Chapter 14 - The Woman Who Raised the Wrong Child
Emily stared at Vanessa.
“What?”
Vanessa stepped inside.
“My father left a recording.”
Margaret stood.
“You’re lying.”
“Am I?”
Vanessa removed her phone.
She played an audio file.
Gerald Vale’s voice filled the mausoleum.
“If anyone ever finds these pages, know that Michael Shaw completed the exchange.”
Margaret covered her mouth.
The recording continued.
“The Ashbourne infant was placed with the Carter family.”
Emily’s knees weakened.
Her adoptive parents.
Vanessa stopped the recording.
Margaret whispered, “Michael.”
Emily looked at her.
“You knew my adoptive family?”
“No.”
“But your husband did.”
“I didn’t know.”
Vanessa laughed.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Emily ignored her.
“Why did Michael help?”
Vanessa shrugged.
“My father paid him.”
Margaret looked devastated.
Daniel asked, “What exchange?”
Vanessa’s expression changed.
“That is the interesting part.”
She resumed the recording.
Gerald’s voice returned.
“The other child was returned to Richard.”
Emily’s blood went cold.
“What other child?”
Margaret whispered, “There wasn’t another child.”
Vanessa looked at her.
“You sure?”
The recording continued.
“Richard believed the baby brought back to the estate was Clara’s daughter.”
Daniel stared.
“But Emily was already gone.”
“Yes.”
Vanessa smiled.
“So who did Richard raise?”
Margaret shook her head.
“No one.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What?”
“Richard never raised a baby.”
Vanessa’s smile disappeared.
“Then where did she go?”
Samuel suddenly looked ill.
“I know.”
Everyone turned.
He leaned against the crypt.
“Richard sent a child to Europe.”
“When?”
“Twenty-two years ago.”
Daniel stared.
“You knew?”
“I thought she was Clara’s daughter.”
Emily felt dizzy.
“Where?”
“Switzerland.”
“Who raised her?”
“A private family.”
Vanessa stepped closer.
“My father paid them.”
Emily stared at the grave wall.
Somewhere there might be another woman who had spent her whole life believing she was Clara’s daughter.
Or perhaps she knew the truth.
Daniel asked, “Why switch the babies at all?”
Samuel answered.
“To make Richard stop looking for Emily.”
Margaret closed her eyes.
“Michael saved her.”
Emily looked at her.
“By betraying Clara?”
“No.”
Margaret suddenly understood.
“He took Gerald’s money.”
“But then he switched the children.”
“Yes.”
“He gave them a decoy.”
Daniel frowned.
“Whose baby?”
No one knew.
Vanessa’s phone rang.
She looked at the screen.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
Emily noticed.
Vanessa answered.
A woman’s voice spoke sharply through the speaker.
Vanessa went completely still.
Then she whispered, “How did you get this number?”
Everyone listened.
The woman replied.
“Because Gerald Vale was my father.”
Vanessa’s face drained.
Emily stared.
May you like
The voice continued.
“And Clara Ashbourne was my mother.”
