I stared at Lucas.
“No.”
He nodded.
“No one was supposed to know.”
“Who?”
He looked away.
“Brenda.”
My blood turned to ice.
“My mother-in-law?”
Lucas nodded.
“She knew about the arrangement before the delivery.”
“Why?”
“Because she had been helping Mara.”
I remembered every time Brenda had insisted on being at the hospital.
Every time she’d told me not to worry.
Every time she’d taken control of everything.
My hands trembled.
“She knew my baby was alive.”
“Yes.”
“And she knew the other baby had died.”
“Yes.”
“Why would she do that?”
Lucas looked at me.
“Because Mara had threatened to expose everything.”
“To whom?”
“The police.”
I felt sick.
“What was she going to expose?”
Lucas hesitated.
Then he whispered,
“The original arrangement wasn’t legal.”
My head spun.
“But why would you agree to it?”
“I didn’t.”
I stared at him.
“Then why did you pay Mara?”
“Because she wanted her baby back.”
I stopped.
“What?”
Lucas nodded.
“She had been told the baby who died was hers. But when she saw your daughter, she realized the babies had been switched.”
I could barely hear him.
“So Mara knew my baby was alive?”
“Yes.”
“And she took her?”
Lucas shook his head.
“No.”
He looked toward the door.
“She came to take her back.”
A knock sounded again.
Toby suddenly whispered,
“That’s the lady.”
I turned toward the door.
Lucas stood.
“Don’t let her see you yet,” I said.
But it was too late.
The door opened.
A woman stood on the porch.
Dark hair.
Green coat.
Tears in her eyes.
She looked at me.
Then at Toby.
Then back at me.
And her expression shattered.
“Oh my God,” she whispered.
“You’re awake.”
I couldn’t move.
“Where is my daughter?”
Mara began crying.
“She isn’t yours.”
My heart broke.
“Then where is mine?”
Mara stared at Lucas.
He lowered his head.
Finally, she reached inside her coat.
She pulled out a small photograph.
She handed it to me.
My fingers shook as I took it.
It was a photograph of a newborn baby.
Tiny.
Pink.
Wrapped in a pale yellow blanket.
Our blanket.
The blanket I had made myself.
The same blanket I had placed beside the crib.
I looked closer.
Around the baby’s wrist was a tiny blue bracelet.
The bracelet I had bought before the delivery.
I looked at Mara.
“Where is she?”
Mara’s tears fell faster.
“She was never taken away.”
I couldn’t speak.
“She was hidden.”
“Where?”
Mara looked at Lucas.
Then at Brenda, who had appeared silently behind him.
My mother-in-law’s face was completely white.
I turned toward her.
“You knew.”
Brenda didn’t answer.
“You knew my baby was alive.”
Still nothing.
“You let me mourn a living child.”
Her lips trembled.
“I thought I was protecting you.”
I screamed.
“Protecting me?”
Toby began crying.
I didn’t care.
“You watched me bury an empty coffin!”
Brenda covered her mouth.
“I didn’t know what else to do.”
Lucas stepped toward her.
“You should have told her.”
Brenda looked at him.
“You were too weak to hear it.”
I stared at both of them.
Then I saw something on Brenda’s wrist.
A hospital identification band.
My baby’s name was printed on it.
Not the name the hospital had given the dead infant.
Our daughter’s name.
The name we had chosen months before.
My knees gave out.
Lucas caught me.
“Where is she?” I whispered.
Brenda finally broke.
“She was taken to a private neonatal unit.”
My eyes widened.
“She was premature,” Brenda said. “She needed oxygen. We were terrified she wouldn’t survive.”
“But she did.”
Brenda nodded.
“She did.”
I pushed Lucas away.
“Take me to her.”
He stared at me.
“You’re still recovering.”
“I don’t care.”
“You’re weak.”
“I don’t care!”
I grabbed the photograph.
“She has been alive this entire time.”
