Chapter 28 The Child Claire Gave Away
No one moved.
Evelyn stood beneath the doorway light, her hands trembling.
Audrey looked at Anna.
Then at Evelyn.
Then back at Anna.
“It was her?”
Evelyn nodded.
“Claire gave birth to Anna.”
Anna's face had gone completely still.
“That isn't possible.”
“I was there.”
Evelyn's voice broke.
“I held you.”
Audrey felt something inside her collapse.
“Then who am I?”
Evelyn looked at her with tears in her eyes.
“You were the child Mara gave birth to.”
Clara covered her mouth.
Lydia stepped backward.
Ethan stared at the three women as if the room had become a puzzle with no beginning.
Audrey shook her head.
“No.”
Evelyn approached.
“I know how this sounds.”
“It sounds like another lie.”
“I know.”
“You all keep telling me different versions of my life.”
“I deserve your anger.”
“You deserve more than that.”
Evelyn lowered her head.
“Yes.”
Audrey's voice became quieter.
“Why?”
Evelyn looked at Anna.
“Because Claire knew Richard was searching for Mara's daughter.”
Anna whispered,
“So Claire gave him Audrey?”
“No.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“She gave him the wrong child.”
Audrey stared.
“What?”
“Claire believed Richard would eventually discover that Mara had a daughter. She needed to make him believe you were that daughter.”
“But I wasn't.”
“No.”
“You made me the decoy.”
Evelyn nodded.
“And Anna?”
“Anna was raised as Claire's daughter.”
Anna's face crumpled.
“All my life…”
“I am sorry.”
Anna looked at Claire's former recording device.
“My entire life was built on a lie.”
“So was mine,” Audrey said.
Their eyes met.
For the first time, neither woman knew which of them had been more betrayed.
Ethan stepped toward Evelyn.
“Who knew?”
“Claire.”
“Mara?”
“Yes.”
“James?”
Evelyn hesitated.
“Yes.”
Ethan's expression hardened.
“And Richard?”
“He suspected.”
“But he never knew for certain.”
“No.”
Ethan looked toward the door where Richard had been taken.
“That was the secret he spent decades trying to uncover.”
Evelyn nodded.
“He believed Audrey was Mara's daughter.”
“Why?”
“Because Claire made sure every document pointed to her.”
Audrey understood.
The photographs.
The hospital records.
The false memories.
The marriage.
Everything had been designed around one false identity.
But there was one question she could not ignore.
“Where is Mara?”
Evelyn's face changed.
“She didn't die when you were told.”
Audrey stopped breathing.
“What?”
Evelyn swallowed.
“Mara survived for another eleven years.”
Clara looked at her.
“Then where did she go?”
Evelyn's voice dropped.
“She disappeared.”
“Because of Richard?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Evelyn looked directly at Audrey.
“Because she was searching for you.”
Audrey felt tears gather.
“She knew?”
“Yes.”
“She knew I was alive?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't she find me?”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“Because someone made sure she never could.”
“Who?”
Evelyn looked toward James.
Everyone turned.
James stood near the window.
His face was unreadable.
Ethan stared at him.
“Dad?”
James said nothing.
Audrey's voice was barely above a whisper.
“What did you do?”
James looked at her.
“I protected you.”
Audrey's eyes hardened.
“That answer is no longer enough.”
He nodded.
“You're right.”
He walked to the table and placed both hands on its edge.
“Mara wanted to take you away.”
“Why?”
“Because she discovered the switch.”
Audrey's breath caught.
“She knew I wasn't her child.”
“She knew.”
“And Anna?”
“Mara wanted both of you.”
Audrey looked at Anna.
“Why didn't she come?”
James looked down.
“Because I stopped her.”
The room fell silent.
Ethan stepped toward his father.
“You stopped her?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Richard was watching.”
“That doesn't explain anything.”
James finally looked at his son.
“I believed the only way to keep you all alive was to make Mara disappear.”
Audrey's voice shook.
“You destroyed her life.”
“Yes.”
“You kept me from my mother.”
“Yes.”
“You let Anna believe she was someone she wasn't.”
“Yes.”
“You allowed Claire to carry that secret until she died.”
James closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Audrey stared at him.
“Why should I forgive you?”
“You shouldn't.”
The answer surprised her.
James continued.
“I spent years telling myself that difficult choices were justified if they protected people.”
He looked at Ethan.
“I was wrong.”
Ethan's jaw tightened.
“You knew that?”
“I know it now.”
“Because you lost everything?”
James nodded.
“Because I lost everything.”
Audrey turned away.
For once, no one tried to tell her what she should feel.
Hours later, the house had emptied.
Police had taken Richard.
Marcus and Graham were speaking with investigators downstairs.
Lydia sat beside Anna in the library.
Clara stood near the window.
Ethan found Audrey on the veranda.
The sea stretched beneath the moon.
He stopped several feet away.
“Can I sit?”
She nodded.
He sat beside her.
Neither spoke for a while.
Finally, Audrey said,
“I don't know who I am anymore.”
Ethan looked at her.
“You're Audrey.”
She gave a tired laugh.
“That sounds simple.”
“It isn't.”
She looked at him.
“What if everything between us was arranged?”
“The marriage was.”
“And the trust?”
“Yes.”
“The people around us?”
“Some.”
She looked toward him.
“What about you?”
Ethan's expression softened.
“What about me?”
“Did you ever love me because you were supposed to?”
He took a breath.
“When we married, I thought I was doing what everyone expected.”
“And now?”
“Now I know the difference.”
“What difference?”
“Between choosing someone and being told to choose them.”
Audrey looked at the sea.
“And what did you choose?”
“You.”
She looked at him.
He continued before she could answer.
“But I don't expect that to fix anything.”
“Good.”
“I know.”
A faint smile touched her face.
He reached for her hand.
She let him take it.
There was no promise in the gesture.
Only warmth.
A quiet acknowledgment that despite everything, they were still standing beside each other.
Then Audrey noticed something.
“Ethan.”
“What?”
She pulled her hand away.
“Your father's documents.”
“What about them?”
“The trust.”
He frowned.
“What?”
“The final beneficiary.”
She stood.
“Where is it?”
“In the library.”
They hurried inside.
The document lay on the table.
Audrey picked it up.
A page had been hidden beneath the original.
Ethan read it.
His face changed.
“What?”
He handed it to her.
At the bottom was a clause none of them had seen.
The trust shall remain sealed until the surviving child identifies the person responsible for the original exchange.
Audrey stared.
“That means we still don't know who switched the babies.”
Ethan nodded.
“Wait.”
He pointed to the signature.
“Look at the initials.”
Audrey examined them.
C.P.
Claire Parker.
“But Evelyn said Claire ordered the switch.”
“Yes.”
“Then she was responsible.”
Ethan shook his head.
“Not necessarily.”
“Why?”
“Because Claire could have signed the instruction without making the decision.”
Audrey looked at him.
“You think someone manipulated her?”
“I think we're still missing something.”
Before Audrey could answer, Lydia rushed into the room.
“You need to see this.”
She held a small envelope.
“Where did you get that?”
“It was hidden inside the piano.”
Audrey opened it.
A single photograph fell out.
It showed Claire.
Mara.
Evelyn.
And another woman.
Audrey didn't recognize her.
But Anna did.
She gasped.
“That woman.”
Audrey looked at her.
“You know her?”
Anna nodded slowly.
“She raised me.”
Audrey's heart tightened.
“Who is she?”
Anna stared at the photograph.
“I thought she died before I was born.”
Lydia turned the photograph over.
There was a handwritten message.
If the truth has been uncovered, find Dr. Helen Ward.
Audrey frowned.
“Who is Dr. Helen Ward?”
Evelyn appeared in the doorway.
The color drained from her face.
“No.”
Audrey looked at her.
“You know her.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“She cannot still be alive.”
“Why?”
Evelyn stared at the photograph.
“Because Helen was the doctor who delivered both babies.”
Audrey's pulse quickened.
“You said you were there.”
“I was.”
“And Helen?”
“She knew the truth.”
“Then we find her.”
Evelyn looked terrified.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
Evelyn whispered,
“Helen wasn't just the doctor.”
She pointed at the photograph.
“She was Mara's sister.”
A phone rang.
Everyone froze.
Audrey looked down.
The number was unknown.
She answered.
A woman's voice came through.
Old.
Calm.
Familiar.
“Hello, Audrey.”
Audrey's heart pounded.
“Who is this?”
The woman gave a quiet laugh.
“You have spent your whole life looking for the wrong mother.”
Audrey's fingers tightened around the phone.
“Are you Helen Ward?”
“Yes.”
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere you have been before.”
Audrey frowned.
“Where?”
A pause.
Then Helen whispered,
“Your mother's grave.”
The line went dead.
Audrey looked at Ethan.
He had already understood.
They needed to return to the place where Mara was supposedly buried.
But when Audrey looked at the photograph again, she noticed something she had missed.
Behind Helen stood a little girl.
A yellow ribbon was tied around her wrist.
And beneath the photograph, written in Claire's handwriting, were five words:
This is your real sister.