Chapter 2 - The PhotographI barely made it inside the hospital before another contraction doubled me over.
Nurses rushed toward me.
Noah stayed beside the stretcher.
Grant followed.
Vanessa did not.
That surprised me.
She had been fearless outside the apartment.
Now she remained in the Maserati, watching through the windshield.
“Emma,” Grant said, “listen to me.”
I turned my head.
“Not now.”
“You don’t understand.”
“No.”
My eyes went to the photograph in Noah’s hand.
“I understand enough.”
Noah handed it to me.
I stared.
It showed a younger version of me standing outside a marina.
I looked about twenty.
Beside me stood another young man.
I didn’t recognize him.
But he looked familiar.
Too familiar.
There was something about his smile.
Something in the way he stood.
My fingers shook.
“I don’t remember this.”
Noah studied my face.
“You’re telling the truth?”
“Yes.”
Grant reached for the picture.
Noah moved it away.
“You seem very interested in this.”
Grant’s jaw tightened.
“Because it concerns my wife.”
Noah smiled without warmth.
“Apparently it concerns her more than you.”
The delivery room doors opened.
A nurse called out.
“Mr. Grant, you’ll need to wait outside.”
Grant looked at me.
“I’m coming in.”
I stared at him.
“No.”
He froze.
It was the first time in our marriage I had ever stopped him from entering a room.
I watched the doors close.
Then I looked at Noah.
“Who am I standing beside?”
He didn’t answer immediately.
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“On whether you truly don’t remember.”
The monitor beside me began beeping faster.
I gripped the sheets.
“I don’t.”
Noah sat beside me.
“The man in that photograph was my younger brother.”
My blood went cold.
“Your brother?”
“Yes.”
“What was his name?”
Noah looked toward the door.
“Evan.”
I swallowed.
“Why was I with him?”
Noah’s silence frightened me more than any answer could have.
Finally he said:
“Because ten years ago, Evan disappeared.”
My daughter kicked violently.
The nurse adjusted the monitor.
“Noah… what does that have to do with me?”
He leaned closer.
“Everything.”
The door opened suddenly.
A doctor rushed in.
“We need an emergency C-section.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“Her blood pressure is dropping.”
The room exploded into movement.
Lights.
Hands.
Voices.
Then I heard Noah say something that nobody else noticed.
“Tell security to keep Grant away from this floor.”
A nurse looked at him strangely.
“Sir, are you family?”
Noah didn’t blink.
“No.”
He looked directly at me.
“But I know who she is.”
I was wheeled toward surgery.
The ceiling lights blurred overhead.
Just before the doors closed, I saw Grant standing at the end of the hallway.
Vanessa was beside him now.
And she was crying.
Not because I was in danger.
She was staring at Noah.
Terrified.
Noah looked at her.
She whispered something.
His face changed.
The last thing I heard before anesthesia took me was Vanessa saying:
“Evan was never supposed to come back.”
May you like
Then everything went black.
:::
