Chapter 3: A Mother at the Gate
“Don’t hang up,” James told the woman.
“Tell me your name.”
“Laura Moore.
Please, are the twins safe?”
Victoria pulled against his grip.
“She’s lying.
End the call.”
James released her and stepped between her and the twins.
“How does Laura know Emily?”
“I called the number hidden inside the hospital photograph,” Emily said.
“Laura has been searching for the babies since the night they were born.”
“You went through my private things?” Victoria snapped.
“You tied my hands when I asked about a bracelet.”
“I was stopping you from taking my children.”
Emily raised her reddened wrists.
“I never touched them except to feed them and keep them safe.”
James picked up the altered certificates.
“Why do these say Victoria Cole gave birth?”
“Because she paid someone to change them,” Laura said through the phone.
“The originals list me.”
Victoria’s voice hardened.
“Ask her how much money she demanded.”
“I didn’t demand anything,” Laura replied.
“You promised James knew about our agreement.”
“What agreement?” James asked.
Silence filled the room until one twin began crying.
Emily moved toward the crib, but Victoria blocked her.
“Stay away from them.”
James lifted his son and held him against his shoulder.
“Victoria, answer me.”
“We wanted a family,” she said.
“You were never home.
I handled the details.”
“Children aren’t details.”
Laura drew a shaking breath over the speaker.
“Mr.
Cole, your wife approached me eight months ago.
She said you both needed a surrogate and wanted privacy.
She showed me messages with your name on them.”
“I never sent messages to you.”
“I know that now.”
Victoria reached for her purse.
James moved it away.
“Who are you calling?”
“My attorney.
Emily restrained me and tried to take the twins.”
“That’s not what happened,” Emily said.
“It will be her word against mine.”
James pointed toward the hallway.
“We have cameras.”
Victoria smiled, but her eyes stayed fixed on Emily.
“The nursery camera has been disconnected for two days.”
Emily’s face changed.
“The wall camera was.
The portable monitor wasn’t.”
Victoria turned sharply.
“What portable monitor?”
“The one I bought after you ordered me to stop recording feeding times.”
James looked at Emily.
“Where is it?”
“In my car.”
Victoria grabbed her keys from the counter and rushed toward the door.
James reached it first and locked it.
“You’re not destroying anything.”
“You have no idea what that woman is planning,” Victoria said.
“Laura will take the twins and make sure you never see them again.”
“Let her come here,” James replied.
Laura spoke at once.
“I’m outside your gate.”
Victoria backed away from the door.
“James, if you let her inside, our marriage is over.”
He looked at the altered birth certificates, then at Emily’s wrists.
“You ended something in this house long before I came home.”
The gate buzzer sounded.
James pressed the release button.
A minute later, a pale woman in a gray sweater appeared beyond the glass door.
Laura held a thick envelope against her chest.
Victoria whispered, “She cannot show you what’s inside that envelope.”
Laura stepped into the house and placed it in James’s hands.
May you like
“The twins are yours,” she said.
“But Victoria made sure they were mine first.”
