“You had just survived cardiac arrest.”
“I was tired.”
I laughed, then cried, then held her carefully.
Ben sat beside us.
“Samuel claimed you promised him samples from the twins.”
Rosie’s expression sharpened.
“I promised him hospital records.”
“Why?”
“Fake hospital records.”
Ben stared.
“I needed him to believe the babies had the resistance protein.”
“They don’t?”
“I don’t know. Nobody knows.”
“You used the twins as bait?”
“No. I used paperwork as bait. The twins were never supposed to be in danger.”
“He poisoned your vitamins.”
Rosie went still.
“What?”
Ben explained.
She listened quietly.
Then she looked toward the door.
“Where are my babies?”
“Safe.”
“I want to see them.”
“You need rest.”
“I rested for almost a whole day.”
The nurse tried to argue.
Rosie won.
She always did when people mistook gentleness for weakness.
They wheeled her into the NICU.
Ben stood behind her chair. I walked beside them.
Rosie placed one hand through each incubator opening, touching her son and daughter at the same time.
“What are their names?” I asked.
Ben looked at Rosie.
She smiled.
“Laura and Richard.”
I stared at her.
“You’re naming them after—”
“Two people who made terrible choices,” Rosie said. “And two people who still tried to save someone.”
Ben bent and kissed her hair.
The little girl moved her fingers around Rosie’s fingertip.
The boy slept.
For the first time in days, I felt something close to peace.
Then a hospital administrator entered with two federal agents.
The administrator looked nervous.
“Ms. Carter, we need to discuss a discrepancy.”
Ben stepped protectively beside Rosie.
“What discrepancy?”
The agent held a sealed laboratory report.
“During the investigation into the tampered prenatal vitamins, blood samples were compared with family reference samples.”
Rosie looked at me.
The agent continued.
“The results showed that neither Richard Hale nor Evelyn Hale is your biological parent.”
Rosie blinked.
“That’s wrong.”
“The test was repeated.”
Ben’s face hardened.
“Then whose daughter is she?”
The agent looked at me.
“Genetically, Rosalind Hale appears to be Claire’s full sister.”
No one spoke.
I felt the room tilt again.
“That’s impossible,” I said.
“My mother was Laura Vale. Her mother was Evelyn.”
The agent opened the report.
“Both of you are biological daughters of Laura and Samuel Vale.”
Rosie stared at me.
“No.”
Ben gripped the back of her chair.
“What about Evelyn’s pregnancy?”
The administrator answered quietly.
“Hospital archives indicate Evelyn Hale gave birth to a baby girl who died shortly after delivery.”
Rosie’s face emptied.
“Then who am I?”
A voice came from behind us.
