Chapter 15 - The Christmas Present That Was Still Waiting)
By New Year’s Eve, the Pierce house had changed.
Emma’s cheeks were healing.
The redness had faded to pale patches beneath her eyes.
She complained about the ointment.
She complained about the police car parked outside.
She complained that everyone whispered whenever she entered a room.
Claire considered every complaint a blessing.
Lily returned home with Rachel and Steven Morgan.
Daniel had not tried to see her again.
Not yet.
He wrote her a letter instead.
He did not call himself her father.
He did not ask for anything.
He told her only that none of what happened was her responsibility.
Rachel promised to keep the letter until Lily wanted it.
Margaret Hale remained in custody.
Patricia Lane entered protective cooperation.
Detective Bennett reopened the investigation into Samuel Keene’s death.
And Richard Pierce remained missing.
The private DNA report from the warehouse was tested for authenticity.
The laboratory confirmed it had performed the analysis.
That part was real.
But the chain of custody was uncertain.
Nobody knew whether the biological samples truly belonged to Daniel and Emma.
Another supervised DNA test was ordered.
Claire almost refused.
“Emma has been tested enough.”
Daniel agreed.
But unanswered questions had become dangerous.
Emma eventually consented after Claire explained it as simply as possible.
“It helps the police understand Grandpa’s lies.”
Emma looked at Daniel.
“Will it hurt?”
“One tiny needle.”
She frowned.
“I hate needles.”
“I know.”
“Can I have ice cream after?”
Daniel smiled for the first time in days.
“Yes.”
“Two scoops.”
“Deal.”
The samples were collected under strict supervision.
Results would take several days.
On January 2, Claire received a call from Evelyn.
Daniel’s mother planned to come visit.
Daniel was terrified.
He had not seen her since he was twelve.
When Evelyn arrived, they stood in the doorway staring at each other.
Then Daniel whispered, “Mom.”
Evelyn touched his face.
“You got old.”
Daniel laughed through tears.
“So did you.”
Emma watched from the staircase.
Evelyn looked up.
For several seconds, grandmother and granddaughter simply stared.
Then Emma asked, “Are you the nice grandparent?”
Claire covered a laugh.
Evelyn smiled.
“I intend to be.”
Emma considered the answer.
“Okay.”
She came downstairs.
For one evening, the Pierce house almost felt normal.
They ate dinner.
Emma showed Evelyn her school projects.
Daniel told stories Claire had never heard.
Michael appeared in memories as a funny older brother instead of a ghost attached to Richard.
At 9:30, Emma fell asleep on the sofa.
Daniel carried her upstairs.
When he returned, Claire was standing beside the front window.
“What?”
She held something in her hand.
A small white envelope.
“It was under the door.”
Daniel froze.
Police had searched the porch less than ten minutes earlier.
He did not touch it.
Bennett arrived.
Inside the envelope was a photograph.
Not Emma.
Not Lily.
A baby.
Newborn.
Wrapped in a hospital blanket.
On the back, in Richard’s handwriting, were two sentences.
YOU KEEP COUNTING THREE GIRLS.
THERE WERE FOUR.
Bennett stared at the photograph.
Claire sat down.
Daniel whispered, “That’s impossible.”
Evelyn looked at the picture.
Her expression changed.
Daniel noticed.
“Mom?”
Evelyn did not answer.
“Mom, what is it?”
She took the photograph with trembling fingers.
“I’ve seen this baby.”
Claire stood.
“Where?”
Evelyn looked at Daniel.
“Before Michael died.”
Daniel stared.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
Evelyn’s eyes filled.
“Michael came to see me secretly.”
“When?”
“Eleven months before Emma was born.”
“What did he say?”
“He said Richard had discovered something.”
Daniel’s pulse quickened.
“What?”
Before Evelyn could answer, Bennett’s phone rang.
She listened.
Her face went rigid.
“Where?”
Everyone watched her.
Bennett ended the call.
“The supervised DNA results came back early.”
Claire gripped Daniel’s hand.
Bennett looked at them.
“Emma is definitely Claire’s biological daughter.”
Daniel exhaled.
Then he saw Bennett had not finished.
“And me?”
Bennett hesitated.
Evelyn whispered, “Laura.”
Bennett looked directly at Daniel.
“The results show Emma is not your biological daughter.”
Silence.
Daniel released Claire’s hand.
“No.”
Claire shook her head.
“No. The first test said he was.”
“The first test appears to have been compromised.”
Daniel backed against the wall.
Claire’s voice broke.
“Then who is Emma’s father?”
Nobody answered.
A sound came from upstairs.
Emma calling.
“Mom?”
Claire immediately moved toward the stairs.
Then the doorbell rang.
Every adult in the room froze.
A police officer checked the security monitor.
A young woman stood outside.
Maybe twenty-five.
Long brown hair.
Pale winter coat.
She held an old silver gift box.
Bennett reached for her weapon.
“Do any of you know her?”
Daniel shook his head.
Claire shook hers.
Evelyn did not.
The young woman looked directly into the security camera.
Then she lifted a photograph against the glass.
It showed four newborn bassinets inside St. Anne’s Hospital.
Four baby girls.
The timestamp was 2:48 a.m.
Right in the middle of the missing forty-three minutes.
Bennett opened the door only after two officers took position.
The woman looked past them.
“Daniel Pierce?”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Who are you?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“My name is Sarah Keene.”
Bennett stiffened.
“Keene?”
The young woman nodded.
“Samuel Keene was my father.”
Daniel stared.
“You’re his daughter?”
“Yes.”
“What do you want?”
Sarah held out the silver box.
“To finish what my father was too afraid to finish.”
Nobody moved.
“What’s inside?” Bennett asked.
Sarah looked at Emma’s bedroom upstairs.
Then at Daniel.
“The fourth identification bracelet.”
Claire’s face went white.
Daniel whispered, “Whose?”
Sarah swallowed.
“That depends on which lie Richard told you first.”
From inside the silver box came the faint sound of a phone vibrating.
Sarah looked down in alarm.
“I didn’t put a phone in there.”
Bennett pulled everyone back.
An officer opened the box carefully.
Inside rested an old hospital bracelet.
A sealed blood vial.
And a black prepaid phone.
The phone continued vibrating.
UNKNOWN CALLER.
Daniel already knew.
Bennett answered using speaker mode.
Nobody spoke.
For three seconds there was only breathing.
Then Richard Pierce laughed softly.
“Happy New Year.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Where are you?”
Richard ignored him.
“Sarah, your father should have burned that box.”
Sarah’s face drained of color.
“You killed him.”
Richard chuckled.
“You should be more concerned about what he did before he died.”
Daniel shouted, “Leave them alone!”
Richard became quiet.
Then he said something that made Evelyn drop the photograph.
“Ask your mother who Daniel’s real father was.”
Daniel stared at Evelyn.
She backed away.
“No.”
“Mom?”
Richard continued.
“And when she finally tells you, open the blood vial.”
The call ended.
Nobody moved.
Daniel looked at Evelyn.
“Mom.”
Tears ran down her face.
“What is he talking about?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“Daniel, please.”
“Who was my father?”
Claire stared between them.
Emma appeared at the top of the stairs.
Sleepy.
Confused.
“Why is everybody yelling?”
Claire hurried toward her.
Daniel barely heard.
His whole life had become a room full of locked doors.
Richard had opened another.
Evelyn looked at the blood vial inside the box.
Then she looked at her son.
“Richard wasn’t your biological father.”
Daniel’s face emptied.
Sarah Keene gasped.
Detective Bennett stepped forward.
“Then who was?”
Evelyn opened her mouth.
Before she could answer, the prepaid phone lit up again.
This time it was not a call.
It was a photograph.
A live image.
Richard stood in front of an unfamiliar hospital building.
Beside him was a woman none of them recognized.
Behind them, through a glass door, hung a faded sign.
ST. ANNE’S MATERNITY ARCHIVE.
Under the photograph was a message.
YOU FOUND THE FOURTH BRACELET.
NOW FIND THE FIFTH BABY.
Daniel stared at the screen.
Claire slowly turned toward him.
Evelyn whispered one word.
May you like
“No.”
And somewhere far away, Richard Pierce walked through the hospital doors carrying one final silver Christmas box.
