Chapter 8 - The Child Who Had Two Birth Certificates
Audrey went upstairs and locked herself in the bedroom.
For five minutes, she did nothing.
Then she called the Hawthorne County records office.
Closed.
Saturday.
She searched online.
No useful records.
St. Catherine's Children's Home had closed in 2008.
Most of its files had been transferred to the state archive.
Audrey sat at the edge of the bed.
Ethan entered quietly.
She did not ask how he got past the lock.
Probably the emergency key.
"Celeste is downstairs."
"I don't want to see her."
"Okay."
"Your mother?"
"In the garden."
"Robert?"
"Talking to an attorney."
Audrey laughed bitterly.
"Of course he is."
Ethan sat beside her.
"Party's over."
"No."
"Audrey."
"We're not sending them away yet."
"Why?"
"Because somebody in this house knows what happened."
Ethan studied her.
"This isn't a detective movie."
"No."
She looked at him.
"In detective movies, the dead usually leave convenient clues."
"Your mother left letters."
"So did my father."
"Michael."
Audrey looked away.
Ethan regretted the distinction instantly.
"I'm sorry."
"No. You're right."
She took a breath.
"Michael was my father."
"Yes."
"I don't care what DNA says. He was my father."
Ethan nodded.
Audrey stared at the floor.
"But if Thomas Bennett was biologically my father..."
Her voice faded.
Ethan completed the thought carefully.
"Vivian is your half sister."
"And Marianne..."
"Not related to you."
"Thank God."
He almost smiled.
Audrey did too.
For three seconds.
Then reality returned.
"Why would someone adopt me if Lisa was my biological mother?"
"Maybe Lisa wasn't."
Audrey looked at him.
That thought was worse.
A knock came.
Celeste.
"Audrey?"
Silence.
"I owe you an explanation."
Audrey didn't answer.
Celeste continued through the door.
"St. Catherine's didn't only handle adoptions."
Audrey stood.
She opened the door.
"What else?"
Celeste looked at Ethan.
"Emergency placements."
"For children in danger?"
"Yes."
Audrey stepped aside.
Celeste entered.
"In the late nineties, Eleanor quietly funded St. Catherine's legal program. Women escaping dangerous households could temporarily place children there while identities were protected."
Audrey held up the birth certificate.
"Why is their seal on mine?"
"I don't know."
"That's becoming everyone's favorite sentence."
Celeste accepted the criticism.
"Eleanor kept some private case files in a safe deposit box."
"Did mine have my name?"
"Not Audrey."
Audrey froze.
"What name?"
Celeste hesitated.
Ethan said, "Tell her."
"A baby called Anna."
Audrey felt the world tilt.
"When?"
"April 1994."
Audrey's birth month.
"What happened to Anna?"
"The record vanished."
"When?"
"September 2001."
The month Michael died.
Audrey sat down.
Ethan's face darkened.
"Who accessed the file?"
Celeste looked at him.
"Thomas."
A long silence.
Audrey whispered, "Why?"
"Because he believed Anna was his daughter."
Audrey closed her eyes.
The room became distant.
Ethan crouched in front of her.
"Audrey."
"I'm fine."
"You don't have to be."
"I'm fine."
She wasn't.
Celeste continued only after Audrey nodded.
"Thomas came to me the day before Michael's accident. He said he had discovered Marianne paid someone at the children's home to alter a record."
"Alter what?"
"Parentage."
Audrey looked up.
"Why?"
"Thomas believed Marianne was trying to make certain he could never legally claim you."
"Why would Marianne care if I was already living with Lisa and Michael?"
Celeste's expression was grave.
"Because Thomas intended to leave her."
Audrey remembered Robert's story.
"For my mother."
"Yes."
"And Michael?"
Celeste looked toward the window.
"Michael agreed to let Thomas meet Lisa."
"Why?"
"According to Thomas, Michael knew the truth and was tired of Lisa living in fear."
Audrey pressed both hands over her mouth.
Celeste sat across from her.
"Thomas planned to meet Lisa at the cabin. Michael drove there first."
"And died."
"Yes."
"You were there?"
"After the crash."
"Robert said you were."
"I found Michael."
Audrey stared at her.
"You found my father?"
Celeste nodded.
"He was alive when I reached the truck."
Audrey stopped breathing.
"What did he say?"
Celeste's eyes filled.
"He said one sentence."
"What?"
Celeste hesitated.
Audrey stood.
"What did he say?"
"He said, 'Don't let Marianne find the second certificate.'"
Ethan turned sharply.
"Second certificate?"
Celeste nodded.
"There were two."
Audrey looked at the document in her hand.
"What happened to the other one?"
Celeste whispered.
"That is what Eleanor spent the rest of her life trying to find."
Downstairs, glass shattered.
A woman screamed.
Ethan ran toward the door.
Audrey followed.
They reached the landing.
May you like
Below them, Marianne stood in the foyer.
In her hand was a document burning inside a silver serving bowl.
