Daniel enlarged the image.
One envelope had never been sealed. A page protruded from it, revealing a single line.
Samuel, Richard has agreed to marry Amelia, but only if you keep the truth about the baby buried.
My hand moved instinctively to my stomach.
“That cannot be about this baby,” Lena said carefully. “The letter is old.”
I looked at the date.
Twenty-eight years earlier.
The year I first met Richard at a summer program in London.
“That makes no sense,” I whispered. “Richard and I did not marry until ten years later.”
Daniel turned the page over in the photograph.
Something had been written on the back.
Not by my mother.
By my father.
Tell Amelia when she is ready to learn why Richard was chosen for her long before she ever met him.
The hospital room seemed to recede around me.
Richard had not entered my life by chance.
My parents had known him.
They had chosen him.
And whatever truth they had hidden was connected not only to my marriage, but to the child I was carrying.
Before any of us could speak, the fetal monitor beside me changed rhythm.
The nurse hurried into the room, followed by the doctor.
As they adjusted the sensors, Daniel’s laptop received a new email.
The sender was Richard.
The subject line contained six words:
DO NOT LET THEM TEST THE BABY.
END OF PART 2 – LIKE, SHARE AND COMMENT “THE ENTIRE STORY” IF YOU WANT TO READ THE FULL STORY
