Chapter 3: The Woman Behind the Door
“Say the name,” Gideon demanded.
Mrs.
Harrow looked at Owen, then lowered her eyes.
“Your mother.”
The library door swung open before Gideon could answer.
Lenora Vale entered with her silver-headed cane tapping against the floor.
“Give Owen to Gideon,” she said.
“Now.”
Mallerie held him tighter.
“You told them to take my son?”
“Do not call him that.”
“He has my baby’s birthmark.”
“Thousands of children have marks.”
Mrs.
Harrow pointed at the photograph.
“That picture came from St.
Anne’s private maternity ward.
You gave it to me.”
Lenora’s eyes hardened.
“You were paid for your discretion.”
“I was paid to prepare a nursery.
You never told me the child had a living mother.”
Gideon stepped between Lenora and Mallerie.
“You brought Owen here with adoption papers and told me his mother had abandoned him.”
“She did.”
“No,” Mallerie said.
“I woke up and was told he had stopped breathing.”
Lenora tapped her cane once.
“Grief changes memories.”
Mallerie’s hand shook against Owen’s back.
He caught her collar and refused to let go.
“My memory is clear.
I begged to see him.
A nurse said it was better if I remembered him as he had been before.”
Gideon turned to Mrs.
Harrow.
“Why did you keep the photograph?”
“Because something felt wrong.”
“Something felt profitable,” Lenora snapped.
“How much does she want?”
Mallerie stared at her.
“You think this is about money?”
“It usually is when someone appears inside my son’s home and claims his child.”
“He isn’t your son’s child.”
Gideon flinched, but he did not step away.
Lenora gave a thin smile.
“Be careful, Mallerie.
Gideon is Owen’s legal father.
You are an employee with a story.”
“Then we’ll prove it.”
“With what?”
“A DNA test,” Gideon said.
Lenora’s smile disappeared.
“You will do no such thing.”
“That was not a request.”
“If you challenge the adoption, you could lose him too.”
Gideon’s jaw tightened.
“What did you do?”
Lenora opened her handbag and removed a folded document.
“What any responsible grandmother would do.
I protected this family from scandal.”
She placed the paper on the table.
Mallerie saw her own name beneath the words VOLUNTARY SURRENDER.
“That is not possible.”
“Your signature says otherwise.”
Mallerie touched the bottom of the page.
The slant of the letters, the broken curve in the final “e”—every mark looked like hers.
“I never signed away my baby.”
Lenora leaned closer.
“You signed three forms at St.
Anne’s.
If you accuse me publicly, I will show a court that document and ask why a grieving woman waited fourteen months to change her mind.”
“She didn’t know Owen was alive,” Gideon said.
“Can she prove that?”
Mrs.
Harrow bent to retrieve the envelope.
Something small slid from behind the photograph and struck the floor.
Mallerie picked it up.
It was a faded hospital bracelet marked BABY BOY LARK.
Beneath the name was a number.
May you like
She looked at Owen’s framed adoption certificate on Gideon’s desk.
The hospital number was exactly the same.
