At first, he thought I was simply exhausted and confused. But the moment he saw the bracelet, all the color drained from his face.
“We have to call the hospital,” I whispered.
Daniel reached for his phone, but just then Max appeared in the doorway.
“Don’t call the nurse with the blue glasses,” he said.
We both looked at him.
“What nurse?” I asked.
“The one who took the babies,” Max replied. “She told another woman not to worry because no one would notice.”
My hands began to shake.
Daniel called the hospital and demanded to speak with the head of the maternity ward. The woman on the other end of the line fell strangely silent when he read the name on the bracelet.
“Please don’t remove it,” she said. “Bring the baby back immediately.”
Twenty minutes later, we were driving through the empty streets. I sat in the back seat beside the newborn while Max held my hand tightly.
When we arrived at the maternity ward, two hospital administrators and a security officer were already waiting for us.
They escorted us into a private room and began verifying the baby’s identity.
The results confirmed our worst nightmare.
The baby we had brought home was not biologically ours.
Her name was Sophie Thompson.
She had been born just forty minutes after our daughter.
I nearly collapsed.
“Where is my baby?” I demanded.
No one answered.
Finally, the head of the department admitted that the Thompson family had already been discharged earlier that day.
They had taken our daughter home.
Hospital staff immediately tried calling them, but no one answered. Police officers were dispatched to their address.
For the next hour, I paced the room while Daniel sat silently with his face buried in his hands. Max stayed beside me, apologizing over and over for not telling us sooner.
“You saved your sister,” I told him. “You noticed what every adult missed.”
At last, the security officer returned.
The Thompson family had been found.
They were already on their way back to the hospital.
When the elevator doors opened, a frightened young couple stepped out.
The woman was holding a sleeping newborn wrapped in the familiar yellow hospital blanket I recognized instantly.
Before anyone could stop me, I ran toward her.
The moment I saw the tiny red birthmark beside the baby’s ear, I knew.
