Chapter 13 - SARAH’S SECRET
Daniel refused surgery until Emma and Lucy were safe.
Ruth threatened to knock him unconscious herself.
He finally agreed.
Both girls remained together.
They sat on the same hospital bed.
Lucy touched Bunny’s ear.
“I had one like this.”
Emma looked at her.
“Really?”
“Margaret said it came with me when I was a baby.”
Ruth froze.
“What happened to it?”
Lucy shrugged.
“It’s at home.”
Police retrieved it.
Inside Lucy’s rabbit was another memory card.
Thomas had planned everything.
The recording showed Sarah Bennett.
Emma and Lucy’s mother.
She was sitting in a hospital room shortly before giving birth.
She looked frightened.
“If Daniel ever sees this, I’m sorry.”
Daniel watched from his hospital bed.
Sarah continued.
“Caroline knows.”
Caroline, sitting under police guard, lowered her eyes.
Sarah whispered,
“The girls are Daniel’s.”
Daniel exhaled.
Then Sarah said,
“But I am not their biological mother.”
Ruth stared at the screen.
“What?”
Sarah explained.
Years earlier, she had been unable to carry a pregnancy.
Daniel and Sarah used an embryo donor.
The donor’s identity was supposed to remain sealed.
But Sarah discovered the truth.
The donor had not been anonymous.
Caroline had arranged it.
Daniel slowly turned toward Caroline.
“Who?”
Caroline cried.
“I didn’t know at first.”
“WHO?”
Caroline looked toward Ruth.
“The donor was Eleanor.”
Ruth recoiled.
Her aunt.
Daniel stared in horror.
But Caroline shook her head.
“No.”
“There’s more.”
Eleanor had used someone else’s identity.
The eggs weren’t hers.
They belonged to another woman.
A woman who had died shortly afterward.
Ruth whispered,
“Who?”
Caroline answered.
“Your sister.”
Ruth went completely still.
“I don’t have a sister.”
Caroline looked at her.
May you like
“Yes.”
“You did.”
