I looked toward the stairs.
Sophie was upstairs.
Martin immediately went to check on her.
He returned seconds later and nodded.
She was safe.
But the crying continued through the phone.
It was an infant.
Somewhere else.
“What is that?” I demanded.
The man ignored me.
Instead, he said, “Tell Evelyn to look inside the envelope.”
She began shaking uncontrollably.
I opened the envelope from the wooden box.
Inside was a birth certificate.
An old one.
Yellowed.
Stamped with a hospital seal.
I stared at the name.
Then at the date.
Then at the names of the parents.
My breathing stopped.
Because the child listed on that certificate was not Claire.
It was Jamie.
And the woman named as his mother was not my mother.
It was Evelyn.
I looked at my brother.
Then at Evelyn.
My head spun.
“This is impossible.”
Evelyn collapsed into a chair.
The man on the phone spoke one final time.
