Chapter 14 - The Woman in the Photograph
The university was nearly empty when Hannah arrived.
Dean Grant was waiting.
He looked worried.
"Where is my mother?"
"I don't know."
"She called me."
"She called the university too."
"What did she say?"
"Only that she wanted to see you."
Hannah looked around.
"Where?"
Dean Grant pointed toward the old medical library.
They entered.
At the far end stood a woman.
Hannah stopped.
The photograph hadn't prepared her.
The woman was older now.
But the eyes were unmistakable.
Emily Carter.
Hannah's mother.
Emily stepped forward.
"My daughter."
Hannah began crying.
She crossed the room.
They embraced.
For the first time in twenty-eight years, Hannah was held by the woman who had given birth to her.
But Emily pulled away quickly.
"We don't have much time."
Hannah frowned.
"Why?"
"Because Richard knows where I am."
"How?"
"Someone told him."
Hannah looked toward Dean Grant.
He shook his head.
"It wasn't me."
Emily looked at Allison.
Then back at Hannah.
"You found the files."
"Yes."
"You know about the triplets."
"Yes."
Emily closed her eyes.
"I wanted to tell you."
"Who is Evelyn?"
Emily looked at her.
Her face broke.
"Evelyn was never missing."
Hannah froze.
"What?"
Emily whispered.
"She was raised under another name."
"Where?"
Emily reached into her bag.
She removed a photograph.
A young woman.
Brown hair.
Blue eyes.
A small crescent-shaped birthmark.
Hannah stared.
"Who is she?"
Emily said the name.
"Claire Morgan."
Allison took the photograph.
"Where is she?"
Emily looked toward the door.
"She doesn't know who she is."
Hannah's heart pounded.
"Why?"
"Because Richard made sure she wouldn't."
"Where is she?"
Emily handed Hannah an address.
Then she said something else.
"She works at a hospital."
Hannah stared at the address.
It was the same hospital where she had completed her fellowship.
The same institution where she had met the research team that changed her life.
The same hospital where her medical coat had been embroidered with her name.
Hannah suddenly understood.
She hadn't been alone all these years.
Her missing sister had been closer than anyone realized.
But there was another problem.
Emily looked directly at her.
"Richard didn't take you because he hated you."
"Then why?"
"Because you were the child he couldn't control."
Hannah frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Emily hesitated.
"Your birth wasn't an accident."
Silence.
"Your grandfather had discovered something."
"What?"
"A medical breakthrough."
Hannah stared.
"Like my research?"
Emily nodded.
"It started before you were born."
Dean Grant looked shocked.
Emily continued.
"Richard wanted control of it."
Hannah suddenly understood why her career mattered.
Why her research had been monitored.
Why her father had tried to access university records.
Why the foundation had followed her.
Why the past had returned now.
It wasn't simply about who her parents were.
It was about what had been hidden in her family for twenty-eight years.
Emily took Hannah's hand.
"Your grandfather left something for you."
"What?"
"The original research."
"Where?"
Emily looked toward the auditorium.
"At your graduation."
Hannah's eyes widened.
"The ceremony?"
Emily nodded.
"Your grandfather planned for the truth to be revealed there."
Hannah remembered Dean Grant's strange announcement.
The extra statement.
The reason her family had looked terrified.
Then the lights in the hallway came on.
Someone was approaching.
May you like
Emily whispered.
"They found us."
