Page 82 of Don’t Open Your Eyes

James merely shook his head, but Annabelle could see it in his eyes. He was lying.

Scarlett

Her parents came back into the room. Her mom sat on the edge of the bed and took Scarlett’s hand in hers. “Sweetheart, I wasn’t truthful with you when you asked if there was someone special before Dad. There was, and I got pregnant. But he turned out not to be a good person. He lied to me and cheated on me. Your father was there to support me during the pregnancy, and we fell in love.”

Scarlett felt sick to her stomach. Even though she already knew her mother had had a child before her, somehow it wasn’t real until she heard it from her mother’s mouth. It rocked her to her core. “So, you did give up a baby? How could you?”

“I didn’t.” She glanced at James. “I had complications and ended up with a C-section. Your dad actually delivered the baby.”

“What? Dad’s a neurologist.”

Her mom shook her head. “He was an OB resident at the time. What ended up happening, well, it made him change specialties. I held my baby, and then I had a seizure. I had something called preeclampsia. When I came to again, that’s when I learned that the baby had died.” She blew out a breath. “Or so I thought.”

“So did Chase steal your baby?”

“No, honey. I think he just found out too. I guess he was worried about losing his son, so he hired me to promote his podcast to get to know me first. Or at least that’s what he told me.”

“I can’t believe you have another child. That I have a brother. I do have a brother, right?”

“We don’t know, Scarlett,” James answered. “This could all be some sort of scam. I don’t know what that man wanted from you or why he was texting you, but the police will sort it out. I think we have to assume he’s lying.”

“But then why did I match with someone on the DNA test?”

“That’s a very good question,” her mom said. “We’re going to find out, but for now, I want you to rest. And I’m sorry that you had to find all this out in this way.”

“Why did you keep it a secret? Were you ashamed that you had sex before you were married? It is the twenty-first century, Mom.”

“I wasn’t ashamed, sweetie. I didn’t see any reason to tell you, or at least not until you were older. I thought my son was dead. It was my own sorrow, and I didn’t want you to have to bear it.”

Scarlett guessed that made sense. Now she understood why there were times her mother seemed sad or far away. She realized it was always in the fall; that must have been when she had the baby. She thought of something else. “I found a letter you wrote. I thought you wrote it to an old boyfriend. Was it for your son?”

“Yes. I needed some sort of closure, I suppose.”

She looked at her father. “Dad, it’s kind of weird that you changed specialties because of what happened?”

He got a look on his face that Scarlett couldn’t read. Her mother answered for him.

“It wasn’t Dad’s fault. He performed the C-section perfectly, but maybe he felt some sort of guilt over the baby dying, since he was the only doctor there. Is that right, James?”

His face turned red. “I don’t want to revisit that horrible night. This isn’t good for any of us to dredge up.” He stormed out of the room.

Annabelle and Scarlett looked at each other. Scarlett rested her head back on the pillow.

“I wish it had been Ben I’d been texting. He seemed super cool. It’s really creepy that it was his dad.”

“His name is Lucas, not Ben. Chase used a fake name on the report until he could figure out who his son’s biological parents were.”

“I told him things I thought I was telling my brother. I feel really yucky now.”

“I’m sorry, honey.”

“Are you going to meet Lucas?”

“First things first. We need to figure out if he really is your brother.”

Annabelle

Scarlett was being discharged that afternoon, and Annabelle had left and gone to the store to pick up all her favorites. James’s parents were at the hospital with Scarlett and would wait there until Annabelle came back to pick her up. At their house, she grabbed the mail from outside and brought it in with her. After she unloaded the groceries, she sorted through the pile of mail and frowned when she came to a plain white envelope with her name and address. It looked as though the letters had been cut out from magazines or newspapers—like the ransom notes you see on television. She slid her thumb under the flap and opened it. A folded white paper was inside. She sucked in a breath when she saw what it was. A receipt printout from the Phoenix Motel for one night, paid in cash. The same place she’d dreamed she saw James with another woman. She looked at the date. A little less than a month ago. Did this mean that James was cheating on her? She was still holding the paper in her hand, trying to make sense of it all, when he walked in.