She looked to be in her early 70s.
Her hair was completely white, and she was crying so hard she could barely speak.
“Where is she?”
The doctor stepped into the hallway.
“Ma’am, you need to calm down.”
“Where is my granddaughter?”
Michael stood up so quickly his chair scraped across the floor.
I looked at him.
He looked at the woman.
And something in his face told me he knew exactly who she was.
The woman pushed past the doctor.
Her eyes landed on the baby.
She made a broken sound.
“Oh, Lucy.”
Then she looked at me.
“You.”
I felt cold.
“Do I know you?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
Then she pointed at Michael.
“But he does.”
My husband closed his eyes.
That was the moment I knew the baby wasn’t the only thing he’d been keeping from me.
The doctor asked the woman to sit down.
She refused.
“My daughter died tonight,” she said. “And that baby is hers.”
I looked down at Lucy.
The tiny girl was asleep against my chest.
“What does that have to do with me?”
The woman stared at me.
“Everything.”
Michael finally spoke.
“Her name is Eleanor.”
I looked at him.
“You know her?”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
“How?”
He didn’t answer.
Eleanor did.
“My daughter was pregnant with Lucy. She gave birth tonight. There were complications.”
Her voice cracked.
“She didn’t make it.”
I immediately felt horrible for her.
Whatever else was happening, this woman had just lost her daughter.
But then she looked at me again.
“Before she died, she told the nurses something.”
“What?”
“She told them Lucy had to go to you.”
I stared at her.
“Me?”
She nodded.
“She gave them your name.”
The room seemed to tilt.
I looked at Michael.
He wouldn’t look at me.
“How would your daughter know my name?”
Eleanor wiped her cheeks.
“Because she met you.”
I searched my memory.
I had never met this woman.
I’d never met her daughter.
At least, I didn’t think I had.
Then Michael quietly said something that made my stomach drop.
“Her daughter worked at the hospital.”
I turned toward him.
“Your coworker’s daughter?”
He nodded.
“The person I told you was being brought here tonight.”
“You said it was your coworker.”
“I lied.”
I felt like someone had punched me.
“You lied about why you came here?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He looked at Lucy.
