Chapter 4: A Signature Made in the Dark
Daniel drove with Lily beside him and Ruth in the back seat.
Vanessa followed in another car.
“Is Mama going to be all right?” Lily asked.
“I’m going to make sure she isn’t moved without her permission.”
“She said you wouldn’t remember us.”
Daniel glanced at the locket resting against Lily’s coat.
“I remembered her every day.”
At St.
Anne’s, a gray-haired nurse met them outside Elena’s room.
“I’m Claire,” she said.
“I stopped the transfer when Ms.
Vale opened her eyes and said she hadn’t requested it.”
“Who did?” Daniel asked.
Claire held up a form.
“Your wife.”
Vanessa’s heels struck the floor behind them.
A suited man walked at her side.
“My attorney, Peter Lang,” she announced.
“And nobody is taking that child into a patient’s room until this is settled.”
Lily grabbed Daniel’s hand.
Claire stepped between Vanessa and the door.
“The patient asked for Daniel and Lily.”
“She’s confused,” Vanessa said.
“No,” a weak voice called from inside.
“I’m not.”
Daniel pushed open the door.
Elena lay against the pillows, her face pale beneath an oxygen tube.
When Lily ran to her, Elena opened both arms.
“Mama!”
“My brave girl.” Elena kissed her hair.
“Did you find him?”
Lily nodded and pointed at Daniel.
“He remembered you.”
Daniel gripped the bed rail.
“Elena, why did you disappear?”
Peter placed a folder on the bedside table.
“Before anyone stages a reunion,” he said, “you should see this.”
Daniel opened it.
The first page displayed the name of a private laboratory.
The conclusion beneath it said he was not Lily’s biological father.
Elena stared at the report.
“That isn’t possible.”
Vanessa touched Daniel’s arm.
“This is what I was trying to spare you.”
He pulled away.
“When was this test done?”
“Yesterday,” Peter replied.
“Vanessa submitted samples from both parties.”
“You took something from Lily without her mother’s permission?”
“I used her hairbrush,” Vanessa said.
“Daniel’s sample came from home.”
Claire took the file and tapped the collection line.
“It says both donors appeared in person.”
“That must be a clerical mistake,” Peter said.
Daniel looked at the date.
“I was in Toronto yesterday morning.”
Vanessa’s smile vanished for a moment.
Peter closed the folder.
“The central point remains.
Until parentage is confirmed, Mr.
Oleso has no legal claim.”
A man in a chauffeur’s uniform appeared at the open door.
Vanessa spun toward him.
“Marcus, wait downstairs.”
“No, ma’am.”
“You work for me.”
Marcus removed a memory card from his pocket and handed it to Daniel.
“Yesterday, Mrs.
Oleso had me drive her to that laboratory,” he said.
“She went through the staff entrance and gave an envelope to a technician.”
Vanessa’s voice sharpened.
“Be careful, Marcus.”
“I have been careful for five years.
That is why my dashboard camera records every journey.”
Peter reached for the card.
Daniel closed his fist around it.
“You knew this report was false,” Daniel said.
“You don’t know what that video shows,” Vanessa replied.
“It may show a wife trying to protect her husband.”
“From his own child?”
“From Elena.”
Lily pressed herself against her mother.
Elena lifted her head.
“What did I ever do to you, Vanessa?”
“You came back.”
Claire returned to the transfer form.
“There is another problem.”
She placed it in front of Daniel.
The signature at the bottom appeared to be Elena’s.
Elena stared at it.
“I didn’t sign that.”
“You were unconscious at the recorded time,” Claire said.
Daniel looked toward Vanessa, but she was already reaching for the document.
Claire pulled it away.
Then Lily spoke from the bed.
“That looks like the paper Mrs.
Oleso made me copy.”
Daniel turned to her.
“What did she make you write?”
“My mama’s name.”
May you like
Vanessa backed toward the door as Claire pressed the call button beside Elena’s bed.
The doors opened, and two hospital security officers stepped into the corridor.
