Chapter 7 - Michael Was Born With Another Name
Samuel’s tape was thirty-one minutes long.
Diane cried through much of it.
Twenty-eight years earlier, she had been involved in an affair.
Not with Edward.
With Thomas Carter.
Jennifer stared at the transcript.
“My mother and Thomas?”
Yes.
Diane became pregnant.
At almost the same time, Margaret was pregnant too.
Diane gave birth first.
A son.
The baby developed serious complications and remained hospitalized.
Margaret delivered Michael several weeks later.
Nothing about that alone connected the children.
Then Diane said something that silenced the room.
THOMAS THINKS HIS SON DIED.
Robert stopped reading.
Jennifer whispered, “What?”
Diane explained that her baby survived.
Edward discovered the affair and used it to control her.
He threatened to expose Thomas’s child and destroy Diane’s marriage to
Samuel.
Diane began helping Edward move money.
Samuel eventually discovered both the financial transfers and the
affair.
He forgave Diane privately but began collecting evidence against Edward.
The baby had been adopted through a private arrangement after Diane
suffered a breakdown.
Thomas was told the child died.
Jennifer covered her mouth.
“Where is he?”
Nobody knew.
Then Robert remembered why Thomas had returned.
Perhaps he did.
They contacted him.
Thomas agreed to come to Robert’s house.
When he arrived, Michael stared at the uncle he had been told was dead.
Thomas was seventy-one now, broad-shouldered and gray-haired.
He looked at Jennifer first.
“You have Diane’s eyes.”
Jennifer began crying.
Thomas hugged her awkwardly.
Then Michael asked:
“Where is your son?”
Thomas looked at Margaret.
“I came here because I finally found him.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
Michael felt something shift inside him.
“Who?”
Thomas did not answer immediately.
Instead, he removed an old hospital bracelet from his coat.
INFANT MALE WALSH.
Below the name was a date.
Michael’s birthday.
Michael stared.
“That’s impossible.”
Thomas looked at Robert.
“No.”
Robert’s face had gone white.
Thomas continued.
“Michael was born three weeks earlier than the date on his birth
certificate.”
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And suddenly nobody was asking where Thomas’s missing son was.
They were looking at Michael.
