Chapter 7
Daniel arrived at the hotel twenty minutes later.
He didn’t knock politely.
He pounded on the door.
Rebecca opened it.
“Where is the petition?”
“Sealed.”
“Then unseal it.”
“I can’t simply unseal an adoption record because you’re angry.”
“My son may have been stolen.”
Mom flinched at the word.
Stolen.
Daniel saw it.
His anger changed.
“I’m sorry.”
“No,” she whispered. “Say it.”
He stared.
“If someone took him, say it.”
Daniel swallowed.
“Our son may have been stolen.”
Mom sat down.
I curled up beside her.
Rebecca spread documents across the table.
“We need to separate suspicion from fact.”
Daniel paced.
“Fact: Emily delivered twins.”
“Yes.”
“Fact: no death record exists for Samuel.”
“Yes.”
“Fact: an adoption attorney employed by my family filed a sealed petition days later.”
“Yes.”
“What more do you need?”
“A name.”
Rebecca pointed at him.
“And a court order.”
Daniel grabbed his phone.
“I’ll get both.”
“From whom?”
“My mother.”
Mom looked up.
“She won’t tell you.”
“She will.”
Daniel called Eleanor.
She answered after four rings.
“Daniel.”
“Did my father take Samuel?”
Silence.
Mom covered her mouth.
Daniel continued.
“You know exactly what I’m asking.”
Eleanor’s voice became quieter.
“Where did you hear that name?”
Daniel’s face changed.
Rebecca and Mom exchanged a look.
He put the phone on speaker.
“So you know him.”
Eleanor didn’t answer.
“Mother.”
“I knew Emily was carrying twins.”
Mom began crying silently.
Daniel gripped the phone.
“Did Samuel die?”
Another silence.
Then Eleanor said, “This is not a conversation for the telephone.”
Daniel’s eyes turned hard.
“Then come here.”
“I’m not meeting in some hotel.”
“You have thirty minutes.”
“Daniel—”
“If you aren’t here, I call the police and tell them I believe my family participated in an illegal adoption.”
Rebecca started to interrupt.
Daniel raised a hand.
Eleanor inhaled.
“I’ll come.”
She arrived twenty-seven minutes later.
Alone.
No lawyers.
No assistants.
That scared me more.
She entered the room and saw the hospital bracelet on the table.
Her face went pale.
Mom stood.
“Where is my son?”
Eleanor looked at her.
“I don’t know.”
Mom crossed the room.
Daniel caught her shoulders before she reached Eleanor.
“You knew he lived.”
“I knew your father believed he lived.”
“Stop talking like a lawyer!”
Eleanor flinched.
I had never seen her flinch.
Daniel released Mom.
Eleanor sat slowly.
“Your father handled it.”
Daniel’s voice was shaking.
“Handled what?”
“The boy was very ill.”
“Samuel.”
She looked at him.
“Yes. Samuel.”
Mom’s face twisted with pain.
Eleanor continued.
“The doctors believed he might survive, but there were concerns about long-term complications.”
“What complications?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I didn’t ask.”
Mom laughed through tears.
“Of course you didn’t.”
Eleanor looked at her.
“Your situation was unstable.”
“My situation was unstable because your husband destroyed it.”
“He believed one premature child would already be more than you could manage.”
Daniel slammed his fist against the wall.
I screamed.
He froze.
“Sophie.”
Mom hugged me.
Daniel looked horrified by himself.
“I’m sorry.”
He stepped away.
Eleanor’s voice softened.
“Your father arranged for the boy to be transferred.”
“To where?” Rebecca asked.
“A private neonatal unit.”
“Which hospital?”
“I don’t remember.”
Rebecca didn’t believe her.
Neither did I.
Mom stepped closer.
“Why was I told he died?”
Eleanor looked at the floor.
“Because your father believed it was kinder.”
Mom stared at her.
“Kinder?”
“He believed attachment would make the separation impossible.”
For one second, Mom simply stood there.
Then she slapped Eleanor.
The sound cracked across the room.
Nobody moved.
Mom’s entire body shook.
“You told a mother her newborn baby was dead because it was easier for you?”
Eleanor touched her cheek.
“Yes.”
Daniel looked at his mother with horror.
“You knew?”
“Not until afterward.”
“And you did nothing?”
“What could I do?”
“Tell Emily!”
“Your father threatened to destroy Daniel’s inheritance and remove him from the company.”
Daniel laughed in disbelief.
“So you protected my money.”
“I protected your future.”
“You buried my son alive in our lives.”
Eleanor’s eyes filled.
For the first time, she looked old.
“I was a coward.”
Mom’s anger didn’t move.
“Where is he?”
“I truly don’t know.”
“Who adopted him?”
“I don’t know that either.”
Daniel leaned over the table.
“You expect us to believe Father arranged this without telling you anything?”
“He told me the child was placed with a suitable family.”
“What family?”
“I never asked.”
Mom whispered, “You never asked where your grandson went?”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
“No.”
I hated her then.
Not because she had fancy clothes.
Not because she had lawyers.
Because somewhere I might have a brother who grew up thinking we didn’t want him.
And she had never even asked his name.
Rebecca took over.
“What attorney handled the adoption?”
“Charles Fenwick.”
Rebecca wrote it down.
“Still alive?”
“Yes.”
“Still practicing?”
“No.”
“Where is he?”
Eleanor hesitated.
Daniel saw it.
“Tell her.”
“Connecticut.”
“Address?”
“I don’t know.”
Rebecca was already typing.
“I’ll find him.”
Eleanor stood.
Daniel said, “Sit down.”
She stared at him.
“I answered you.”
“You haven’t answered why you filed for Sophie.”
Eleanor’s face closed again.
“I was afraid Emily would disappear.”
Mom laughed.
“So you tried to take my daughter?”
“I thought if Daniel discovered Sophie, history would repeat itself.”
“What history?”
“My son throwing away everything for you.”
Daniel stared at her.
“That’s what this is still about?”
“You don’t understand the responsibilities you carry.”
“I understand them better than you.”
Eleanor picked up her purse.
“You believe that now.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“No. I know it.”
His voice became calm.
“I’m resigning as CEO tomorrow.”
Eleanor froze.
Mom’s eyes widened.
Rebecca said, “Daniel.”
He continued.
“I’m also removing myself from the family trust committees.”
“You cannot.”
“I can.”
“You would destroy your career over this?”
“My career was built on a lie.”
“Thousands of employees depend on that company.”
“Then the board will appoint someone else.”
“You’re acting irrationally.”
“No.”
He looked toward me.
“For the first time in eight years, I know exactly what matters.”
I didn’t know how to feel.
Mom did.
“Don’t use Sophie to punish your mother.”
Daniel turned.
“I’m not.”
“You don’t need to burn down your life.”
“It was never mine if they controlled it with fear.”
Eleanor stared at him.
Then she looked at me.
“You have no idea what your existence is going to cost.”
Daniel exploded.
“Get out.”
I flinched.
Eleanor realized what she had said.
“Sophie, I didn’t mean—”
“Get out!”
She left.
Daniel stood trembling.
Mom walked to him.
Not close enough to touch.
But closer than before.
“You scared her.”
He looked at me.
“I know.”
“You can’t keep shouting.”
“I know.”
“She’s had enough adults losing control around her.”
Daniel nodded.
“You’re right.”
He crouched in front of me.
“I’m sorry, Sophie.”
I stared at him.
“Are you really quitting your job?”
“Yes.”
“Because of me?”
“No.”
I waited.
“Because of me.”
He pointed at his own chest.
“Because I should have stopped letting my family decide what mattered a long time ago.”
I thought about that.
“Okay.”
Then Rebecca’s laptop chimed.
She looked at the screen.
“I found Charles Fenwick.”
Everyone moved closer.
An old professional directory listed his home address.
Daniel grabbed his coat.
“We’re going now.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“It’s after midnight.”
“I don’t care.”
Mom did.
“Sophie needs sleep.”
“I’m coming.”
Mom looked at me.
“No.”
“He’s my brother.”
“Sophie—”
“If Samuel is alive, he’s my brother.”
Daniel looked at Mom.
She closed her eyes.
Then sighed.
“We go in the morning.”
At seven, we drove to Connecticut.
Fenwick lived in a quiet house surrounded by tall trees.
Daniel knocked.
No answer.
He knocked again.
Finally the door opened.
An elderly man stared at him.
Then at Mom.
His face changed instantly.
“Emily Carter.”
Mom went rigid.
“You remember me.”
Fenwick looked at me.
His hand began shaking.
“Oh, God.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Where is Samuel?”
Fenwick’s eyes filled with fear.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“Where is my son?”
Fenwick tried to close the door.
Daniel stopped it with one hand.
“Answer me.”
Fenwick looked past us toward the road.
“You were followed.”
We all turned.
A black sedan was parked near the corner.
The second we looked at it, the engine started.
It sped away.
Fenwick whispered:
“They know you found me.”
Then he opened the door.
“Get inside.”
We entered.
He locked it behind us.
Mom stared at him.
“Is Samuel alive?”
Fenwick looked directly at her.
“He was when I last saw him.”
Mom nearly fell.
Daniel caught her.
I stopped breathing.
Fenwick walked to a desk.
He opened a drawer.
Inside was an old envelope.
He placed it on the table.
“Your father made me swear this would never come out.”
Daniel tore it open.
There was one photograph.
A baby wrapped in a blue blanket.
On the back, someone had written:
SAMUEL — 3 WEEKS OLD.
Mom touched the picture with trembling fingers.
“My baby.”
Fenwick looked at her.
“He was adopted by a couple in Westchester.”
“Names,” Daniel demanded.
Fenwick swallowed.
“Robert and Claire Bennett.”
Rebecca wrote them down.
“Where are they now?”
Fenwick’s face went strange.
“Claire died four years ago.”
“And Robert?”
“He disappeared.”
Mom stared.
“What about Samuel?”
Fenwick looked at me.
Then back at Mom.
“The boy’s name was changed.”
“To what?”
Fenwick hesitated.
Daniel slammed his palm onto the desk.
“What is his name?”
Fenwick whispered:
“Noah Bennett.”
My knees nearly gave out.
I knew that name.
Mom saw my face.
“Sophie?”
I couldn’t speak.
Daniel crouched beside me.
“What?”
I stared at the photograph.
May you like
Then at him.
“Noah Bennett goes to my school.”
