Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN WHO DISAPPEARED
Eleanor Vance was found thirty-six hours later.
She wasn't at an airport.
She wasn't crossing a border.
She wasn't hiding in a hotel.
She was sitting inside a small church sixty miles from Richmond.
Detective Ortiz found her in the last pew.
Eleanor didn't resist.
She simply looked at Ortiz and asked one question.
“Did the baby live?”
Ortiz studied her.
“Yes.”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
For a moment, relief crossed her face.
Then it vanished.
Police arrested her for aggravated assault.
Michael refused to see her.
Sarah wasn't ready to hear Eleanor's excuses.
But Eleanor asked for one phone call before questioning.
Not to Michael.
Not to a lawyer.
To Thomas Reed.
Thomas answered from the hallway outside Sarah's room.
“Eleanor.”
Her voice sounded older.
“Did you open the nursery?”
Thomas said nothing.
“That means yes.”
“Michael deserved the truth.”
“No.”
“He deserved a life.”
“You nearly took his wife's life.”
“I wasn't thinking.”
“You were thinking about something.”
Silence.
Then Eleanor whispered.
“Did he find Samuel's letter?”
“Yes.”
“Then he knows about Jonathan.”
“Part of it.”
Thomas lowered his voice.
“What are you still hiding?”
Eleanor laughed quietly.
“You always were loyal to the wrong Vance.”
Thomas stiffened.
“What does that mean?”
“You thought Samuel was the good brother.”
“He was.”
“You don't know what he did.”
Before Thomas could ask, Eleanor disconnected.
At the same time, Detective Ortiz's team found something else.
Dr. Evelyn Ross.
The obstetrician named in Samuel's letter had not disappeared.
She had changed her surname after remarriage.
She was now seventy-eight and living in Savannah, Georgia.
Ortiz arranged a video interview.
Sarah and Michael watched from the hospital.
Dr. Ross appeared on-screen with white hair and sharp brown eyes.
The moment Michael introduced himself, she froze.
“You look like Jonathan.”
Michael felt his stomach tighten.
“So it's true.”
“Yes.”
“Jonathan was my biological father.”
“Yes.”
“Why did you change my birth record?”
Ross looked ashamed.
“Eleanor threatened me.”
“With what?”
“My medical license.”
“She had photographs of my husband with another woman.”
“It was a different time.”
“I had children.”
“I panicked.”
Michael's jaw tightened.
“You falsified the date.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She said William Vance could never know you were Jonathan's son.”
Sarah leaned toward the screen.
“Did you know Rebecca Bennett?”
Dr. Ross stared at her.
“Who are you?”
“Rebecca's daughter.”
The elderly doctor's face drained of color.
“You're Sarah.”
Sarah and Michael exchanged a look.
“You know me?”
“I saw you once.”
“When?”
“You were a newborn.”
Sarah stopped breathing.
Ross looked down.
“Rebecca came to me after Jonathan died.”
“She was terrified.”
“Of Eleanor?”
Ross shook her head.
“Of Samuel.”
Michael stiffened.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
Sarah whispered.
“Why?”
Dr. Ross took a long breath.
“Because Rebecca knew the truth about the boat.”
“What truth?”
“Jonathan's death was not an accident.”
Michael leaned forward.
“Who killed him?”
Ross closed her eyes.
“Samuel.”
Michael stood so quickly his chair fell backward.
“No.”
Sarah grabbed his arm.
Ross continued.
“Jonathan planned to tell William everything.”
“The affair with Eleanor.”
“Michael's paternity.”
“And Rebecca.”
Sarah's mouth went dry.
“What about my mother?”
Ross looked directly at her.
“Jonathan was in love with her.”
Michael stared at Sarah.
Sarah's face went white.
Ross spoke carefully.
“Eleanor's affair with Jonathan ended before Michael was born.”
“Jonathan later became involved with Rebecca.”
“Rebecca became pregnant.”
Sarah's fingers tightened around the blanket.
“With me?”
“Yes.”
Michael took a step back.
Sarah stared at him.
They understood at the same time.
“No.”
Michael whispered it first.
“No.”
Sarah shook her head violently.
Dr. Ross looked heartbroken.
“Jonathan Vance was your father too.”
The room seemed to disappear.
Sarah looked at Michael.
Her husband.
The father of her baby.
And according to the woman on the screen, her biological half-brother.
Sarah's monitor began to alarm.
A nurse rushed in.
Michael couldn't move.
Then Dr. Ross said the sentence that changed everything again.
“But before you panic, there is one thing Rebecca discovered years later.”
Sarah stared at the screen.
May you like
Dr. Ross leaned closer.
“Jonathan was not Michael's biological father.”
