Chapter 8
Everyone stared at me.
Mom spoke first.
“What do you mean?”
“He’s in fourth grade.”
Daniel’s face went pale.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“Noah Bennett?”
“Yes.”
Fenwick dropped into a chair.
“Oh, God.”
I kept talking because once I started, I couldn’t stop.
“He eats lunch near the library sometimes.”
Mom crouched in front of me.
“Have you spoken to him?”
“A few times.”
“What does he look like?”
I thought about Noah.
Dark brown hair.
Blue-gray eyes.
A serious face.
He was older than me by one grade, but not by much.
“He kind of looks like…”
I looked at Daniel.
Everybody understood.
Daniel covered his mouth.
Mom sat on the floor.
Tears poured down her face.
Rebecca immediately took out her phone.
“We cannot approach him without understanding his legal guardianship.”
Mom looked up.
“He’s my son.”
“Biologically, probably. Legally, we need records.”
“Someone stole him from me.”
“And if he has lived for eight years believing someone else is his family, we need to protect him too.”
Mom’s face crumpled.
That was the first thing anyone said that slowed her down.
Because she knew Rebecca was right.
Samuel might be Samuel to us.
But he had been Noah his entire life.
He had memories.
Friends.
A bedroom.
Someone who tucked him in.
Someone he called Dad.
Daniel turned to Fenwick.
“Who has custody now?”
Fenwick shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“Find out.”
“I’ve been retired for years.”
“You helped create this.”
Fenwick closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Daniel leaned closer.
“So help fix it.”
Fenwick nodded slowly.
“There was an alternate guardian listed in the adoption papers.”
“Who?”
“Claire’s sister.”
“Name?”
“Margaret Shaw.”
Rebecca searched quickly.
“There’s a Margaret Shaw in Queens.”
Mom stood.
“Queens?”
Rebecca nodded.
“Same age range. Public school employee.”
My stomach twisted.
“What school?”
Rebecca looked at me.
Then at Mom.
She turned the laptop.
Margaret Shaw.
Administrative assistant.
My school.
Mom whispered, “No.”
Everything connected at once.
Noah was not at my school by accident.
Someone had placed him close to me.
Or kept him there.
Daniel stared at Fenwick.
“Did Margaret know the adoption was illegal?”
“I don’t know.”
“You say that a lot.”
“Because your father controlled every detail.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
Rebecca looked at Fenwick.
“We need a sworn statement.”
Fear returned to his face.
“No.”
“You just admitted participating in a concealed adoption.”
“I did not know Emily had been told the child died.”
Mom stared at him.
“You never asked?”
Fenwick looked ashamed.
“No.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Apparently nobody in my family asks questions when money tells them not to.”
We drove back to New York.
Mom barely spoke.
She stared at the baby photograph the entire way.
I kept thinking about Noah.
I remembered him lending me an eraser once.
I remembered him standing up for a first grader when two older boys were teasing him.
I remembered thinking his eyes looked familiar.
Now I knew why.
When we reached the school, Rebecca told us to remain in the car.
She went inside with a court investigator she had contacted.
Mom lasted four minutes.
Then she opened the door.
Daniel stopped her.
“Emily.”
“My son is in there.”
“I know.”
“Move.”
“We need to do this carefully.”
“You didn’t carry him.”
Daniel’s face broke.
“No.”
“You didn’t hear a nurse tell you he was dead.”
“No.”
“You didn’t bury an empty box.”
I gasped.
Daniel froze.
Mom covered her mouth.
She hadn’t meant to say that in front of me.
“You had a funeral?”
Daniel whispered.
Mom nodded through tears.
“The hospital said his body had already been transferred to a funeral service.”
“And?”
“The funeral director said because of his size and condition, viewing wasn’t recommended.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“You buried a coffin.”
“Yes.”
“Was he inside?”
“I don’t know anymore.”
Daniel leaned his forehead against the seat.
For once, he had no words.
I reached for Mom’s hand.
She grabbed mine.
Then the school doors opened.
Rebecca came out.
A woman followed.
Margaret Shaw.
I knew her.
She worked in the front office.
She had given me stickers when I forgot my lunch card.
Now she saw our car.
Her face changed.
Rebecca spoke to her.
Margaret shook her head.
Then she looked directly at me.
She started crying.
Mom opened the car door.
This time Daniel didn’t stop her.
Margaret approached slowly.
“Emily?”
Mom stood on the sidewalk.
“Where is he?”
Margaret wiped her cheeks.
“He’s in class.”
“Does he know?”
“No.”
“Does he know he’s adopted?”
“Yes.”
“Does he know about me?”
Margaret shook her head.
“No.”
Mom’s knees weakened.
Daniel caught her elbow.
Margaret looked at him.
“You must be Daniel.”
He nodded.
She laughed sadly.
“Noah has your hands.”
Daniel looked down at his own hands.
Then away.
Mom’s voice shook.
“Who are you to him?”
“His aunt.”
“His legal guardian?”
“Yes.”
“Since Claire died?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to Robert?”
Margaret hesitated.
“He left before Claire died.”
“Why?”
“He discovered something about the adoption.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“What?”
“He found payments.”
“What payments?”
“Annual deposits from a private Whitmore trust.”
Mom’s face hardened.
“How much?”
“Fifty thousand dollars every year.”
Daniel swore.
Margaret continued.
“Robert became convinced someone had bought Noah.”
“They did,” Mom said.
Margaret’s face crumpled.
“Claire didn’t know.”
Mom stared at her.
“What?”
“She believed the adoption was legitimate.”
Fenwick, standing near Rebecca, looked down.
Margaret pointed at him.
“You told my sister the birth mother voluntarily surrendered him.”
Fenwick whispered, “That was what I was instructed to say.”
Mom moved toward him.
Daniel caught her gently.
“Emily.”
She shook him off.
Margaret continued.
“When Robert found the trust payments, he confronted Charles.”
Fenwick looked sick.
“He threatened to expose everything.”
“What happened?” Rebecca asked.
“He disappeared two weeks later.”
Silence.
“Did you report it?”
“Yes.”
“Police?”
“Yes.”
“What did they find?”
“His car at Newark Airport. They assumed he left voluntarily.”
Margaret’s voice cracked.
“Claire never believed it.”
Daniel looked at Fenwick.
“Did my father have something to do with Robert disappearing?”
“No.”
Too fast.
Everyone heard it.
Daniel grabbed Fenwick’s jacket.
“Tell me.”
Rebecca stepped between them.
“Daniel, stop.”
Fenwick stumbled backward.
“I don’t know.”
“Tell me!”
“I heard things!”
“What things?”
“That Robert was paid to leave.”
Margaret stared.
“He abandoned Noah for money?”
“I don’t know.”
She began crying.
“Noah thinks his father didn’t want him.”
My chest tightened.
I knew that feeling.
I had thought the same thing about Daniel.
Maybe Noah and I had grown up carrying the same lie.
A school bell rang.
Children started moving behind the windows.
Mom stared toward the building.
“Can I see him?”
Margaret wiped her face.
“I don’t know.”
“Please.”
“He has no idea his entire life is about to change.”
Mom nodded.
“I won’t tell him.”
Margaret studied her.
Then me.
Finally she whispered, “You can see him from the hallway.”
We entered through a side door.
My heart was pounding so loudly I thought everybody could hear it.
Margaret led us upstairs.
Mom’s hand shook in mine.
Daniel walked behind us.
We stopped outside a classroom window.
Twenty children sat at desks.
I found Noah immediately.
He was writing.
His hair fell over his forehead.
Mom made a sound like she had been punched.
Daniel gripped the doorframe.
Noah looked up.
Maybe he felt us staring.
His eyes moved toward the window.
He saw me first.
He smiled.
Then he saw Mom.
His smile disappeared.
Then Daniel.
His pencil slipped from his hand.
The teacher looked toward the door.
Noah slowly stood.
He stared at Daniel.
Then at Mom.
Then at me.
He walked toward the classroom door.
Margaret whispered, “Oh no.”
The door opened.
Noah stepped into the hallway.
“Sophie?”
“Hi.”
He looked at Mom.
“Why are you crying?”
She tried to answer.
Nothing came out.
Noah looked at Daniel again.
Something changed in his face.
“Who are you?”
Daniel’s throat moved.
Before anyone could answer, a man’s voice shouted from the far end of the hallway.
“Noah!”
Margaret turned.
Her face went white.
A man in a baseball cap stood beside the stairwell.
Noah stared.
Then whispered:
“Dad?”
Margaret gasped.
“Robert?”
The man ran toward us.
Teachers started opening doors.
Robert grabbed Noah’s shoulders.
“We have to go.”
“Dad, where have you been?”
“No time.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“You’re Robert Bennett?”
Robert saw him.
His face filled with terror.
“Oh, hell.”
“What do you know about my son?”
Robert looked at Daniel.
Then at Mom.
He whispered:
“You need to get these children out of here.”
“Why?”
Robert looked toward the staircase.
May you like
“Because Eleanor isn’t the person you should be afraid of.”
Then the fire alarm began screaming.
