Chapter 6 - The Second Child
Jessica stared at Emily.
"What second child?"
Police lights flashed across the abandoned facility.
Lily slept wrapped in a paramedic's blanket inside an ambulance.
Mike stood beside Jessica.
Emily looked as though she wanted to disappear again.
Jessica wouldn't allow it.
"No more secrets."
Emily nodded.
"There were two embryos."
Jessica felt the ground shift.
"Mine?"
"Yes."
"Mike's?"
"Yes."
Mike whispered, "Where's the other one?"
"I don't know."
Jessica stared at her sister.
"You've known for five years?"
"I knew another embryo existed. I never knew what Thomas did with it."
Mike paced away.
Jessica understood immediately what Thomas was doing.
Even cornered, he had found another secret capable of pulling them apart.
"Could it have been destroyed?"
Emily shook her head.
"Thomas never destroyed anything valuable."
Jessica looked toward Lily.
"Then somewhere there's another child."
"Maybe."
"No maybes."
Emily touched her arm.
"Jess—"
"No. You don't get to disappear behind uncertainty anymore."
Emily accepted that.
"You're right."
The police searched the facility.
Thomas was gone.
Claire was found alive at Mike's apartment less than an hour later.
Nobody had physically harmed her.
Thomas had wanted fear.
And he'd succeeded.
By morning, federal investigators had become involved.
The clinic records showed interstate financial crimes, identity fraud, illegal reproductive procedures, and falsified medical documentation.
Jessica gave statements.
Mike gave statements.
Claire gave everything.
For the first time, nobody protected the Bennett name.
Three days later, Jessica sat with Lily in a quiet hotel suite.
Emily had stepped out to speak with investigators.
Lily colored at the table.
Jessica watched her.
"Why are you staring at me?" Lily asked.
Jessica smiled.
"Because you're pretty amazing."
Lily considered that.
"Mom says I'm stubborn."
"That's probably genetic."
"From you?"
Jessica laughed.
"Possibly."
Lily returned to coloring.
Then she asked, "Are you really my mommy?"
Jessica's throat tightened.
"Biologically, yes."
"What does biologically mean?"
Jessica moved beside her.
"It means part of you came from me and part came from Mike."
"Uncle Mike?"
Jessica hesitated.
"We probably need to stop calling him Uncle Mike."
Lily giggled.
Jessica smiled.
"Emily carried you in her tummy and raised you."
"So she's Mommy too."
"Absolutely."
Lily thought.
"Can I have two?"
Jessica's eyes filled.
"You can have as many people loving you as you want."
Lily leaned against her.
Jessica kissed her hair.
A knock came.
Mike entered.
He looked exhausted.
Lily waved.
"Hi, Dad."
Mike stopped.
Jessica's eyebrows rose.
Lily shrugged.
"Aunt Emily explained."
Mike sat down slowly.
"Hi, Lily."
She returned to coloring.
Mike looked at Jessica.
"I wasn't ready for that."
"Neither was I."
He almost smiled.
Then his expression changed.
"They found the second embryo record."
Jessica sat straighter.
"And?"
"It was implanted."
Her heart accelerated.
"When?"
"Five years ago."
"Who?"
Mike handed her a document.
Surrogate patient name: Sarah Whitmore.
Jessica recognized the surname.
"Claire's sister?"
Mike nodded.
"Sarah died four years ago."
Jessica remembered Claire mentioning a sister once.
Cancer, she'd said.
No children.
Apparently another lie.
"Did she give birth?"
"Yes."
Jessica stared.
"Where's the child?"
"That's the problem."
The birth records had been sealed.
The infant was registered under another surname.
Investigators were tracing it.
Emily entered.
She saw the document.
"You found Sarah."
Claire followed her.
Jessica stood.
"You knew?"
Claire nodded.
"I suspected."
"Did your sister carry my child?"
Claire began crying.
"Yes."
Jessica's anger surged.
"Where is that child?"
"I don't know."
"How can you not know?"
"Thomas took him."
Him.
Jessica caught the word.
"A boy?"
Claire nodded.
"He was born six weeks before Lily."
Mike looked sick.
"What's his name?"
"Daniel."
Jessica closed her eyes.
A daughter.
A son.
Both stolen from them before they even knew they existed.
"Why did you stay silent?"
Claire looked at Mike.
"Because Thomas told me Daniel died."
"Did you believe him?"
"For years."
"And now?"
Claire reached into her purse.
She removed a photograph.
A boy around seven stood outside a school.
Dark hair.
Mike's eyes.
Jessica's chin.
The resemblance was undeniable.
"This arrived yesterday."
On the back:
HE'S ALIVE.
Jessica sat.
"Where was this taken?"
"Investigators identified the school."
Mike leaned forward.
"Where?"
"Virginia."
Jessica stood immediately.
"We're going."
Federal agents objected.
Jessica didn't care.
Eventually a plan was arranged.
The school confirmed a boy matching the photograph.
His registered name was Daniel Carter.
His guardian was listed as Thomas Carter.
Thomas.
They had found him.
Or he wanted to be found.
The following morning, Jessica, Mike, Emily, and two federal agents arrived in Virginia.
Lily remained safely with Jessica's parents, who were still processing the miraculous return of one daughter and arrival of a granddaughter.
The school principal met them.
"Daniel was picked up yesterday."
Jessica's stomach dropped.
"By whom?"
"His guardian."
"Where did they go?"
"We don't know."
An agent requested security footage.
They watched Thomas lead Daniel from the building.
The boy appeared comfortable with him.
That hurt in a different way.
Thomas wasn't a stranger to Daniel.
He was his father in every way Daniel understood.
Jessica watched her son disappear into a car.
Then the principal said something.
"Daniel left this."
A backpack.
Inside were books, pencils, a baseball glove.
And a folded drawing.
Jessica opened it.
A family.
A boy.
A man labeled DAD.
And another woman standing far away.
Above her:
THE LADY IN MY DREAM.
The woman had long dark hair.
A blue dress.
Jessica's breath caught.
Mike saw it.
"That's you."
"How?"
Nobody knew.
An agent searched the backpack.
A phone had been sewn into the lining.
It rang.
Jessica answered.
Thomas.
"You found him."
"Where is Daniel?"
"Safe."
"Stop saying that."
"He loves me."
Jessica couldn't deny that might be true.
"You stole him."
"I raised him."
"You stole him from me."
"You didn't know he existed."
"Because of you."
Thomas paused.
"Do you want to see him?"
"Yes."
"Then come alone."
Jessica almost laughed.
"We've done this."
"This time I'm not threatening anyone."
"Why should I believe you?"
"Because Daniel is asking about you."
Jessica's chest tightened.
"Why?"
"Because he's seen your photograph his entire life."
"What photograph?"
"The one Richard kept."
Jessica remembered Richard had loved her.
Perhaps he'd kept family photographs.
"Where?"
Thomas gave an address.
Then he said:
"Jessica, there's one thing you need to understand before you come."
"What?"
"Daniel believes you're the reason his real mother died."
Jessica stopped breathing.
May you like
Thomas continued.
"And he's been waiting five years to ask you why you killed her."
