Chapter 2
I opened the envelope while three hundred people watched.
Inside were two documents.
The first was a certified copy of Noah's birth certificate.
My name appeared as his father.
Nia's name appeared as his mother.
That part wasn't surprising.
I'd always known who gave birth to my son.
It was the second document that made my hands tremble.
A hospital discharge summary.
Dated four years earlier.
The day after Noah was born.
According to the record, Nia had been transferred to another medical facility following serious complications.
Not discharged voluntarily.
Not released after signing away parental responsibilities.
Transferred because she was critically ill.
I stared at the paper.
"What's this?"
Nia wiped her cheeks.
"Proof that I didn't leave you."
My chest tightened.
Vanessa stepped forward.
"Marcus, don't listen to her!"
I turned.
"Why?"
"Because she's lying!"
Nia's face crumpled.
"For four years, I've been trying to prove what happened."
My mother suddenly sat down.
Claire reached for her arm.
I looked toward them.
"Mom?"
Diane wouldn't meet my eyes.
Something inside me began to crack.
I turned back toward Nia.
"Tell me everything."
She looked at Noah.
Then at the guests.
"Not in front of him."
For the first time that night, someone was thinking about my son's feelings.
I nodded.
Then I handed the microphone to the event coordinator.
"Please ask everyone to continue enjoying the evening. There will be no engagement announcement tonight."
Vanessa gasped.
"Marcus!"
I ignored her.
I turned toward my security director, James.
"Escort us to the private family lounge. Nobody enters without my permission."
James nodded.
A few minutes later, I sat across from Nia in a quiet room overlooking the gardens.
Noah sat on her lap.
He refused to release her hand.
Vanessa paced near the door.
Diane and Claire sat silently beside the fireplace.
I looked at Nia.
"Start from the beginning."
She took a shaky breath.
"I remember going into labor."
I nodded.
I remembered too.
I'd rushed her to the hospital in the middle of a thunderstorm.
We'd been excited.
Terrified.
Completely unprepared for how quickly our lives were about to change.
Nia continued.
"After Noah was born, I started bleeding badly."
My chest tightened.
"I know."
"The doctors took me into surgery."
I nodded.
I'd been told she was stable afterward.
That she'd recovered.
That she left the hospital while I was attending a meeting about Noah's care.
Nia looked at me.
"I was unconscious for almost two weeks."
I froze.
"What?"
She began crying.
"When I woke up, they told me my baby was dead."
The room became silent.
I couldn't move.
Nia continued.
"They said he suffered complications after birth."
I stared at her.
"Noah was healthy."
"I know that now."
Her voice broke.
"But I didn't know it then."
I looked toward Vanessa.
She had stopped pacing.
Nia continued.
"I asked to see him. They told me he'd already been transferred for burial arrangements."
My stomach twisted.
"Who told you that?"
She looked toward Claire.
"Someone working with the hospital's patient services office."
Claire turned pale.
I stared at her.
"What does Claire have to do with this?"
Nia looked down.
"She was there when I woke up."
I felt sick.
Claire had been a longtime family attorney.
She was also Vanessa's mother.
For years, she'd handled legal matters for our family.
At the time of Noah's birth, she had been helping my mother manage estate paperwork.
I looked at Claire.
"Is that true?"
She swallowed.
"I visited Nia."
"Why?"
"Because your mother asked me to."
I turned toward Diane.
My mother began crying.
I felt my heart hammering.
Nia continued.
"Claire gave me paperwork saying Noah had died."
I stared at her.
"Do you still have it?"
She nodded.
"Copies."
She reached into her apron again.
Then handed me another folded document.
It described a neonatal death.
But something about the form looked wrong.
The hospital logo was slightly distorted.
The attending physician's signature was difficult to read.
And the medical record number didn't match Noah's birth certificate.
I looked up.
"Who prepared this?"
Claire opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Then Nia whispered, "I buried an empty memory for four years, Marcus."
Her voice broke.
"I never got to hold my son again."
Noah looked up at her.
"Mommy, don't cry."
She hugged him tightly.
My chest felt as though it were being torn apart.
I knelt beside them.
"Noah, buddy, can you go with Aunt Angela for a few minutes?"
My sister had been waiting outside.
She entered and gently took his hand.
He looked frightened.
"Mommy's staying?"
Nia nodded through her tears.
"I'm right here, sweetheart."
He looked toward me.
"Daddy?"
I swallowed.
"Nobody is taking either of you away tonight."
He smiled faintly.
Then he followed Angela.
The moment the door closed, I turned toward Claire.
"Tell me why Nia was told Noah died."
Claire's face hardened.
"Marcus, you need to calm down."
I stared at her.
"Answer me."
Vanessa stepped between us.
"You're not thinking clearly."
I looked at her.
Then something occurred to me.
Four years earlier, Vanessa had been my closest friend.
She helped care for Noah after his birth.
She was there when I received the letter supposedly written by Nia.
She comforted me through months of grief.
And two years later, we began dating.
I slowly turned toward her.
"Vanessa, did you know Nia was alive?"
Her lips parted.
I waited.
Then Diane whispered something from the sofa.
"She knew."
Everything stopped.
Vanessa turned sharply.
"DIANE!"
My mother covered her face.
I stared at her.
"What did you say?"
Diane began sobbing.
"Vanessa knew where Nia was."
I felt my knees weaken.
For four years, I'd believed the mother of my child abandoned him.
And the woman I was about to marry had known the truth.
I looked at Vanessa.
She was shaking.
Then I asked the question that would haunt me for months.
"Did you help make me believe Nia left us?"
Vanessa looked toward Claire.
Then toward my mother.
May you like
Nobody spoke.
And suddenly, I knew the answer.
