for her hand.
"Neither do you.""
Emily looked down.
"I spent my whole life wondering why I wasn't enough for someone to keep.""
Rose squeezed her fingers.
"Maybe she spent her whole life wondering where you were.""
Emily turned toward the window again.
Neither woman spoke for the next several miles.
The house was exactly where the photograph had suggested.
A small white cottage stood at the end of a narrow gravel road. Tall pine trees surrounded it, and a wooden fence separated the property from the neighboring fields.
The car stopped.
Rose stepped out.
Her heart hammered.
The front door was slightly open.
"Mom?""
No answer.
Daniel motioned for everyone to stay behind him.
He approached the house carefully.
"Hello? Is anyone here?""
A floorboard creaked inside.
Then a woman's voice called out.
"Who is it?""
Rose stepped forward.
"It's Rose.""
Silence.
Then the door opened.
A woman stood there.
Her hair was streaked with gray. Her face was thinner than in the photograph, and a small scar ran along her left cheek.
But her eyes were unmistakable.
Rose's eyes.
The woman stared at her.
For one terrible second, neither moved.
Then Grace Carter whispered:
"My baby.""
Rose covered her mouth.
"Mom?""
Grace began crying.
She reached out, but Rose was already moving.
They collided in the doorway.
Grace wrapped both arms around her daughter, holding her so tightly that Rose could barely breathe.
"I'm sorry," Grace sobbed.
"I'm so sorry.""
Rose buried her face in her mother's shoulder.
"I thought you were dead.""
"I know.""
"I thought you left me.""
"Never. Not for one second.""
Rose began shaking.
"Why didn't you come back?""
Grace closed her eyes.
"Because I was told you were dead.""
Rose pulled away.
"What?""
Grace looked toward the driveway.
Then she noticed Emily.
Her entire body froze.
The woman in the doorway took one step backward.
"Lily?""
Emily's lips trembled.
"Mom?""
Grace reached for her.
But before she could touch her daughter, the sound of a car engine interrupted them.
Daniel turned.
A black SUV had entered the gravel road.
It stopped directly in front of the cottage.
Two men got out.
One was wearing a dark suit.
The other carried a leather medical bag.
Grace's expression changed instantly.
"Get inside.""
Daniel stepped forward.
"Who are they?""
Grace grabbed Rose's wrist.
"Don't let them take the documents.""
"What documents?""
Grace pushed the women toward the hallway.
"Go!""
The man with the medical bag approached the porch.
"Grace. It's time to stop running.""
Rose turned toward him.
"Dr. Hale?""
He smiled faintly.
"Hello, Rose.""
Daniel moved between them.
"You're going to explain why you falsified hospital records.""
Hale gave a quiet laugh.
"Young man, you have no idea what you're involved in.""
Grace suddenly shouted.
"Daniel, don't listen to him!""
Hale's smile disappeared.
He looked directly at Daniel.
Then he said something that made Evelyn collapse against the doorframe.
"Your mother isn't the woman who raised you.""
Daniel went still.
Hale continued.
"She isn't even the woman who gave birth to you.""
Daniel stared at him.
"That's impossible.""
Hale opened his medical bag.
From inside, he removed a sealed envelope.
"I have the original delivery records.""
Grace's face went white.
"Don't.""
Hale held the envelope toward Daniel.
"Your biological mother was never Grace Carter.""
Rose looked at Evelyn.
Evelyn shook her head.
"He's lying.""
But Hale smiled again.
And this time, he looked at Rose.
"Your mother knows exactly whose son Daniel really is.""
The two men suddenly moved toward the porch.
Daniel pushed the first man backward.
"Nobody touches them!""
The second man reached inside his jacket.
Evelyn screamed.
A police siren sounded in the distance.
Hale looked toward the road.
His expression changed.
He threw the envelope toward Daniel.
"Read it before you decide who your family really is.""
Then he ran toward the SUV.
One of the men followed him.
Daniel caught the envelope before it hit the ground.
Rose turned toward Grace.
"Mom, what did he mean?""
Grace looked at Daniel.
Her lips trembled.
Then she whispered:
"Your brother was born from a secret that could destroy this entire family.""
Daniel slowly opened the envelope.
The first document contained a hospital photograph.
The second contained a birth certificate.
And the third contained a name.
*BIOLOGICAL MOTHER: EVELYN WHITMORE.*
Daniel looked up.
Evelyn was crying.
But Rose noticed something even stranger.
The document was dated six years before Daniel was born.
Which meant the woman who had supposedly raised him had given birth to him before anyone in the family claimed she had even been pregnant.
And Grace was holding another photograph.
A photograph of two women.
One was Evelyn.
The other was Grace.
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On the back, in Arthur Whitmore's handwriting, were the words:
The two women must never discover what happened to their first children.
