Chapter 1
“Which room, Eudora?”
Her eyes flicked toward the upstairs balcony.
That was enough.
I left my hand over the baby monitor.
The crying continued beneath my palm.
Thin.
Angry.
Alive.
Verity made a sound behind me that I never want to hear from another human being again.
Not quite a sob.
Something smaller.
Like grief realizing it had been lied to.
“Oswin…”
I looked toward Rafe.
“Upstairs.”
He moved immediately.
Eudora caught my sleeve.
“Wait.”
I looked at her hand.
She released me.
“Why?”
Her lips trembled.
“It isn’t what you think.”
“I haven’t told you what I think.”
That frightened her more.
Verity gripped the carriage handle.
“Please.”
I turned.
She could barely stand.
“Come with me.”
We crossed the conservatory.
Guests moved aside without being told.
No one spoke.
At the top of the stairs, the monitor’s crying became real.
Behind a closed nursery door.
Rafe opened it.
A nurse stood beside a cradle.
She froze when she saw us.
Inside—
a newborn boy.
Red-faced.
Furious.
Alive.
Verity stopped breathing.
The nurse whispered:
“Miss Fenwicke…”
Verity walked toward the cradle as if the floor might disappear beneath her.
“Is that…”
She could not finish.
The nurse looked at Eudora.
Wrong person.
I stepped between their line of sight.
“Answer the mother.”
The nurse swallowed.
“Yes.”
Verity covered her mouth.
Her knees weakened.
I caught her elbow.
She pulled away almost immediately.
Good.
She wanted to stand herself.
She reached into the cradle.
The crying changed the moment she touched him.
Not stopped.
Changed.
Recognition may be too romantic a word for a newborn.
But something happened.
Verity broke.
“My baby.”
Eudora entered behind us.
“He was safe.”
Verity turned.
I had never seen grief become fury that quickly.
“You told me he died.”
Eudora took a step backward.
Then I noticed the packed infant bag near the window.
Blankets.
Bottles.
Clothes.
Travel-ready.
Not a hidden baby waiting to be returned downstairs.
A baby prepared to leave.
I looked at Eudora.
“Who was coming for him?”
She closed her eyes.
May you like
That was when I realized the lie was bigger than one room.
Someone else already expected Verity’s son.
