Chapter 8 - Margaret Comes Begging
The man wasn't Ethan.
He introduced himself as Daniel Reeves.
Anna's older brother.
Their mother had left him a key too.
Locker 317 required both.
Suddenly Margaret's game became clear.
She wanted the truth found, but she didn't trust any one person with it.
Daniel and I flew to Santa Fe the next morning.
Inside the station, locker 317 contained no money.
No jewelry.
Only a metal document case and an old digital recorder.
We played the recording.
Richard Parker's voice filled the small room.
Ethan's father confessed.
He and Margaret had arranged the embryo theft.
But Ethan had discovered part of the plan the night Lily was born.
He had seen his mother speaking with Patricia.
He knew Margaret had interfered with our fertility records.
He didn't know Noah would eventually be created from the embryo.
But he knew enough to suspect.
And he said nothing.
For twelve years.
I sat motionless.
That was Ethan's real secret.
Not participation.
Silence.
Again.
Always silence.
When I returned to Boise, he was waiting.
“You knew.”
His shoulders dropped.
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Not everything.”
“Enough.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I was afraid.”
“Of your mother?”
“Of losing everything.”
I laughed bitterly.
“So you let me lose everything instead.”
He didn't defend himself.
“I did.”
There was no excuse left.
And strangely, that made the conversation easier.
I wasn't deciding whether Ethan deserved forgiveness.
I was deciding what access he would have to my daughter from now on.
“That choice belongs partly to Lily.”
“I know.”
“You don't show up because Noah needs her and pretend ten years disappeared.”
“I know.”
“You earn every conversation.”
“Yes.”
“And if she says no?”
“I leave her alone.”
For the first time, I believed him.
Two days before Lily's donation procedure, Margaret appeared at the hospital.
Police had been looking for her.
She walked directly toward me.
Then she did something I never expected.
She knelt.
Not theatrically.
Not gracefully.
An old woman simply lowered herself onto the hospital floor.
“Please.”
I looked down at her.
“Get up.”
“I destroyed this family.”
“Yes.”
“I thought a son would preserve it.”
“And instead?”
She looked toward Noah's room.
“I poisoned everything I touched.”
Lily arrived.
Margaret froze.
My daughter looked at her grandmother.
“You told Mom you didn't care if I died.”
Margaret's face twisted.
“Yes.”
“Now you need me.”
“Yes.”
“That's pretty awful.”
“Yes.”
Lily surprised us both.
“I'm still helping Noah.”
Margaret sobbed.
“But not because of you.”
“I know.”
“And helping him doesn't mean I forgive you.”
“I know.”
“Then stop begging.”
Margaret slowly stood.
Detectives approached behind her.
She didn't run.
Before they took her away, she looked at me.
“There is one thing you still don't know.”
I almost laughed.
There was always one more thing.
“What?”
“Vanessa didn't discover the embryo records by accident.”
I looked toward Noah's room.
“Then how?”
Margaret glanced at Ethan.
“He gave them to her.”
Ethan went still.
Vanessa appeared behind him.
Her face drained of color.
Margaret continued.
“He wanted her to find them.”
“Why?” I asked.
Ethan stepped forward.
“Because I needed someone else to expose what I was too cowardly to confess.”
Vanessa stared at him.
“You used me?”
“No.”
“You planted those records?”
“Yes.”
She slapped him.
The sound echoed through the corridor.
Then Noah's monitor alarm began screaming.
Every face turned.
Nurses ran.
Vanessa rushed toward his room.
A doctor blocked the doorway.
“His pressure is falling.”
Lily grabbed my hand.
Dr. Mercer appeared seconds later.
He looked directly at us.
May you like
“We may not have two days anymore.”
Then the crash cart rolled through Noah's door.
