Chapter 3 - The Night Daniel Came Back
I couldn't stop looking at Margaret.
"You told me Daniel left the state."
"He did."
"After coming here?"
She crossed her arms.
"This is ancient history."
Sophie was standing six feet away with a red mark around her ankle.
Nothing about this was ancient.
I looked at Rachel.
"Tell me everything."
Margaret snapped, "She doesn't remember."
Rachel turned on her.
"I remember enough."
"Rachel."
"No, Mom."
Something shifted in my sister's face.
Fear was still there.
But underneath it was exhaustion.
"Daniel came to the house six days after Sophie was born."
I remembered that week.
I had been sleeping in ninety-minute stretches, terrified I'd somehow fail the tiny baby curled against my chest.
Margaret had volunteered to bring groceries.
Rachel had claimed she was recovering from a stomach virus.
Both women had been lying.
"How did he know?"
Rachel rubbed her palms together.
"I called him."
Margaret muttered something under her breath.
Rachel ignored it.
"I told him I'd had a girl."
"You called him after giving Sophie to me?"
"I couldn't live with myself."
"You apparently managed."
Her face crumpled.
I hated seeing it.
I also wasn't ready to comfort her.
"What did Daniel say?"
"He wanted a paternity test."
I looked down at the report.
Of course.
"He said if Sophie was his, he was telling you everything and petitioning to stop the adoption."
My breath caught.
"Could he have?"
"The papers weren't final yet."
I looked at Margaret.
"You knew."
She answered coldly.
"You had already bonded with that baby."
"She was six days old."
"You had waited years to become a mother."
"So you decided I deserved someone else's child more than her biological father deserved the truth?"
Margaret's face hardened.
"Daniel would have destroyed both my daughters."
I almost laughed.
"You mean Rachel's marriage."
"Michael would have left her."
Rachel whispered, "Probably."
"And you cared more about that than what Daniel wanted?"
"I cared about my family."
Sophie spoke quietly.
"Wasn't I family?"
Margaret looked at her.
For one terrible second, nobody answered.
I moved immediately to Sophie's side.
"You are."
She kept looking at Margaret.
Grandma looked away.
That rejection landed visibly on my daughter.
I wanted to slap Margaret again.
Instead I picked up the chain from the floor.
Heavy steel.
A padlock at one end.
"How long was she wearing this?"
Margaret said, "A few hours."
Sophie whispered, "Since yesterday."
I stopped.
Rachel looked shocked.
"Yesterday?"
Margaret glared at Sophie.
"You were told not to exaggerate."
"I'm not."
I crouched.
"Did she let you sleep with it?"
Sophie nodded.
"In the hallway."
My vision blurred.
"Where?"
She pointed beneath the staircase.
I looked.
A folded blanket lay partly hidden behind a decorative bench.
Beside it was an empty plastic cup.
Rachel's face collapsed.
"Mom, you said you put her in the guest room."
Margaret lifted her chin.
"She needed to learn consequences."
"For what?" I demanded.
Sophie answered.
"I asked why Chloe and Madison got to eat pizza in the dining room and I had to eat after them."
Chloe began crying again.
"I tried to give her mine."
Margaret shouted, "Chloe!"
Rachel stepped between them.
"Stop yelling at her."
Margaret stared at her oldest daughter as though Rachel had betrayed her personally.
"You want to choose Emily now?"
"I'm choosing the children."
"Eight years too late," I said.
Rachel flinched.
Good.
I hated that part of myself.
But it was true.
My phone buzzed inside my handbag.
I almost ignored it.
Then I saw the caller ID.
Dr. Aaron Mills — Heritage Genetics.
The laboratory.
I answered.
"Emily Parker."
"Ms. Parker, this is Dr. Mills. I'm sorry to call after hours, but your case was flagged for manual review."
I looked at Rachel.
"What was flagged?"
"The paternal comparison."
My pulse jumped.
"You found Daniel Brooks?"
A pause.
"That is actually why I'm calling."
I stepped away from Sophie so she wouldn't hear everything.
"What?"
"The archived D.B. sample is not a partial match."
"What does that mean?"
"It is a complete parent-child level paternal match."
My knees weakened.
"So Daniel was Sophie's father."
"Genetically, yes."
I closed my eyes.
Then Dr. Mills continued.
"But there is an issue with the archived sample date."
I opened them again.
"What issue?"
"It was submitted six years ago."
I frowned.
"That's impossible."
According to Margaret, Daniel had moved overseas eight years earlier and never returned.
According to Rachel, she'd last seen him when Sophie was a newborn.
"Who submitted it?" I asked.
"I can't disclose protected medical information without authorization."
"Was Daniel alive?"
Another pause.
"The collection was witnessed in person."
My heart slammed.
Six years ago.
Two years after Margaret told me Daniel disappeared permanently.
I looked at her.
She was watching me.
She knew by my face that something had changed.
Dr. Mills lowered his voice.
"There is one thing I can tell you because the release form is unusual."
"What?"
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"The person listed as Daniel Brooks's emergency contact was Margaret Parker."
📖 Read why Margaret was still listed beside Daniel’s name six years after his supposed disappearance—and what I found hidden beneath her staircase in CHAPTER 4. 👇
