Chapter 5 - The Secret Before Our Marriage
“Stop.”
I held up my hand.
“Just stop talking.”
Jackson stared at me.
“Emily, what is she saying?”
“I have no idea.”
“That’s a lie,” Cassandra said.
I turned on her.
“You get one chance to explain yourself before I ask the police to remove you.”
Grant calmly interrupted.
“Actually, I need everyone to stop discussing this until we locate the infant and Lorraine.”
He was right.
But none of us could stop staring at each other.
Forty minutes later, police found Lorraine at a gas station twelve miles away.
The infant was with her.
Alive.
Safe.
Hungry.
Lorraine was taken in for questioning.
The baby was transported to the hospital.
I rode with Mia.
Jackson followed separately.
Cassandra went with police.
At the emergency department, Mia fell asleep against my chest.
Rosie lay beside her after one of the nurses wrapped the torn doll in gauze like a patient.
I almost cried when Mia smiled at that.
Jackson stood in the corner.
Neither of us had spoken for twenty minutes.
Finally, he said, “Is there something you need to tell me?”
I looked at him.
“You’re asking me?”
“Cass said—”
“Cassandra also locked our daughter in a room.”
“Our daughter?”
I heard the doubt.
That one word.
I stood.
“Be very careful.”
He looked ashamed.
“I’m trying to understand.”
“So am I.”
He lowered his voice.
“Were you with someone else?”
“Before we got married?”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
His jaw tightened.
“So was I.”
“Did you get pregnant?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
I stared at him.
“You were there when Mia was born.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Anger burned through me.
“Mia was conceived after we were married.”
“How do you know exactly?”
“Because I know my own life!”
A nurse glanced toward us.
I lowered my voice.
“The man I dated before you was named Daniel Mercer.”
Jackson blinked.
“Mercer?”
“My last name was Mercer too, Jackson.”
“I know.”
“Daniel wasn’t related to me. It was a coincidence.”
“Why have I never heard his name?”
“Because he died.”
That silenced him.
“Car accident,” I said. “Six months before our wedding.”
Jackson’s face softened.
“Emily…”
“Don’t.”
I sat beside Mia.
“That relationship ended long before you and I got serious.”
Then Officer Grant appeared in the doorway.
“Mrs. Hayes?”
I stood.
“We identified the infant.”
“And?”
His expression was grim.
“The baby’s mother is twenty-six-year-old Natalie Mercer.”
My mouth went dry.
Daniel had a younger sister.
Natalie.
I hadn’t seen her in years.
Grant continued.
“She gave birth three days ago.”
“Why was Cassandra with her baby?”
“That’s what we’re trying to determine.”
Jackson looked at me.
Then Grant said, “There’s something else.”
I hated those words.
“According to hospital staff, Natalie disappeared this morning.”
“Disappeared?”
“She left without discharge instructions.”
“With no baby?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Grant hesitated.
“Before leaving, she told a nurse she believed someone was trying to take her son.”
My gaze shifted to Jackson.
May you like
Grant finished quietly.
“And the person she named was your mother-in-law, Lorraine Hayes.”
