Chapter 5: The Child Who Shouldn't Exist
Chapter 5: The Child Who Shouldn't Exist
It took two weeks to locate Abigail Rhodes.
She no longer worked at the hospital.
In fact, she had disappeared three days after Emma's death.
No forwarding address.
No social media.
Nothing.
Until one evening, Mr. Halden called.
"We found her."
The address was in a small coastal town nearly two hundred miles away.
I drove through the night.
When Abigail opened the door, she looked terrified.
Then she saw Emma's photograph in my hands.
And she started crying.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
"I tried to stop them."
I stepped inside.
"What happened to my grandson?"
Abigail covered her face.
For a long moment she couldn't speak.
Then she led me into the living room.
A little boy sat on the floor.
Building towers from wooden blocks.
Golden hair.
Blue eyes.
A familiar smile.
My knees nearly gave out.
The child looked up.
"Hi."
His voice sounded exactly like Emma's recordings as a little girl.
Abigail was sobbing now.
"The baby survived."
The room spun.
"He was premature but alive."
I gripped the edge of a table.
"No..."
Abigail nodded.
"Evan arranged everything."
I felt physically sick.
"He told everyone the child died with Emma."
The little boy watched us curiously.
Unaware that his existence had just shattered years of grief.
"Why?" I whispered.
Abigail looked toward the child.
"Because Emma's will named her son as the ultimate heir."
My blood turned cold.
If the baby lived...
Evan inherited nothing.
But if the child disappeared...
The fortune could be controlled.
Abigail reached into a drawer and handed me documents.
Birth records.
DNA tests.
Medical reports.
Every page confirmed the impossible.
My grandson was alive.
And he had spent two years hidden from the world.
The little boy approached me cautiously.
"Are you crying?"
I nodded.
He reached up and touched my cheek.
"My mommy used to do that."
I broke.
For the first time since Emma's funeral, I completely broke.
May you like
And then I wrapped my arms around my grandson.
The grandson I thought I had buried.
