Chapter 5 - The Photograph of Six Infants
The photograph changed everything.
Victoria studied it beneath the hospital lights.
Six newborn babies lay in identical bassinets. Their faces were partially hidden beneath white blankets, but each bassinet carried a numbered card.
No names.
Only numbers.
Brooke stood beside her.
“Which one was I?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said my mother was part of the program.”
“She never told me the date of your birth.”
“You investigated me for years, but you don’t know my birthday?”
“Your legal birthday may not be accurate.”
Brooke stared at her.
Daniel took the photograph.
On the front, behind the row of bassinets, stood three doctors and a younger version of Richard Whitmore.
Daniel recognized his father immediately.
Richard looked pale and angry. One of the doctors had a hand on his shoulder, as though trying to restrain him.
Emily examined the background.
“There’s a sign on the wall.”
The words were blurry, but part of the clinic name was visible.
Saint Catherine Reproductive Research Annex.
Daniel looked at his mother.
“That building still exists?”
“The annex closed after the fire.”
“You said the records were destroyed.”
“They were.”
“But the building?”
Victoria hesitated.
“The foundation sold it.”
“To whom?”
“A private medical corporation.”
“What corporation?”
Before Victoria could answer, Emily noticed a small handwritten symbol in the lower corner of the photograph.
It resembled a circle divided by a vertical line.
She had seen it before.
She opened Sophie’s worn folder and removed one of the anonymous checks Victoria had sent years earlier.
The same symbol appeared beside the trust account number.
“These came from the same person,” Emily said.
Victoria’s face tightened.
“I did not place that symbol on the checks.”
“But you sent them.”
“I instructed the foundation’s financial office to create the trust.”
“Who managed it?”
Victoria looked again at the photograph.
“Arthur Vale.”
Daniel knew the name.
Arthur Vale had been his father’s closest business partner and the first chief administrator of the Whitmore Foundation.
He had also delivered the eulogy at Richard’s funeral.
“He retired fifteen years ago,” Daniel said.
“He disappeared fifteen years ago,” Victoria corrected.
Brooke folded her arms.
“What is the difference?”
“Retired people can usually be found.”
Daniel searched the name on his phone.
Arthur Vale had no recent professional profile, no public address, and no death record.
Only old newspaper photographs remained.
In one of them, Arthur stood beside Richard at the opening of Saint Catherine’s fertility wing.
The symbol appeared on the wall behind them.
The nurse returned.
“Sophie is awake.”
Emily forgot the photograph immediately.
She followed the nurse into the recovery room.
Sophie lay beneath a heated blanket, surrounded by tubes and monitors. Her eyes opened when Emily approached.
“Mommy?”
“I’m here.”
“Did they fix me?”
Emily sat beside her.
“They helped your heart.”
Sophie looked toward the door.
“Who was the man?”
Emily knew exactly who she meant.
“A man from my past.”
“He looked sad.”
“He is sad.”
“Does he know me?”
Emily touched Sophie’s hair.
“He is learning about you.”
Sophie’s eyes began to close again.
“His eyes are like mine.”
Emily did not answer.
When she returned to the corridor, Daniel was waiting alone.
Brooke had gone for genetic testing, and Victoria was speaking with hospital lawyers.
“How is she?” Daniel asked.
“Awake. Frightened.”
“Can I see her?”
“No.”
Daniel nodded as if he had expected the answer.
Emily sat across from him.
“You cannot enter her life like this.”
“I know.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I know.”
“You know nothing about her.”
“Then tell me.”
Emily looked at him.
Daniel’s voice softened.
“What does she like?”
“This is not the time.”
“It may be the only time I have.”
The words disarmed her.
Emily looked through the recovery room window.
“She likes astronomy. She calls Jupiter the king of the planets.”
Daniel smiled weakly.
“I did that when I was a child.”
“She hates peas.”
“So do I.”
“She sleeps with a stuffed fox named Captain Red.”
Daniel lowered his head.
“What is she afraid of?”
“Thunder. Needles. Being left alone.”
The last answer struck him.
“I would never leave her.”
“You already did.”
“I did not know she existed.”
“She will not understand the difference.”
Daniel accepted the blow.
After a moment, he said, “What do you need from me?”
“Your medical records.”
“You’ll have them.”
“Your signature for testing.”
“Yes.”
“Then space.”
His eyes moved toward Sophie’s room.
“How much?”
“As much as she needs.”
Daniel nodded.
Emily stood.
As she walked toward the door, Daniel spoke again.
“Emily.”
She stopped.
“I believed you left because you did not love me.”
Emily turned slowly.
“I believed you rejected your own child.”
Neither of them knew which lie had caused more damage.
A hospital administrator approached with a tablet.
“Ms. Parker, we have a problem.”
Emily’s chest tightened.
“What happened?”
“Someone attempted to access Sophie’s surgical records ten minutes ago.”
“Who?”
“The request came through an external medical network connected to Saint Catherine Reproductive Research.”
Daniel stood.
“That clinic closed decades ago.”
The administrator looked at the screen.
“According to this system, it reopened under a new name three years ago.”
She turned the tablet toward them.
The new name appeared across the top.
Vale Children’s Genetic Institute.
May you like
And beneath it was the smiling photograph of its founder.
Dr. Arthur Vale.
