Chapter 9 - THE BABY THEY BURIED WITHOUT A NAME
Nobody spoke.
The silence inside the hidden nursery felt heavier than the walls surrounding them.
Eleanor stood beside Lily, gripping her daughter's hand.
Three babies.
Three identities.
One secret buried for seven years.
Rebecca Hayes looked exhausted.
“I should have told you.”
Eleanor stared at her.
“Then tell me everything.”
Rebecca nodded.
“It began before you gave birth.”
Daniel lowered his head.
Margaret remained silent.
Rebecca continued.
“Abigail Carter arrived at the hospital that same night.”
Eleanor listened.
“She was already in labor.”
“And the third baby?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“That child was born to another woman.”
Eleanor frowned.
“Who?”
Rebecca looked at Margaret.
Margaret finally spoke.
“Her name was Sarah.”
Eleanor waited.
“Sarah who?”
Margaret shook her head.
“Sarah wasn't the mother.”
“Then who was?”
Margaret didn't answer.
Rebecca did.
“The mother was connected to the Whitmore family.”
Eleanor felt a chill.
“How?”
“She worked for them.”
“Like the nanny?”
“No.”
Rebecca's voice became quieter.
“She was the family's financial controller.”
Eleanor looked at Daniel.
“Why would her baby matter?”
Daniel finally spoke.
“Because the baby was born with a rare genetic condition.”
Eleanor stared.
“What condition?”
“One that could expose a family secret.”
Rebecca nodded.
“The baby carried a genetic marker shared by the Whitmore bloodline.”
Eleanor frowned.
“And?”
“Your father-in-law had spent years denying that marker existed.”
Margaret's face tightened.
Rebecca continued.
“Charles Whitmore had an illegitimate child.”
Eleanor's eyes widened.
“Another child?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Rebecca looked at Margaret.
“Abigail.”
Eleanor's heart stopped.
“Abigail was Charles's daughter?”
Margaret's silence confirmed it.
Eleanor looked at Daniel.
“You married your father's daughter?”
Daniel's face went pale.
“No.”
Rebecca interrupted.
“Not biologically.”
Eleanor looked confused.
“Then explain.”
“Abigail believed Charles was her father.”
“But he wasn't?”
“Not biologically.”
Eleanor exhaled.
“Then why did he hide her?”
Rebecca answered.
“Because he believed she could prove that his father had been involved in a financial fraud.”
Eleanor stared.
This family had become more complicated with every answer.
Rebecca continued.
“The third baby was the child of someone who knew the truth.”
“Who?”
Rebecca looked at Eleanor.
“You.”
Eleanor froze.
“What?”
“Before Lily was born, you unknowingly met her mother.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“No.”
“You did.”
“When?”
“During your prenatal appointments.”
Eleanor tried to remember.
Patients.
Nurses.
Doctors.
A woman crying in the hallway.
She remembered.
There had been a woman.
Dark hair.
Pregnant.
She had apologized for crying.
Eleanor had given her a tissue.
“What was her name?”
Rebecca whispered,
“Sarah Bennett.”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
The name sounded familiar.
“What happened to her?”
Rebecca looked down.
“She died during childbirth.”
“And the baby?”
“Survived.”
Eleanor's voice trembled.
“Then where is she?”
Rebecca didn't answer.
Margaret did.
“She was buried.”
Eleanor stared at her.
“What?”
“The baby died.”
Rebecca looked at Margaret.
“That isn't what happened.”
Margaret's expression hardened.
“Enough.”
“No.”
Eleanor stepped forward.
“Tell me the truth.”
Rebecca looked directly at Eleanor.
“The baby was alive.”
Eleanor felt her entire body go numb.
“You buried a living baby?”
“No.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“Margaret took the child.”
Margaret's face turned cold.
“She was dying.”
“You didn't know that.”
“I did.”
“You ordered me to mark the infant as deceased.”
Eleanor's eyes widened.
“You falsified a death record?”
Rebecca nodded.
“Because Margaret told me the child would be safer hidden.”
Eleanor looked at Margaret.
“Where is she?”
Margaret's expression became unreadable.
“She is gone.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
Eleanor's voice rose.
“You know everything.”
Margaret shook her head.
“Not anymore.”
Jonathan stepped forward.
“Then why bring Eleanor here?”
Margaret looked at him.
“Because she deserves the truth.”
Eleanor stared.
“No.”
Margaret frowned.
“What?”
“You didn't bring me here because I deserve the truth.”
Margaret said nothing.
“You brought me here because you need something from me.”
Margaret's eyes narrowed.
Eleanor continued.
“You've been manipulating everyone.”
“You don't understand.”
“I understand enough.”
She pointed toward the hidden nursery.
“You separated children.”
She pointed toward the documents.
“You altered records.”
She pointed toward Daniel.
“You controlled your son.”
Then she looked directly at Margaret.
“And now you're scared.”
Margaret's expression finally cracked.
“Do you know what happens when the truth comes out?”
Eleanor answered,
“Your family loses everything.”
Margaret laughed bitterly.
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“The Whitmore family isn't the only one involved.”
Eleanor frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Margaret looked toward Daniel.
“He knows.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
Margaret smiled.
“You never told her.”
“Told me what?”
Daniel remained silent.
Eleanor turned toward him.
“What?”
He looked broken.
“The third baby wasn't just connected to the Whitmores.”
“Then who?”
Daniel whispered,
“She's connected to your family too.”
Eleanor froze.
“My family?”
“Your father.”
Eleanor's face went pale.
“My father died years ago.”
“I know.”
“What did he have to do with Sarah Bennett?”
Daniel swallowed.
“Everything.”
Eleanor couldn't breathe.
Her father's name had never appeared anywhere in the Whitmore records.
Yet now Daniel was saying he was connected to the third baby.
“How?”
Daniel looked at her.
“Sarah was your father's secret daughter.”
Eleanor stared.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You're lying.”
“I wish I were.”
Rebecca lowered her eyes.
“Your father had a second family.”
Eleanor's mind raced.
She remembered her father's old photographs.
The locked office.
The mysterious woman who used to call the house.
Her mother's anger whenever the subject came up.
She had assumed it was an affair.
Not a child.
Not another family.
Not a baby.
Margaret watched Eleanor carefully.
“Now you understand why the third child had to disappear.”
Eleanor's voice trembled.
“No.”
Margaret raised an eyebrow.
“You don't understand?”
“You're still lying.”
“Why would I?”
“Because if the baby was my father's granddaughter, you had another reason to hide her.”
Margaret's expression changed.
Eleanor saw it.
Fear.
Real fear.
“You were protecting someone.”
Margaret didn't answer.
“Who?”
Silence.
“Who were you protecting?”
Margaret looked toward the hallway.
Then a small voice spoke.
“Grandma?”
Everyone turned.
Emily stood in the doorway.
She was holding the same stuffed rabbit Lily had carried earlier.
Eleanor stared at her.
Two girls.
Same face.
Same eyes.
Same smile.
Emily looked at Eleanor.
“Are you my mommy?”
Eleanor couldn't speak.
She knelt.
“Yes.”
Emily ran into her arms.
Eleanor held both daughters.
For the first time in seven years, the two sisters were together.
Margaret watched them.
Then she whispered,
“You still haven't found the third one.”
Eleanor looked up.
“We will.”
Margaret shook her head.
“You already did.”
Eleanor froze.
“What?”
Margaret pointed toward Lily.
Then Emily.
Then the door.
A young woman stood there.
She looked almost exactly like them.
But she was older.
Maybe seventeen.
Maybe eighteen.
She held a photograph.
Eleanor stared.
The young woman slowly walked forward.
“My name is Sarah.”
Eleanor's heart stopped.
She looked at Rebecca.
Rebecca's face had gone completely white.
The young woman lifted the photograph.
“This is my mother.”
Eleanor stared at the picture.
It was Sarah Bennett.
The woman from the hospital.
The woman who was supposed to have died.
Eleanor looked back at the young woman.
“How old are you?”
The girl answered softly.
“Seventeen.”
Eleanor's blood ran cold.
That couldn't be possible.
Sarah Bennett had given birth seven years ago.
Unless—
The girl smiled sadly.
“I think you have the wrong date.”
Eleanor stared.
“What date?”
The girl handed her the photograph.
On the back was a date.
July 18, 2009.
Eleanor's hands trembled.
Ten years before Lily was born.
She looked at Daniel.
He looked terrified.
Then the young woman whispered,
“You've been searching for the wrong baby.”
The lights suddenly went out.
A gunshot echoed somewhere inside the mansion.
Lily screamed.
Emily grabbed Eleanor's hand.
May you like
And from the darkness came Margaret's voice.
“Now you know why I was afraid.”
