PART 2 Madeline stood in the doorway as if she had forgotten how to breathe. For several seconds, nobody moved. The hospital monitor beside Luke continued its steady rhythm. Beep. Beep. Beep. But all I could hear was Madeline’s voice. “You weren’t supposed to find that.” Brandon stepped toward her. “What does that mean?” She shook her head. “Put the photograph down.” “No.” “Brandon, please.” “I asked you a question.” His voice wasn’t angry anymore. That frightened me. It was quiet. Controlled. The voice of a man who had just discovered that his entire understanding of his family might have been a lie. “What happened four years ago?” Madeline looked at me. Her eyes filled with tears. Then she looked at Luke. Something changed in her expression. For the first time, I saw genuine pain.
She whispered, “I never hated him.” My throat tightened. “You kicked his food across the patio.” “I know.” “You told him he wasn’t your grandson.” “I know.” “You watched him cry.” Madeline closed her eyes. “I know.” “Then why?” She didn’t answer. Brandon stepped closer. “Why did you do it?” Madeline looked at him. “Because if I called him my grandson, people would start asking questions.” “What questions?” She swallowed. “The same questions you are asking now.” I held the photograph tighter. “Who is that baby?” Madeline looked at the image. Then she whispered, “Your son.” My heart stopped. “No.” She shook her head. “Not the baby you’re thinking of.” Brandon stared at her. “Mom, speak clearly.” Madeline’s voice broke. “There were two babies.” The room seemed to disappear. I looked at Luke. Then at the photograph. “Two babies?”
Madeline nodded.
“Two boys.”
Brandon took a step backward.
“Twins?”
“No.”
Her answer came immediately.
“Not twins.”
“Then what are you talking about?”
Madeline looked at me.
“One baby belonged to you.”
She pointed at the photograph.
“And the other belonged to someone else.”
I felt sick.
“Where is the other baby?”
Madeline didn’t answer.
“Where is he?”
Her lips trembled.
“I don’t know.”
Brandon’s face hardened.
“You expect us to believe that?”
“I don’t expect you to believe anything.”
“Then tell us the truth!”
Madeline flinched.
A nurse appeared at the door.
“Please keep your voices down.”
Brandon stepped aside.
“I’m sorry.”
The nurse looked at Luke.
“He’s stable for now. The doctor wants to speak with both parents.”
She left.
Madeline remained in the doorway.
I stared at her.
“Why did you know about another baby?”
Madeline lowered her eyes.
“Because I was there.”
“Where?”
“At the hospital.”
“When?”
“The night Luke was born.”
I felt my stomach twist.
“You weren’t there.”
“I was.”
“I never saw you.”
“You weren’t supposed to.”
Brandon looked at her.
“What did you do?”
Madeline’s eyes filled with tears.
“I didn’t switch the babies.”
I froze.
She continued.
“But I knew someone who did.”
The doctor entered a few minutes later.
He was carrying a folder.
His expression was serious.
“Mr. and Mrs. Carter?”
“Yes.”
“Your son’s bloodwork is unusual.”
My heart sank.
“Is he in danger?”
“Not immediately.”
He sat down.
“But there’s an inconsistency we need to investigate.”
Brandon asked,
“His blood type?”
“Yes.”
The doctor opened the folder.
“The blood type recorded at birth is O positive.”
“And?”
“The sample we took today indicates A positive.”
I stared at him.
“Could the test be wrong?”
“It’s possible. That’s why we repeated it.”
“And?”
“Same result.”
Brandon looked at Luke.
“What does that mean?”
“It means either the original record is incorrect, or there is something we don’t yet understand about his medical history.”
I thought about the photograph.
The birthmark.
Madeline’s words.
Two babies.
Then I asked the question that had been haunting me.
“Doctor, can a child have a blood type that doesn’t match either parent?”
He looked at us.
“Yes, under certain circumstances.”
“What circumstances?”
“Rare genetic situations. But before we jump to conclusions, we need a DNA test.”
Brandon looked at me.
I nodded.
“Do it.”
The doctor closed the folder.
“We’ll arrange it.”
Then he hesitated.
“There is one more thing.”
“What?”
“The original birth records were requested from the hospital archives this morning.”
My skin prickled.
“By whom?”
The doctor looked at the file.
“Someone using your husband’s family authorization.”
Brandon stood.
“I never authorized that.”
“I assumed it was your mother.”
Everyone looked at Madeline.
She shook her head.
“No.”
Brandon stared at her.
“You didn’t?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Madeline whispered,
“I think I know.”
The doctor looked between them.
“Who?”
Madeline answered,
“Dr. Nathaniel Reed.”
The name meant nothing to me.
But Brandon suddenly went pale.
“Mom…”
“What?”
“You said that name.”
“I know.”
“That’s the doctor who delivered Luke.”
Silence.
I turned toward him.
“You never told me his name.”
“I didn’t remember.”
“You didn’t remember the doctor who delivered our son?”
“It was four years ago.”
“Brandon.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“I was exhausted. Everything happened so fast.”
Madeline whispered,
“He was working with the clinic at the time.”
I looked at her.
“Working with them for what?”
She didn’t answer.
Brandon grabbed the brown envelope.
“I’m going to find him.”
Madeline reached for his arm.
“No.”
He pulled away.
“Why?”
“Because he isn’t the person you think he is.”
That night, Luke was moved to a private room.
The tests continued.
I stayed beside him.
Brandon left to make calls.
Madeline sat alone in the hallway.
She hadn’t tried to leave.
She hadn’t called anyone.
She simply sat there with her hands clasped together.
Eventually, I walked toward her.
She looked up.
“Are you here to hate me?”
“I don’t have time to hate you.”
She nodded.
“Good.”
“I want answers.”
“You deserve them.”
“Then tell me.”
Madeline looked down at her hands.
“Four years ago, I received a phone call.”
“From Dr. Reed?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me your baby had been born.”
I frowned.
“You already knew I was in labor?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Madeline’s eyes filled with tears.
“Because I had been paying him.”
My heart stopped.
“For what?”
“To watch you.”
“Why?”
She looked away.
“Because I believed you were hiding something from Brandon.”
“What?”
“That Luke wasn’t his.”
I stared at her.
“Why would you think that?”
“Because of the timing.”
“What timing?”
Madeline hesitated.
Then she said,
“Brandon was away three months before Luke was born.”
I felt my stomach drop.
“He was away for work.”
“I know.”
“He came home before Luke was born.”
“I know.”
“So what?”
Madeline whispered,
“The night he came home, someone saw you with another man.”
My mouth went dry.
“That never happened.”
“I believe you now.”
“Who was the man?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why believe it?”
“Because the person who gave me the information showed me photographs.”
My heart began racing.
“What photographs?”
Madeline reached into her purse.
She pulled out a small plastic envelope.
Inside were several photographs.
I looked at the first.
It showed me leaving a restaurant.
The second showed me standing beside a man.
The third showed us talking.
My hands trembled.
“I don’t know him.”
Madeline nodded.
“I know.”
“What?”
“These photographs were manipulated.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I hired someone to verify them.”
“Who?”
“Dr. Reed.”
I stared at her.
“You hired the same doctor who delivered my son to investigate me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he told me he could prove Luke wasn’t Brandon’s.”
I felt tears burn my eyes.
“And did he?”
Madeline shook her head.
“No.”
“Then what happened?”
“He told me something else.”
“What?”
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