CHAPTER 19 — THE DAUGHTER I NEVER KNEW
Thomas did not deny it.
He sat in his hospital room while I held Lily’s adoption file.
“She is my daughter.”
“She is my daughter too.”
“Yes.”
“You knew the embryo was ours.”
“Not when Caroline and I adopted her.”
“When did you learn?”
“Sarah found the record when Lily was seven.”
“And she told you.”
“She wanted to meet her.”
“Did she?”
Thomas nodded.
My anger became almost unbearable.
“You let my wife meet our daughter without me.”
“She was afraid Charles would take Lily back into the family trust.”
“He had no right.”
“Rights never stopped him.”
Sarah met Lily four times.
She introduced herself as a family friend.
She brought books.
She watched her play piano.
She never told the girl the truth.
“Why didn’t Sarah tell me?”
“Because she had just discovered the messages that made her think you knew about Maya’s embryo substitution.”
“She thought I helped Charles steal Lily too.”
“Yes.”
Thomas looked ashamed.
“After she learned you were innocent, she planned to tell you everything.”
“But she died.”
“Yes.”
I found Lily at a conservatory rehearsal.
She had Sarah’s eyes.
The resemblance was immediate and devastating.
Thomas had already told her I was coming.
She stood beside the piano, arms crossed.
“So you’re Richard Sterling.”
“I am.”
“The man from the news.”
“Yes.”
“The man whose wife made a child eat dog food.”
Pain entered her voice even though she had never met Maya.
“That woman is not my wife anymore.”
Lily looked toward Thomas.
“He is my father.”
“I’m not here to take that from you.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because you deserve the truth.”
“I have the truth.”
“No. You have another decision made for you by adults.”
Her expression softened slightly.
I told her about Sarah.
About the stolen embryo.
About Maya.
I did not ask Lily to call me Dad.
I did not ask her to join the Sterling family.
I gave her Sarah’s letter.
She read it alone.
When she returned, she was crying.
“She knew me?”
“Yes.”
“Did she love me?”
“Yes.”
“Did you?”
The question nearly broke me.
“I didn’t know you existed.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
I took a breath.
“I already love the part of you that came from her. I hope one day I can know the rest.”
Lily looked away.
Before she could respond, Thomas’s phone rang.
His face changed.
It was a message from Gavin.
A photograph showed Maya leaving school with a woman.
Eleanor.
Maya had agreed to a supervised meeting that afternoon after hearing Eleanor had been shot protecting the evidence.
The supervisor was supposed to remain present.
Instead, the image showed Eleanor and Maya alone in a car.
May you like
Beneath it, Gavin had written:
SOME MOTHERS DON’T GIVE THEIR CHILDREN BACK.
