“You saw her after she was born?”

Cody nodded.

“Before they took you away.”

I felt the blood drain from my face.

“What are you talking about?”

He climbed off his bed and hurried to his desk. From underneath a stack of school papers, he pulled out a folded piece of paper.

He handed it to me.

It was a drawing.

A hospital hallway.

Two elevators.

A man standing beside them.

And in his arms was a tiny baby wrapped in a white blanket.

Next to the man was another person wearing dark clothes.

I stared at the drawing.

“Who is this?”

“Dad.”

My fingers trembled.

“And this person?”

“I don’t know.”

“Are you sure that was your father?”

“Yes.”

“Cody, your father was with me.”

“Not the whole time.”

The words landed like a stone.

“What do you mean?”

He lowered his voice.

“After the doctors took you away, Dad told me to stay with Grandma. But I couldn’t find her.”

He swallowed.

“So I went looking for him.”

I closed my eyes.

“Where did you find him?”

“Downstairs.”

“Which floor?”

“I don’t know. There were lots of elevators.”

“And the baby?”

Cody looked at me.

“She was crying.”

My stomach twisted.

“What did your father do?”

“He kept saying, ‘It’s okay. It’s okay. Your mommy will come for you.’”

I stopped breathing.

“Your mommy?”

Cody nodded.

“Then the woman took the baby.”

“What woman?”

“The one Dad gave the envelope to.”

I stared at the drawing again.

My mind began racing.

There had to be an explanation.

There had to be.

Nolan had never given me any reason to doubt him.

He had held my hand during labor.

He had stayed beside me when everything went wrong.

He had slept in a chair beside my hospital bed.

He had cried when the doctor told us Maisie was gone.

But now another thought forced itself into my mind.

If Cody had really seen Nolan with a crying baby, why hadn’t Nolan told me?

I stood.

“Where is Dad now?”

Cody pointed toward the kitchen.

“He’s outside.”

My heart began pounding.

I walked down the hallway.

Nolan was standing near the back door, staring into the yard.

He turned when he heard me.

His face immediately changed.

“Jenna?”

I held up Cody’s drawing.

“What is this?”

He stared at it.

For several seconds, he didn’t answer.

Then he looked at Cody.

“Where did you get that?”

Cody stepped behind me.

“I saw you.”

Nolan’s face went pale.

“Cody—”

“You had a baby.”

“Enough.”

The sharpness in Nolan’s voice frightened me.

Cody grabbed my shirt.

I stepped between them.

“Don’t talk to him like that.”

Nolan looked at me.

“Jenna, you don’t understand.”

“Then explain it.”

Silence.

“Explain the baby.”

His eyes filled with tears.

“There was a baby.”

My knees nearly gave out.

“What?”

“There was another baby in the hospital.”

“Maisie?”

He shook his head.

“I don’t know.”

I stared at him.

“You don’t know?”

“I was trying to find someone.”

“Who?”

He looked toward the floor.

“A woman named Rebecca.”

The name meant nothing to me.

“Who is Rebecca?”

Nolan rubbed his face.

“I can’t explain this here.”

“Then explain it somewhere else.”

He looked at Cody.

“Go to your room.”

“No.”

“Cody—”

“He stays with me.”

Nolan closed his eyes.

Then he whispered:

“Maisie wasn’t supposed to die.”

The room went completely silent.

“What did you just say?”

He looked at me.

“The doctors made a mistake.”

My entire body went cold.

“What mistake?”

“I wasn’t allowed to tell you.”

“Who told you?”

He didn’t answer.

“Who, Nolan?”

“The hospital.”

I took a step backward.

“No.”

“I tried to find out what happened.”

“You told me she died.”

“That’s what they told me.”

“You told me our daughter was dead.”

His eyes filled with tears.

“I thought she was.”

“Thought?”

He nodded.

“After the surgery, they told me Maisie had no heartbeat.”

My voice broke.

“And you believed them?”

“I had no reason not to.”

“Then why were you carrying a baby?”

Nolan looked at Cody.

“Because someone asked me to.”

“Who?”

He hesitated.

“A nurse.”

“What nurse?”

“I don’t know her name.”

I laughed bitterly.

“You don’t know her name?”

“She found me in the hallway.”

“And gave you a baby?”

“No.”

“Then what happened?”

Nolan sat down.

His hands were shaking.

“She told me there had been a problem with the paperwork.”

“What paperwork?”

“The baby’s identification bracelet.”

My heart began pounding.

“What does that mean?”

Nolan looked directly at me.

“They said there had been another emergency delivery that night.”

I couldn’t speak.

“A baby had been born alive.”

I whispered, “Whose baby?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then why did you have her?”

“She said the baby was supposed to be transferred.”

“Transferred where?”

“She wouldn’t tell me.”

“And the envelope?”

Nolan’s expression changed.

“What did Cody tell you?”

“He saw you give someone money.”

Nolan shook his head.

“It wasn’t my money.”

I stared at him.

“Whose was it?”

“The hospital administrator’s.”

My skin prickled.

“What?”

“He gave me the envelope.”

“Why?”

“To pay someone.”

“For what?”

Nolan’s voice dropped.

“To keep quiet.”

I felt dizzy.

“About what?”

He looked at me.

“About Maisie.”

Before I could respond, there was a knock at the front door.

Three slow knocks.

Nolan froze.

Cody whispered:

“That’s her.”

I turned.

“Who?”

“The woman from the hospital.”

The knocking came again.

Three times.

Nolan stood.

“Jenna, don’t open that door.”

“Why?”

“Because if it’s who I think it is…”

He didn’t finish.

The door handle began to turn.

And then a woman’s voice came from the other side.

“Jenna?”

I knew that voice.

I had heard it before.

At the hospital.

The night Maisie was born.

My hand went to my mouth.

Because suddenly I remembered something I had spent two weeks trying not to remember.

A nurse leaning over me.

A frightened expression.

And one sentence whispered before everything went black:

“Your baby is alive.”

I looked at Nolan.

He looked terrified.

Then the woman outside spoke again.

“Jenna, you need to let me in.”

Her voice broke.

“Because your daughter is alive.”