Chapter 3: The Woman Who Knew My Real Birthday
I had never heard the name Rebecca spoken in our house.
Not once.
Yet the moment my mother said it, Daniel looked as if someone had struck him.
My father, on the other hand, looked furious.
“Don't bring her into this,” he said.
My mother backed away from him.
“You said she was gone.””
“She is gone.””
“Michael, you told me she left the country!””
“She did.””
Daniel let out a bitter laugh.
“That's what you told Laura? That Rebecca disappeared?””
My father pointed at him.
“Get out.””
“No.””
“I said get out of my house!””
“And I said no.””
For the first time that night, Daniel looked less like a frightened man and more like someone who had spent seventeen years waiting to confront an enemy.
I stood beside the hall table, gripping Elena's letter.
“Who is Rebecca?””
My mother didn't answer.
“Mom.””
She looked at me.
“Rebecca was a nurse at St. Mary's Hospital.””
“What did she do?””
“She was there the night you were born.””
I glanced at the hospital bracelet.
“Did she help Dad change my birthday?””
My mother shut her eyes.
“I don't know.””
Daniel shook his head.
“You do know, Laura.””
“Stop it!””
“You signed those papers. You were there when Elena begged you not to take her child.””
My mother covered her ears.
“Stop!””
I had never seen her like this.
My mother was the woman who could calmly handle a burst pipe, a lost wallet, a broken oven, and a dozen guests arriving early for Thanksgiving dinner. She could settle any argument with a soft voice and a carefully chosen sentence.
But now she looked like she was being dragged backward through a memory she had spent years trying to escape.
I stepped closer.
“Did Elena know you?””
My mother lowered her hands.
“Yes.””
“Did she know you were raising me?””
“Yes.””
“Did she give me to you?””
My mother began to cry again.
“No,” she whispered.
“Not the way you think.””
The words hit me harder than a simple confession would have.
“What does that mean?””
She looked at Michael.
He stared at her with a warning in his eyes.
For the first time in my life, I watched my mother ignore him.
“Elena wanted to make an arrangement,” she said.
“She wanted you to have two families. She wanted you to know who your father was and who your mother was. She wanted me to help her because she was frightened and alone.””
“Why was she frightened?””
My mother shook her head.
“Because of Michael.””
My father stepped forward.
“That's enough.””
“No!”” Laura shouted.
The sound startled all of us.
She turned toward him, her face wet with tears.
“You've had seventeen years to tell her. Seventeen years! And every time I asked whether we should tell her the truth, you said we would destroy her life.””
“You were there too, Laura.””
The accusation silenced her.
My father looked at me.
“Your mother isn't innocent in this.””
I felt the floor shift beneath me.
“What did she do?””
He didn't answer.
I looked at her.
“Mom?””
She wiped her cheeks with trembling fingers.
“I signed the documents,” she whispered.
“I knew the adoption hadn't been finalized. I knew Elena hadn't given up her rights.””
I stepped away from her.
“You knew?””
“I thought we could fix it later. I thought if Elena saw how happy you were with us, she would agree to let you stay.””
“You thought?””
“I was twenty-three, Emily. I had lost two babies. I was desperate to be a mother, and Michael told me everything would be legal.””
“Did you ever meet Elena?””
My mother looked down.
“Yes.””
“When?””
“Three days before she died.””
Daniel turned toward her.
“You never told me that.””
“I was ashamed.””
“What happened?”” I asked.
My mother sat down on the bottom step.
She stared at her hands as though she were seeing them for the first time.
“Elena came to the house. She wanted to see you. You were a newborn. Michael told me she was dangerous, that she had been unstable since the delivery.””
My father scoffed.
“She was unstable.””
Laura looked up sharply.
“She was holding a teddy bear. She had brought it for you. She stood on our porch in the rain and asked to hold her baby.””
I couldn't stop the tears now.
“What did you do?””
My mother pressed her palms together.
“I told her you were asleep.””
“Was I?””
“No.””
The answer came out so quietly I almost didn't hear it.
“Where was I?””
“In my arms.””
I looked away.
She continued.
“Elena begged me. She said she wasn't asking me to give you up. She said she only wanted to hold you for a few minutes. She said she would never forgive herself if you grew up thinking she hadn't wanted you.””
My throat tightened.
“What did you tell her?””
My mother began to sob.
“I told her to leave.””
The room fell silent.
I could hear the refrigerator humming in the kitchen.
A car passed outside, its headlights sliding across the curtains.
Ordinary sounds.
An ordinary house.
An ordinary family.
Nothing about us had ever been ordinary.
“Why?”” I whispered.
My mother looked at me with red, exhausted eyes.
“Because I was afraid that if I let her hold you, I would never be able to give you back.””
I couldn't bear to look at her.
I turned toward the staircase and climbed three steps before stopping.
“Did you know she was going to die?””
“No,” Laura said immediately.
“I swear to you, Emily. I didn't know.””
“Did Dad?””
My mother looked at Michael.
He said nothing.
That silence was becoming his most honest answer.
I returned to the hallway.
“Where is Rebecca now?””
My father rubbed his jaw.
“I have no idea.””
Daniel took out his phone.
“I found her last month.””
My father went still.
“You what?””
“She's living in Pennsylvania. She changed her last name, but I tracked her down.””
“Why didn't you tell me?””
“Because every time I tried to get answers from you, you threatened to ruin my business.””
Michael's face darkened.
“You're lying.””
“Am I?””
Daniel pulled up a photograph.
It showed an older woman standing outside a small brick house. She had short gray hair, thin glasses, and a silver necklace shaped like a cross.
I leaned closer.
Something about her face seemed familiar, though I couldn't say why.
“That's Rebecca?””
“Yes.””
“What did she tell you?””
Daniel hesitated.
“She said Elena was alive when the ambulance arrived.””
My father looked away.
I felt my stomach turn.
“But you said Elena died on October 19.””
“She did,” Daniel replied.
“At the hospital.””
“Then what does that mean?””
He glanced at Michael.
“It means the official report may not tell the whole story.””
My father walked toward the front door.
“This conversation is over.””
Daniel stepped in front of him.
“Not until you explain the second birth certificate.””
I stopped breathing.
“The what?””
My father froze.
Daniel took a photocopy from his coat pocket.
It was another birth certificate.
My name appeared at the top.
Emily Elena Hayes.
The date of birth was October 19, 2009.
The hospital was St. Mary's.
And under the section marked Mother, there was Elena Hayes's full name.
Under Father, however, the space was blank.
I looked at Michael.
“Why are there two birth certificates?””
He stared at the paper.
“Because the original was replaced.””
“By who?””
He didn't answer.
Daniel pointed to the lower corner.
“Look at the authorization.””
I leaned closer.
A signature appeared beside the hospital administrator's stamp.
*Rebecca Mills.*
The nurse.
The woman who knew what happened on the night Elena died.
My mother reached for the paper, but I pulled it away.
“Don't.””
She stopped.
I examined the certificate again.
The ink was faded, and the photocopy was grainy. Still, I could read a handwritten note in the margin.
Amended at the request of the legal guardian.
Below it was a name.
Michael Carter.
I felt sick.
“You changed my identity.””
My father shook his head.
“I changed a document.””
“You changed my identity!””
“I gave you a home!””
“You gave me a fake birthday!””
His face twisted.
“I raised you. I paid for your school, your clothes, your future. I was there every time you needed me.””
“And what did you do when my real mother needed you?””
He looked at me.
For a second, I thought he might finally tell me everything.
Instead, he said, “You don't understand what Elena was capable of.””
Daniel stepped forward.
“She was capable of loving her daughter.””
Michael's jaw tightened.
“She was capable of destroying everything.””
“Everything?”” I repeated.
“What does that mean?””
My father stared at me for a long moment.
Then he turned to Laura.
“Tell her what happened after Elena left our house.””
My mother's face drained of color.
“No.””
“Tell her.””
She shook her head.
“Michael, please.””
“Tell her about the phone call.””
I looked between them.
“What phone call?””
My mother pressed her fingers to her lips.
Then she whispered, “Elena called me that night.””
I stepped closer.
“What did she say?””
“She said she was going to the police. She said she had proof that Michael had lied about the adoption.””
My father closed his eyes.
Laura continued.
“She asked me to bring you to her. She said she wanted to leave town before Michael could stop her.””
“What did you do?””
My mother began to tremble.
“I told her I would help.””
Daniel stared at her.
“You did?””
“Yes.””
I could barely hear my own voice.
“Did you take me to her?””
My mother looked at the floor.
“No.””
“Why not?””
“Because Michael took my car keys. He said if I left the house, he would make sure I never saw you again.””
My father slammed his fist against the wall.
“That's not what happened!””
“Then tell her what happened!”” Laura screamed.
“Tell her why you came home with blood on your shirt!””
The room went silent.
I stared at my father.
Blood?
He looked at his hands.
Then at Daniel.
Then at me.
For the first time, I saw something in his face that I had never seen before.
Not anger.
Not fear of being exposed.
Recognition.
As though the past had finally caught up with him, and he knew exactly what it was going to ask.
My phone vibrated.
Another message from the unknown number.
Rebecca is on her way to your house. She has the missing hospital recording.
A second message arrived immediately afterward.
But before she gets there, ask Michael why the ambulance didn't reach Elena until forty-seven minutes after the first call.
I slowly raised my eyes.
“Dad?””
He didn't move.
“Why did it take forty-seven minutes for the ambulance to reach Elena?””
My father stared at me.
Then the front door opened behind Daniel.
A woman stood on the porch, soaked by the rain.
Short gray hair.
Thin glasses.
A silver cross around her neck.
Rebecca Mills.
May you like
She looked directly at me.
Then she looked at Michael Carter and said, “I'm sorry, Emily. But your father wasn't the only person who decided your mother had to die.””
