Chapter 1 - THE PHOTO LILY WASN’T SUPPOSED TO SEE
Ryan’s palm struck Emily’s face hard enough to send her stumbling into the sofa.
Her first instinct was not to touch her cheek.
Both hands went around her eight-month belly.
“Apologize to my mother.”
Emily stared at her husband.
Diane stood several feet away in a cream blouse and burgundy skirt, holding her phone like none of this surprised her.
“I said no.”
A small cry came from the hallway.
“Mommy!”
Six-year-old Lily ran into the room in pale pink pajamas and threw herself against Emily’s side.
Ryan stepped forward.
Emily immediately moved Lily behind her.
“You don’t touch us again.”
Diane’s expression barely changed.
Then she lifted her phone.
“Good.”
Emily looked at her.
Diane smiled.
“We finally have what we need.”
On the screen were photographs.
Emily asleep on the couch.
Emily crying in her car.
Screenshots from prenatal appointments.
A medication list.
Messages between Ryan and Diane.
Emily’s stomach dropped.
“What is that?”
Diane swiped.
Lily peeked around Emily.
Then froze.
A photograph flashed across the screen.
A newborn wrapped in a burgundy hospital blanket.
Only part of the baby’s face was visible.
Lily pointed.
“That’s the other baby.”
The adults stopped.
Emily looked down at her.
“What other baby?”
Diane’s thumb moved instantly toward the screen.
Too late.
Emily snatched the phone.
Ryan went pale.
She opened the image.
Diane lunged for it.
“Give me that.”
Emily backed away.
The photograph was old.
A woman lay asleep in a hospital bed behind the bassinet.
Her face was partly hidden by her hair.
Emily enlarged it.
The woman wore a hospital bracelet.
A wedding ring.
Her wedding ring.
Emily stopped breathing.
The baby’s face remained turned away.
But on one tiny ankle was a crescent-shaped birthmark.
Emily knew that mark.
She had kissed it thousands of times.
She slowly looked toward Lily.
“That baby…”
Ryan whispered:
“Emily.”
She turned on him.
“That’s Lily.”
Nobody denied it.
Emily looked at the date attached to the photograph.
Six years earlier.
Three days after Lily was born.
Then she opened the next image.
It showed Emily asleep again.
Another showed her crying.
Another showed an unfinished legal form.
At the top:
EMERGENCY TEMPORARY CUSTODY.
May you like
Emily looked at Ryan.
“You were building a case against me when Lily was three days old?”
Related Stories
