Chapter 3 - THE FILE THAT COULD DESTROY THE WHITMORESHoward opened the briefcase.
Inside were documents tied together with faded blue ribbon.
Sarah stared at them.
“What are those?”
“Records,” Howard said.
Richard lunged forward.
Howard stepped away.
“You're not taking them.”
David looked at his father.
“Dad, what's happening?”
Richard's voice shook with anger.
“This man is confused.”
Howard laughed bitterly.
“I've spent forty years practicing law. I know exactly what I'm holding.”
He removed a document.
“Birth records.”
Sarah's knees weakened.
Howard continued.
“Catherine Whitmore gave birth to a daughter on December 17, twenty-eight years ago.”
Margaret whispered:
“Sarah.”
Howard nodded.
“Her name was Sarah Catherine Whitmore.”
Sarah stopped breathing.
David looked at her.
“Your full name…”
She stared at him.
“My name is Sarah Monroe.”
Howard shook his head.
“No.”
He held up the document.
“Your name was changed.”
Margaret covered her mouth.
Sarah couldn't speak.
Howard looked toward Richard.
“Your father paid someone to make sure the child disappeared.”
Richard's face turned crimson.
“That is a lie.”
Howard opened another document.
“Then explain this.”
He handed it to David.
David read it.
His expression collapsed.
“What is this?”
Richard said nothing.
David looked at his father.
“This is a payment.”
Howard nodded.
“To a private adoption broker.”
Sarah whispered:
“Why?”
Nobody answered.
Margaret suddenly remembered something.
The freezing night.
The church steps.
The blue blanket.
The tiny hand around her thumb.
And a man standing across the street.
She had never forgotten him.
A dark coat.
A black car.
She had assumed he was a stranger.
Now she realized something.
She looked at Richard.
“I saw you.”
Richard's face changed.
“What?”
“That night.”
Margaret's voice trembled.
“You were across the street.”
Sarah stared at her.
“You knew him?”
“I didn't know his name.”
Richard stepped backward.
Howard closed the briefcase.
“The Whitmore family wanted Catherine's baby hidden.”
David shook his head.
“Why?”
Eleanor began crying.
“Because Catherine wasn't supposed to have the baby.”
Sarah looked at her.
“Why?”
Eleanor whispered:
“She was dying.”
Silence.
“Catherine had cancer. She knew she might not survive. She wanted her daughter protected.”
Margaret's eyes filled.
“So she left her?”
“No.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“She never left her.”
Everyone looked toward Richard.
May you like
Eleanor whispered:
“Richard took the baby.”
