Chapter 6 - The Secret Inside the Doll
While Anne was being prepared for surgery, Sarah sat beside Matthew in the waiting area.
She kept the box on her lap.
“Are you really my father?” she asked.
Matthew chose his words carefully.
“Your mother says I am. I believe her, but I think she should be here when we talk about it.”
Sarah studied his face.
“You have my eyebrows.”
Matthew almost laughed, but emotion caught in his throat.
“I was thinking you had mine.”
Sarah lifted the handmade rag doll.
“Mommy calls her Hope.”
One seam along the doll’s blue dress had opened. Sarah pushed her finger inside and felt something hidden in the stuffing.
She pulled out a tiny folded envelope.
Anne Miller was written across the front in Matthew’s handwriting.
Matthew remembered sending it from London. It was the last letter he wrote before Victor claimed Anne had accepted the agreement.
The envelope had never been opened.
Inside, Matthew had written that he had bought a ring and planned to return early. He asked Anne to meet him at their train platform on Christmas Eve.
A second piece of paper was folded behind it.
It was the letter Anne had written after Sarah’s birth.
Matthew recognized his father’s office stamp on the envelope. Someone had opened it, copied it, and returned it without allowing him to see it.
Sarah’s birth announcement remained inside.
Matthew Sullivan was listed as the father.
Sarah pointed to a small photograph attached to the paper. Anne held a newborn baby wrapped in a yellow blanket.
“That’s me.”
Matthew touched the edge of the photograph.
“Yes,” he said quietly. “That’s you.”
A hospital investigator arrived after receiving Matthew’s complaint. When she saw the office stamp and the altered insurance records, she contacted the board’s legal committee.
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Victor had left evidence inside the one object he assumed no one would examine.
A child’s doll had protected the truth for five years.
